How would you like to add an extra run per over to your team's score?

The end of the cricket season is the perfect time to reflect.

You wouldn’t go on a journey to a new place without a map. So, don’t go on your cricket journey without goals.

"He approaches the wicket and releases the ball. I'm about to find out what it's really like to face a top class bowler.

 

It hangs there in the air.

If someone bowled a ball like this to me in a Baldwin match, I'd probably stop it with my glove, sling it back to the bowler and tell him, 'Never mind, have another go...' In fact, I might say it anyway, once it's been retrieved from the far stands.

Perhaps age has caught up with the Indian master. Or perhaps he was never quite as good as we all thought. Perhaps none of them are.

But then something inexplicable occurs. The ball, having seemed suspended in the air from some invisible string with the words 'Hit Me' on it, suddenly dips and loops at the last second. It pitches just short of a length, spits like a cobra and climbs at a scientifically unfeasible angle. Striking the outside edge of my bat it balloons gently into the air and is caught with pathetic ease by the wicketkeeper."

Michael Simkins – Fatty Batter.

 You won't find many better descriptions of a master spinner totally deceiving a batsman than that. The great Bishan Bedi at work.

Mastery of flight or loop can take many years. However you can speed up the process with some simple practice methods that can be done alone.

I am building a new team at Millfield School this year. This is a huge challenge for the coach, captain and the players who will make up that team.

Whilst I have worked individually with a couple of the players in the one to one programme, I am starting from scratch with 9 of the group. The brutal reality is that we have a 10 week period together to form a team and to work towards playing some really good cricket together.

With that, I was searching for a way to get a deeper understanding of the players within the squad so I "borrowed" a great trick from Olympian swimmer Euan Dale.

It was a league match and we had just taken a wicket. A kid of about 15 came out looking nervous, as they often do. I reckon it was one of his first senior cricket games because he looked like a fish out of water.

He was small for his age anyway, and this was exacerbated by the wide framed men that stood around the bat. Our spinner was on. They were sharks circling their prey waiting for the slightest mistake.

He scratched around for a while and we soon came to the conclusion he was not going to last long. That was until he got a half volley on leg stump. He unleashed one of the finest on drives I have seen. The ball raced to the long boundary in a blur.

It's a scene that you can see at every level of cricket all over the world.

Why it is that seemingly 'weak' players like that kid can hit the ball so hard?

Coach Iain Brunnschweiler is standing up for the "lower order run getters" this week, with a brand new "off the shelf" coaching session that gives the tail priority while you have nets.

What gives?

As Mark Garaway often reminds us, everyone in the team bats, and everyone in the team is allowed to score runs, not just the batters. So why shouldn't everyone practice batting?

This is an exclusive excerpt from the Countdown to Summer eBook available for instant download on PitchVision Academy.

Everyone knows how important goals are to success during the season. What if you could use the same idea to make your pre-season go with a bang too?

It's often overlooked that the run up to the summer needs clear goals too. You might not be scoring runs and taking wickets, but you still need a focus, and writing down your preseason goals provides that.

So take up your pen and paper and start planning your preseason too.

Here are the questions you need to ask to get your goals in place:

Are you a coach hunting for instant use "no fuss" cricket drills and practices for your team?

Iain Brunnschweiler, England Performance Programme Coach, has come to the rescue with a brand new 6 week series of session plans, including video demonstrations of drills. All you need to do is pick up the session plan and get to practice.

Click here to get week 1 drills now.

Each week, for the next 6 weeks, this series will bring you streaming video ideas to use for:

More people than ever woke up on Christmas morning to a Kindle eBook reader. Who knows how many millions got their hands on an iPad or other tablet with a Kindle app ready to go.

Great gifts, but you need something to put on them.