A good cricket team is made up of different personalities and skills. Helping make the right blend of these elements starts with the captain and the team he or she selects.

Selection at club or school level is different from the top tiers. There is very little concern about picking the extra batsman and the like. In fact for many captains the only selection issue is whether you can raise 10 other players!

We all have our cricketing flaws.

Perhaps yours is a technical weakness stopping you from playing the ball off your legs. Maybe you go to pieces out in the middle or perhaps you find yourself exhausted after a short spell due to your fitness levels.

There are basically two ways to bowl a cricket ball.

The first is trying for the 'magic' ball. Perhaps it's the yorker that swings in fast and late, or the off spinner that drifts away before turning and bouncing. They are unplayable and make the batsman look helpless against your superior skills.

This free video drill makes the batsman concentrate on three different elements of control: Controlling the shoulder; controlling the hands and controlling the swing while remaining flexible.

Each part of the drill can be done stand alone, but combining the actions will 'build the shot up' gradually.

Control is the key!

In this free video, Gary Palmer reveals a simple drill that any age or skill level cricketer can use to improve their back foot positioning for defence, drives, cuts and pulls.

Gary Palmer returns with a technical analysis of England's man of the moment Ravi Bopari. Gary calls it his technical ABC to success at the highest level. Gary has coached many players into county cricket over the years, If you would like coaching from Gary, check out CCM Academy.

All cricket skills are hard to learn, but do the wicketkeepers have it easy compared to the batsmen and bowlers?

Paul Collingwood took over the gloves against the West Indies when the first choice keeper Matt Prior injured his finger. He did a good job. The TV and radio commentators enjoyed mulling over how difficult wicketkeeping really is, even at Test level.

Every now and again someone will challenge one of the central pillars of our coaching philosophy.

As you know, we feel that fitness is important to cricket. Others put less of an emphasis on it, which can lead to some interesting debates. Where is the truth?

In the death match between skill and fitness, who is the winner?

Nobody tries to throw the ball when they are bowling.

Yet for some, especially young bowlers who are trying to bowl fast, that is exactly what happens. Unlike most technical errors, throwing is illegal under the Laws of cricket and has an unfair stigma attached to it that can ruin a players bowling career. If you come across such a problem it needs to be nipped in the bud as soon as possible.

This edition of Umpires Corner in association with the International Institute of Cricket Umpiring and Scoring covers some more tricky questions of the Laws.