Cricket coaching, fitness and tips - PitchVision Academy

Field Settings: Off spin, old ball, good wicket, long format

David.Hinchliffe — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:08:59 +0000

This article is part of "The complete guide to cricket field settings" series.

On good batting wickets, your off spinner is little more than a stock bowler. However, you are still trying to take wickets. With the right field (sometimes called 'in-out') and tactics you can run through a side by forcing errors, especially when bowling at the tail towards the end of an innings.

Bowling to this field

Patience and confidence in your tactics is the key, even when getting hit. The wicket is not on your side so you are trying to force an error from the batsman.

Pitch the ball up at a length of around 12-14 metres from the bowlers popping crease. Aim to get the batsman playing forward. Combine this with a line that allows the ball to hit the top or just miss off stump. If there is any turn this may be just outside the off.

The close fielders put pressure on, making it hard to score from defensive nudges. If the batsman decides to take you on to remove these fielders you improve your chances of a slip/keeper catch, stumping, bowled through the gate or caught in the deep.

Extra cover and mid off are key positions for you, stopping drives which will be most batsmen's escape route from the pressure. Place extra cover too square and he becomes redundant.

Bowling variations

When conditions are not in your favour, the clever use of variations can help you take wickets. The key is to learn and practice these as much as you can as none are easy skills to master.

Flight. The ability to vary place the ball in the same spot but with different heights on the ball is very deceptive. On good wickets you can vary the flight of almost every ball, or just throw in the odd flatter/loopy ball if you feel the batsman is in a rhythm.
Arm ball. The ball that drifts away from the right hander is an excellent way to get players caught at slip. Pitch it further up and with a middle stump line.
Doosra. If you can bowl the one that goes the other way (a rare skill), bowl it at middle stump on a length and hope it catches the edge or the top of off stump.

Avoid bowling

Like all fields, loose bowling can be punished, but you do have protection in key areas to try and restrict the easy flow of runs.

Too fast and flat. The odd flatter ball is good as a variation, but if the batsman realises you are firing it in they can work the ball around for singles and twos using the pace of the ball and the gaps in the leg side ring.
Long hops (especially wide of off stump). Just short of a length is hard to get away, but genuine short balls can be hit for boundaries, especially on the unprotected square off side.
Half volley length. You are looking to encourage the batsman to drive but genuine half volley length can be hit for boundaries straight or through cover.

Field Variations

Deep square leg can be set to save the single either square or just behind to stop the sweep shot.
Deep midwicket can be moved into orthodox or short midwicket to attack further or encourage hitting over the top across the line.
Short point can be moved to short third man to save the single.
Leg slip can go squarer to backward square leg or deeper to short fine leg to prevent the sweep.

Batting against this field

This is a field that encourages you to play your shots and make an error. There are a lot of places to score runs, but unless you are well set and confident they all carry a certain risk.

Defend with soft hands. Avoid pushing at the ball early on and knocking it into a close fielders hands. Pounce on anything to cut or pull along the ground. If the bowler is too flat and pushing it through without much turn, you can go harder at the ball using the pace to get it into the large gaps.

As you gain confidence, look to drive with care. It's generally safer to drive off the back foot where you can work the ball into either side. At first drive straight, but be prepared to open out into cover drives when you have a feel for the pace and turn of the wicket. You can use your feet to upset the bowler's line but be watchful for variations in pace and flight to try and put you off your rhythm. When in doubt, play defensively.

Avoid hitting over the top unless you really have the bowlers number.

If you are a confident sweeper (or reverse sweeper) there are two large gaps behind square for scoring boundaries. This will quickly be plugged but usually a close fielder goes back taking a little pressure off you.

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Improve your fielding by working as a team

David.Hinchliffe — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:01:42 +0000

Do you sometimes feel alone in the field?

There is the famous story of an English club player many years ago. He was sent to field on the boundary on a pitch with a large slope: A slope so steep that when he got to his position he could no longer see the action.

Undeterred by this he faithfully fielded in the same position all afternoon. Nothing came to him.

Nothing that is until suddenly he heard cries of 'catch!' and seeing a ball fly through the air to him he steadied himself under it. Upon taking the catch confidently he ran back up the slope to take the applause from his team mates.

He was met by the sight of eleven men he didn't recognise and his own captain walking off with a bat under his arm. Our man was so isolated that he had not realised the innings had changed and he had been fielding for the opposition.

The very opposite of good team fielding.

It's impossible to say if the story is true, but I have certainly played in teams where it could be possible.

A good fielding unit would never let that happen. Besides, it takes all the fun out of fielding (which should be fun when done right)

Field as a unit

What is the basic job of all fielders?

Stopping runs and taking catches, or to put it another way: Attack or defend.

The best way to go about this is to adopt a philosophy of trying to dominate the batsman together. The best fielding teams make batting seem very lonely with 11 psyched up fielders working together to force an error.

On the other hand, Batters also quickly pick up on a negative atmosphere where bowlers don't trust fielders and everyone is quiet.

How do you psychologically stay on top as a fielding team and avoid getting caught out by your own player?

