Club cricket nets are often wasted opportunities, despite being more popular with players than ever. To make a net more effective for everyone involved, follow my guide to making your cricket nets better training:

Why do you have to ensure you have a proper warm up before cricket matches and training?

• Warming up increases your flexibility.
• Warming up increases your power.
• Warming up improves you coordination.
• Warming up reduces the risk of injury.

A warmup is one of the easiest and fastest ways to make a difference to your cricket.

We can learn much from the Australian attitude to one-day cricket. Bobby Simpson gives an insight.

This advice applies to club games just as much as it does to the top level so it is worth repeating the key advice:

Batting Tips

Butterflies in the stomach, shaking hands, anxiety and lack of confidence are all signs of performance reducing nerves.

While to causes and effects of nervousness are complex, there are certain simple tricks to control your tension and make it work for you.

How to control tension before cricket

You can use a simple technique at any rest point before or during a game. For example: The night before a game, in between deliveries or while waiting to bat.

If you have ever hung around after an international cricket match you will see a strange sight: The players will get themselves back onto the field to do even more exercises and stretching.

They are cooling down. You have probably heard about cooling down before but never done it yourself.

In fact, as high performance players prove, the cool down is an essential part of improving your cricket.

This is the layout I like to use for a typical training session.

It covers skills drills, fitness and game practice. Each segment can be reduced or expanded depending on the goals for the session. It can also be done with any number of people from one up. If you are doing pure fitness sessions you can cut out the skills and team practice.

General Warm Up (10-20 min)

The warm up is vital to reduce the risk of injury, so don't do what most club players do and skip straight to the skills session.

Some things in cricket are not really talked about by coaches.

However, controversial practices go on at every level and all cricketers should be aware of them to be prepared and to defend against them.

1. Controversial cricket tactics

Walking

There are not many more divisive issues than walking. Should a batter walk if they know they have hit it? Many people will say yes, many will say it is up to the umpire and you should always wait. Technically, standing your ground is not cheating, although many people consider it so.

The fitter you are the better you play (and the more healthy you are), but where do you start in the quest to getting fit for cricket?

Cricket is a game that requires a lot of skills practice. If you can combine this practice with a workout that will get you fitter and more able to perform when tired then your game will improve. There are a great many fielding drills that can help you do this. Here are a few suggestions. 1. Throw vs. Run This is a good drill for competitive types. Split into 2 team � throwers and runners.

White was a bad choice for cricket clothing: Cricketers dive about and get dirty. Getting stains out of white is a nightmare.

Chucking your whites on a hot wash just doesn't cut it.

But standards must be maintained on the field. As the famous saying goes:

"If you can't be a cricketer you can at least look like one."