Closing date: 9th October 2015

Chance to Shine has always had a desire to do more than simply introduce the game to young people. In the words of our co-founder, Lord King: “Don’t ask what schools can do for cricket. Ask what cricket can do for schools.”

This is part three of a series on how to captain in the field. To go to part one click here. To go back to the introduction click here.

Along with bowling changes, field placing is the other obvious part of captaincy in the field.

The simple way to look at it is to put the fielders where you think the ball is most likely to go (not always just where it has gone).

How do you do that without resorting to the stock fields that everyone uses?

Before we get into that, a word about orthodox fields: They are orthodox because they have been proven to work over the test of time. Slips remain in place because batsmen through the ages continue to edge the ball wide of the wicketkeeper. Mid on and mid off exist because even the most extreme Twenty20 specialists play shots with a straight bat sometimes.

That said it's important not to mindlessly follow what you consider the norm. Just because every captain in your club starts the game with a couple of slips, a gulley and a saving one field it does not mean you should.

For the basic theory of field placing take a look at my article here.

Once you have that in your mind, let's go back to the basic aim of field placing: Putting your players where you think the ball will go.

This is a guest article from Harry Shapiro

Because of the nature of the delivery there are several variations that the wrist spinner can use by changing the position of his wrist.

Can you help batsmen during a bowling drill?

You can! Watch the video below to see how:

If you can't see the video, click here.

In this video we use PitchVision's unique and simple analysis tool to work with bowlers during a "live" session then help batsmen with technical issues. Not bad compared to a bowling machine huh?

Mark Garaway and David Hinchliffe talk about playing and coaching cricket from beginners to world-class levels, with everything between.

In this special shorter show, there is a listener's question that gets a detailed discussion and analysis. This time there is a dilemma from a player who might have fallen out of love with the game, but doesn't know how to break it to his cricket-loving father.

Do you have to have the gift to be a good leg spinner? Or can little bits of spin both ways work?

Terry Jenner, Shane Warne’s bowling mentor, used to call the ability to bowl a big spinning leg break "The Gift". He was absolutely right. However, very few can do it well. That's why we can name all the really Gifted Test leg spinners in about 10 seconds:

Subhash Gupte, Richie Benaud, Bill O'Reilly, BS Chandrasekhar, Abdul Qadir, Stuart MacGill and Shane Warne.

I have deliberately missed out the great Indian spinner Anil Kumble and my mate "Mushy" Ahmed from this list because their "gift" was a different one to that Jenner explained to me in 1998. These two bowl with little bits of spin both ways, always with over spin that creates dip, drift and extra bounce even from the most benign of surfaces. To me they were different types of bowlers to the guys that I listed above.

As you will note, my beloved England, does not feature at all in the Gift List. And we invested significantly to try to identify, then develop one in the early 2000's. It was a fruitless pursuit.

Whilst we have all been looking for the next Shane Warne, I wonder how many Kumble's and Mushtaq's we have missed.

Have our minds and coaching eyes been side-tracked by the search for the elusive Gift?

Sam Lavery is Cricket Professional at Portsmouth Grammar School*

As a cricket coach you develop transferable skills. So why not take a leap out of your comfort zone? Try things away from the world of cricket coaching.

Where do I go?

Target bowling is one of the most used drills by bowlers to improve accuracy: Lay cones on a length, try to hit them, track you progress.

However, an often overlooked aspect of target practice is where you focus.

There are many options, but when the coach tells you to "look where you want the ball to pitch" he or she is not giving you the whole story.

Target bowling for cricket is a good practice that has several problems. All can be overcome with the drill in this video.

Click below to view:

If you can't see the video, click here.

Using PitchVision, bowlers can bowl in nets at a target with a batsmen to put them off and no visual cues. This is far more realistic.

There is a special guest appearance on the show with Mark Garaway, Sam Lavery and David Hinchliffe joined by an indifferent sheep. Somewhere along the line, the talk turns to cricket topics too.

The show starts with some follow up thoughts on a recent article debating the importance of data analysis in cricket coaching. Is it all taking us away from the joy of the game, or is there merit in the numbers?

Plus there are the usual listener's questions - with a prize on offer - about high knees in a fast bowler, and what happens when you bowl so many googlies you lose your leg break.

Listen in to enjoy and learn.