In this video presentation I examine what qualities you find in an effective captain.

A good captain attends to many wider duties away from from the pitch throughout the year. I had 11 years as captain at Middlesex so here I discuss how to deal with such duties over the course of a season (or longer) in charge.

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.

Should you pick a 'horses for courses' team or go for a more settled side? I discuss this and other selection problems here.

I feel that a key job for a captain is to assign roles to players that match the situation and their personalities. This is something I examine in depth in this part of the course.

Download and print this sheet to help you note down your players and their roles more clearly. Use it to clarify any weaknesses in your side during selection.

At every level an important responsibility as captain is to work on his or her players weaknesses while maintaining or improving their strengths. Find out the 3 main ways to do this effectively.

Even if you have a coach, an important part of your job as captain develop your team. Use this guide to help you plan and act.

Use the planner to help you build a progressive training plan around your team technical and physical needs.

When I was captain I never had to deal with a coach, but in modern times it is an important relationship. I discuss the positives and negatives in this video.

No captain automatically has respect, as I discovered in my early years as Middlesex captain. I show you the 6 main ways to build up respect in this video.

As a young captain I struggled to gain the respect of the dressing room at Lord's. I chat abotu the situation in this video and give my advice on how to get through difficult times.

Lack of respect for a captain can spread through the team, resulting in an unmotivated and uncoordinated team. In this article I give you 5 ways you can be influential without being manipulative.

In this audio interview I talk about my views on the important aspects of managing the different personalities and dynamics that make up a team.

Even county and International captains have duties away from the field of play. I talk through what these might be for all captains.

Reading the both pitch and weather is important because it can help you decide whether to bat or bowl when you win the toss. Watch this video to find my views on tactics for different pitches and conditions.

In this audio discussion you will learn some of the practical tactical aspects of running a side including handling spinners, bowling spells, managing difficult situations and limited over tactics.

If you want to build a well paced innings you need to think carefully about your batting order. Here are the main considerations.

Although you can't be in the middle all the time, I think the captain must look to steer the innings. This is done by making sure your batsmen know what you want from them, something I look at in detail here.

When you choose to your declare can make or break a game. In this article I guide you past classic declaration mistakes (I made a few over the years) and learn how to declare to win more matches.

This video discusses the methods behind the timing of a declaration in time based games.

Good captaincy is about being in control of the match. Use the three methods outlined here to discover how to do so by setting effective fields to all your bowlers.

A simple way to get a player out is to identify his or her technical weaknesses and bowl accordingly. Use this guide to spot some of the common technical errors a batter can make and work out how you can exploit this knowledge.

This is a field for a fast bowler with a new ball. It is ideal for situations when you can attack all out.

This is a more defensive field for a fast bowler. It would not be used in limited over matches, but in declaration games where wickets have value you still need some attackers.

This is a flexible field that works well in a number of different conditions to a number of different types of medium pace bowlers (swing, seam, slow or fast). You can use it to both take wickets and restrict scoring in longer format games.

This is a flexible field that works well in a number of different conditions to a number of different types of medium pace bowlers (swing, seam, slow or fast). You can use it to both take wickets and restrict scoring in longer format games.

This field is for the off spinner who can turn the ball in situations where wickets are needed.

This field is for the accurate off spinner bowling over the wicket with a straighter line.

This field is ideal for a left arm bowler around the wicket on a pitch where the ball is turning.

A traditional 5/4 split field for the right arm leg spin/googly bowler.