Revered, adored and - when you get out to a mistimed drive - hated. The cricket bat is the icon of of batting. It stands to reason you should spend a lot.

Except, what if cost is not tied to quality quite as closely as we all assume? And if that's true; how much do you really need to spend to get a "gun" bat?

We have all heard stories of the extremes. Your mate bought a second hand plank and it turned out to produce 1000 runs in a season. A friend of a friend bought a top-of-the-range branded beast that had a smaller middle than a supermodel on a crash diet. You don't want to spend extra if there is no need, but you also want to make sure you get enough. So, here are the things you need to consider when checking out your next blade:

We all have parts of our personalities we like and dislike. What's great is that whatever your personality, you can use it to motivate yourself to train better harder and longer.

And you know what that means: More runs and wickets!

You might be lucky and be the sort of person who loves training and playing all the time. This type of person tends to have an orderly, organised mind and high levels of resilience to call upon during hard and boring parts of training. Although that's not always the case.

But what if you are not like that? What if you have some barriers to training?

This week's winner of the Cricket Show podcast question competition is Pat. He wins a free coaching course from PitchVision Academy.

The winning question was,

"What do you think of Kieron Pollard's 25 yard deliveries?"

Listen to the panels answer to his question here.

So you want to play professional cricket.

Congratulations on setting your goal. Now the work starts.

This guide will talk you through the practical and philosophical basics of becoming a professional cricketer. Your location will vary the specifics slightly, but the basic principles still apply wherever you are in the world. 90% of what you do to become a cricketer in India or Sri Lanka is the same as in Australia, England or anywhere else.

There are also some helpful links through the article to give you some more reading and advice. So get stuck in and get to the nets.

Welcome to the PV/VIDEO Digest, your highlights summary of the weeks best videos from PitchVision Interactive

You can share these videos by email or onto facebook, and post your comments right here: From serious analysis to Friday fun. Here are the top videos uploaded from PitchVision systems around the world this week.

There is no doubt that genetics play a part in cricket: If you are tall and strong you can be better at fast bowling than if you are short and weak. If you have poor concentration your batting will suffer. These are hard-wired traits.

Yet you can make up the difference.

EXCLUSIVE: Mark Garaway Announces Guide to First-Class Fielding Skills

Learn Cutting-Edge Catching and Throwing Skills

PitchVision Academy are delighted to announce Director of Coach Education Mark Garaway's first online coaching course, available on January 22nd.

Click here for full details.

We are delighted to have Garas first video coaching guide because his coaching CV in unparalleled. After a career in county cricket he moved into coaching aged 26 at Hampshire Academy, moving though Hampshire up to England analyst, Ireland Cricket, ECB Coach Education and his current role at one of England's premier cricket schools: Millfield.

There is no doubt that Mark Garaway is one of the premier coaches working in the world today. And that means you can apply his experience and advice with your team too.

The reverse sweep; it's fun to play and is a well-established shot. Yet many still think it a high-risk funky shot that should be banished from the game. So should you play the reverse sweep?

Have you ever thought about how often life doesn't go according to plan? It certainly has occurred to Darryl Woods.

Darryl is a coach who, like every one of us, has had times when training has been challenging. Things don't always go according to plan through no fault of the coach. It's in moments like this that you have to adapt. And if you are quick thinking you can claw victory from the jaws of defeat.

Recently I caught up with Darryl over Skype. In a wide-ranging chat about cricket at club, school and rep level we got to speaking about those moments where life gets difficult. I enjoyed some of the tips so much I asked if we could get them out to the wider world though this article. As you are reading this now, you know he agreed! So, here are some real life examples of how you can adapt.