What’s the best way to handle a pressure situation in a cricket match?

Simple: knowing you have been there before and succeeded. There is no better confidence than the confidence of experience. This is why practicing set pieces is a crucial tool for any side who want to know for sure they can battle out of any situation, no matter how rough.

A good coach or captain is always looking for ways to add this pressure into practice to build confidence. Set piece or scenario practice is the perfect tool for the job.

The Indian Premier League is a product as much as it is a cricket tournament. Many use this as a criticism, but for the budding club, school or academy cricketer it’s a real chance to improve.

Wherever you are in the world you will be able to see the IPL in action and that means you can see some of the world’s best players demonstrate their skills under huge pressure.

 Many have criticised the Indian Premier League as being less about cricket and more about entertainment. But it is very serious cricket business that is played by cricketers from which we can all learn lessons.

So, on the cusp of IPL 5, I take a look at some of the superstars of the game, and how you can match the players in your Twenty20 team to similar roles (even if the talent levels are not as high).

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

"I am 23 years old now. i play cricket at the club level. i am more interested in coaching and becoming a full time cricket coach. i want to start so early into coaching and would like to learn and deal with even the minute secrets of coaching and wants to be really successful in the field. can u suggest me how can i follow my dream and achieve my objective? "

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. 

With the IPL set to get underway, the team discuss Twenty20 cricket from the top to the grassroots and come up with some creative ideas for using the newest format.

Plus it wouldn’t be a podcast without your questions, so David Hinchliffe and Mark Garaway discuss fitness work in the last few days of preseason and how to become a professional cricket coach (even if you have not been a professional cricketer).

There are more balls hit into the air now that at any other time in cricket history. Matches and tournaments can be won and lost on the ability of a team or individual player to cling onto a Skyer.  So it is vital for us to develop the skills of our players to cope with this aerial onslaught.

The talented young bowler had broken into the first team at his club. But the Youth Coordinator insisted to the 1^st XI captain that he only bowled 7 overs in his spell because of the Bowling Directives.

Everything was fine until the day he bowled a destructive spell before having to be whipped off when he was in full flow.

Senior players muttered about the rules, saying it was a pointless exercise that would cost games.

A fellow coach and I were speaking last night about a perennial problem in our team: the ball stops swinging very early.

We blame the quality of the balls. This happens every season. The new ball wobbles a little but the deviation soon ends, often after as little as 10 overs.

But it’s not just about the ball. So here are 4 ways you can make a “bad” ball swing.

Modern professional cricket teams have a support team of analysts and specialists that the average side can only dream about.

Except, if you build it right, you can have a team that helps your side become the best they can be. And you don’t need to pay a bean in salary.

If you can build a diverse group of people with different levels of experience and success, you’ll be 100% more likely to score more runs, take more wickets and win more games.

From parents to coaches; a lot of people care about producing the next generation of high-class cricketers.

That’s why Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) is attractive: it’s a governing-body approved model for what to teach and when to teach it.

LTAD is a just model. It has really only been around for 10 years. There is little proof that it works.