When you think of legendary opening batsmen, you don’t have to make a long list before you get to Desmond Leo Haynes.

The West Indies opener forged the most successful opening partnership of all time with Gordon Greenidge and picked up a thing or two about batting over the course of 26,000 first-class runs.

Aakash Chopra joins the show on the phone to discuss the mindsets of being a successful player. But that doesn’t mean we miss any of the usual fun.

KP has the switch-hit, Dilshan has the Dil-scoop and Dhoni has the Helicopter shot. As club cricketers we can't use any of these high risk shots without looking foolish.

But this doesn’t mean us mere mortals can’t play any innovative shots to aid run rates.

While some of the more extreme shots are beyond us, we can all play shots outside the batting manual to implement lower risk shots that are still innovative. 

At club cricket the slower ball is Marmite. 

People either love it or hate because there’s a thin line between bravery and stupidity. Deciding when to use a slower ball is subjective and relative to the situation.

I see most people (and I myself am guilty of this too) bowl a slower ball after they have been hit for a boundary as a comeback ball.

Sushma has a young son who is keen on cricket. The boy wants to play for a club. Trouble is, Shushma doesn’t know where to start when looking for a local team.

Pick the right one and a player will flourish.

Pick the wrong one and his career is over before it begins. We have all seen youngsters fall by the wayside.

Wherever you live in the world, there are some things that remain constant.

The mental side of batting takes centre stage with a free preview from Aakash Chopra – Indian international – on how to play that old cliché of one ball at a time.

For more from Aakash enrol on his online coaching course Ranji to IPL.

There is also a lengthy discussion between show regulars Mark Garaway, David Hinchliffe and Burners on dealing with anxiety about getting out when you are in the middle.

Plus we rant about declarations and look into choosing a new cricket club.

And it wouldn’t be the cricket show without a discussion about cricket teas. Will the team really have a bake off after the close of play?

The slow scoring reliable opener, the hard hitting tail ender, the elegant stroke player, the strike bowler...

We all do it.

We label team mates to help determine their role in the side and to assist us in making decisions to best suit the situation.

Today’s article is a guest post by club cricketer and coach, AB.

Batsmen spend years practicing coping with increasingly quicker bowling.

Naturally your main improvement comes by training your feet to move early and instinctively as soon as you pick up the line and length out of the bowler's hand.

This makes perfect sense because you’re automatically in the right position to play the appropriate shot without ever having to think about your feet.

Left arm swing bowlers have unique advantages and challenges, so we look at the main ones this week. If you bowl left arm or coach left-armers this is the show for you.

• The problems of selecting a new coach (from international to club level)
• What we learned from Des Haynes
• How to stop bowling off cutters as a pace bowler

Plus we talk to Stuart Cope, Cricket Development Officer about cricket in inner cities, playing rep cricket and ambitions for the future. 

There no worse practice than when a set of bowlers practice one element of the game; and the batters try to work on another element entirely. 

Disjointed net sessions are counterproductive because nobody gets what they want: least of all you as the coach.