The Complete Guide to Cricket

Want to get the inside track on playing cricket but don’t know where to start?

Try the PitchVision Academy Complete Guides. The links below contain the most comprehensive cricket coaching information anywhere online. They are a great place to start if you are new to the site, or if you just want to brush up on a few things.

If you are new to PitchVision Academy start here:

Kevin and I return to answering your questions this week. If you have a question you are dying to have answered please contact us.

Some of the things we discuss include:

Purpose: To practice ground fielding, backing up and throwing under pressure.

Description: The wicketkeeper (WK) rolls the ball out to position 1. At the same time the batter sets of for a quick single. The fielder must throw down the non striker stumps to run the batsman out. He or she then runs to back of the queue at position 2.

You can have as many team nights out, boot camps or bonding sessions as you like. If there is no basic trust and understanding of responsibilities then the team will not gel, at least not in my experience.

Expertise from captains, coaches and senior players is required if a team does not come together naturally. Most players are cynical to traditional 'team building' techniques, even if they really want it to work.

Roy Palmer is a coach, Alexander Technique teacher and author. This week I interviewed him about his unique approach to training for cricket.

We discuss how to improve performance by focusing on the fundamentals of movement and body awareness, something usually overlooked by coaches. The three books that we recommended during out chat were:

Widely considered to be the greatest one day batsman ever, Michael Bevan seemed to have two or three shots to every delivery. If he had stuck with the recognised wisdom he would not have been half as effective.

Nowadays he is not alone. Twenty20 is breeding batsmen and bowlers who are doing things that the authors of the MCC coaching book would baulk at.

So is it time to throw out the copy book and just play with natural flair and freedom?

Debate still rages about fitness training for cricket.

Many former pros still wonder why current player hit the gym. There argument (in many cases a sound one) is that there is little crossover to the pitch.

As we know, it all depends what you do in the gym. Cricketers are not bodybuilders and need to train for the specific demands of the game for both injury prevention and improving performance.

On the one hand, you would love to get one at almost any point in your spell, but how many bowlers plot to do it?

Most of us consider it a stroke of luck, perhaps a once in a lifetime thing.

Yet we all know proper planning and preparation is the way to success so why not plan how you are going to knock down three in three?

When I was a boy I would do anything to get out of eating those dreaded vegetables on the plate at dinner time.

They were green and often overcooked. The very thought of putting slimy spinach near my mouth was enough to turn my stomach. I'd try every trick in the book from hiding the peas under the leftover mashed potato to pleading stomach cramps.

With the cricket season starting, I thought I'd just make a couple of remarks regarding selections, performance and attitudes during the first few weeks of the season.

This is addressed to those players who have worked solidly through the off season and preseason periods. Players who have made significant changes to their games and players who are approaching the start of the season proper with optimism and positivity.