If you want to improve cricketers you need practice regularly and monitor your performance.

That’s been the challenge of Millfield School and Mark Garaway the school’s Director of Cricket Coaching: even for a top English independent school, that has produced some fine first class players Simon Jones, Craig Kieswetter, Ben Hollioake and David Graveney.

The facilities are excellent, but there are still challenges to further boost the boy’s performances at the school.

This is a guest article from Iain Brunnschweiler, former professional player and a coach at Hampshire and England’s Development Programme.

How many times are you involved in a session which is just 'a hit in the nets', or 'taking a few high catches?

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

"I see this happen on TV all the time and I was just wondering why batsmen tend to tap the Pitch with their bat nearly after every delivery?"

Listen to the panel’s answer to his question here.

To enter your own question for the chance to win your choice of online coaching course send your questions in here. 

This is a guest article from Tom Matcham

No country can consistently produce fast bowlers.

Why?

It’s clearly desirable and clearly possible: the West Indies proved this in the 1980s. With all the science and coaching effort being put into understanding cricket, why do we understand bowling so poorly?

We are not training our bowlers correctly. We have not learnt enough from older, wiser sports, and this is evident in our variable results.

In fact, bowling over 161kph should not be a particularly exceptional achievement.

Mark Garaway and Burners' finally end the will-they-wont-they saga and get together at Millfield School this week. In the show we discuss PitchVision, PitchVision Drills, tapping the pitch and long term vs. short term goals.

Plus we have a live Yes/No round from Epsom School.

The lateral lunge works similar muscle groups as the anterior lunge in last weeks’ article.

In a brand new column, psychologist Karl Stevenson looks at the crucial mental side of cricket. This article debunks the myth of mental toughness...

In and amongst cricketing circles you may have many citing the importance of ‘mental toughness’. However, when asked about what mental toughness is and why it is important, people begin to falter.

They reel off a few generic terms, such as ‘determination’ or ‘motivation’.

While important, these do not automatically make a player mentally tough.

Menno Gazendam is author of the popular Spin Bowling Project.

 The first thing you should do when you arrive at the field is check the wind.

Not the pitch, but the wind.

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

"During practice the rest of the club and captain seem to be happy with just a turn of the arm and swing at anything with a bat. I want to move to a more productive practice with the club with the goal in approving our game both in scoring and fielding. I’m able to get the club to do it once in a while and everybody act like they enjoy this type of practice and a couple of us do this practice on our own, but they also fall to the boring (my opinion) once the club and captain go back to turn of the arm and swing at anything with a bat. What advice do you have to entice them to a more productive practice? Offer a bribe? Make it competition?"

Listen to the panel’s answer to his question here.

To enter your own question for the chance to win your choice of online coaching course send your questions in here. 

Yorkers are the fast bowler’s most powerful weapon. You feel like you have got one over on the batsman when you duck one in onto his toes in front of middle stump. Even when it doesn’t get the wicket, it’s impossible to score.

But the yorker target area is small and even a slight error makes your toe-crusher an easy full-toss or half-volley.

You have to practice smart.