Decide on tactics. If you can before play, take 5 minutes to talk about the opposition and conditions. Work out what fielding tactics will work best for what players. If you don't get the time before play, chat about it as you walk out onto the field.
Take personal responsibility. A positive atmosphere starts with individuals. It's hard to stay negative in a team where players are supporting good play, enjoying their fielding and talking tactics between overs. You also need to take responsibility for your own attitude.
Be loyal. Everyone makes mistakes. Catches get dropped and balls are misfielded. You can use the stop technique to put your own mistakes out of your mind. You can also help others by supporting them when they make an error. There is nothing better than a bowler going up to a fielder who has just dropped an easy catch and telling him "never mind, catch the next one to make up for it".
Move around. A simple trick the captain or bowler can use is to move players around positions. This keeps everyone on their toes (including the batsmen who have to keep an eye on where the strong fielders have moved to).
Trigger your focus. It's easy to lose focus especially when the day is hot, the batting is dull and not much is coming your way. To avoid this, use triggers to switch on and off in a similar way to when you are batting. If you are in the deep you need slightly less focus than if you are up close, but never drift away completely.

Have you tried fielding as a unit? What are your team's fielding experiences? Leave a comment and let me know.

Image credit: mrs2fat

How to avoid becoming a cricket robot

David.Hinchliffe — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:00:06 +0000

Is it possible to forget about playing cricket?

Our sport relies heavily on technique. It's possible to spend hours working out which tiny aspect or another will correct errors. The holy grail of runs and wickets, some can imagine, is just a technical tweak away.

But is it?

Are we in danger of going too far down the technical route and forgetting how to play?

Cricket is also a game that requires rhythm and flowing movement. Many first class players in recent times have been accused of becoming 'robotic'. Too reliant on their coaches' aims to produce technical perfection, they have become lesser players because their natural instincts have been over-coached out of them.

That doesn't sound much like play to me.

In Greg Chappell's coaching book he lists 24 great cricketers who learned the game in an unstructured play-like way: Names that include himself, Don Bradman, Fred Trueman and Bishen Bedi.

These names learned to enjoy playing cricket by picking up a bat and a ball and playing games in the street, park or on the beach. They learned what worked and what didn't work for them. They saw the greats of their childhood play and picked up tips. They moved and played in an unstructured way.

They had fun and didn't worry about technique.

You could argue that these greats were natural cricketers who didn't need much coaching. You could also argue that perhaps they made the most of their talent because they didn't get much coaching in the first place.

Free play

In many ways, miCoach is just as guilty of this. I started this site as a way of focusing on the details. I analyse the difference between this method and that in the effort to bring you the most cutting edge reliable information. Sometimes I forget that it is supposed to be fun too.

Sometimes it's better to leave the coaching aids and training plans behind. It's good for any age player to just play: Experiment and push the limits of what you can do. You can fail safe in the knowledge that failing is part of learning.

There is room for everyone to have both structured and unstructured training. A good coach can make sure that coaching sessions have drilling, competing and playing.

To just be structured when you train leads to robotic, over-technical players who think technique is everything.

To bring in a bit of play reminds us to relax and stop thinking about it so much.

Some free play methods

So how do you integrate free play into your training? The joy of this is that it doesn't really matter, as long as you are safe you can do anything. Here are some examples of things I have tried (or want to try):

Grab an old bat and anything for a ball, gather up some friends/family and go have in impromptu game somewhere: Park, beach, street or aircraft carrier.
Cover a tennis ball in masking tape, take a bat to a tennis, squash or basketball court and learn the fun of tape ball.
When doing batting or bowling drills, focus on hitting targets rather than what is the correct technique
Take your team to a different location to train and do something unexpected like a workout using the park children's play equipment (making sure there are no children around first of course).
Play a practice match in your training sessions instead of having a net, but play with a soft ball and make it a 5 over slog.

Let your imagination run wild and move, have fun and relax. No robots allowed.

Image credit: Niyantha

Cricket food ideas: Go nuts

David.Hinchliffe — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:00:49 +0000

Stone Age man was probably too busy wrestling sabre tooth tigers, hunting, fishing and gathering to play even the most primitive game of cricket. He was pretty fit and strong though, so maybe we can learn a thing or two from his way of life.

One of the staples of his diet was plain old nuts.

He was certainly onto something, because research since has shown that raw nuts are quite the superfood. The boffins tell us that adding nuts to your diet leads to:

Improved body composition. Eating nuts boosts your metabolism leading to lower body fat levels and improved lean muscle. They also fill you up making you less likely to overeat.
Better digestion. Nuts are high in fibre so when combined with green vegetables and raw fruit can prevent or even cure minor digestive issue. Yes, they make you go to the loo.
Improved heart health. The healthy fats and vitamin E in nuts have been show to improve a range of heart health indicators including lowering cholesterol. Long term studies have also seen nut eaters have up to 50% less lower risk.
Portable. You can take nuts anywhere to snack on, making them just as easy to eat as a chocolate bar and guilt free too.

So unless you have an allergy, get your nuts every day. About an ounce (28g) spread over the day should give you all the benefits.

Walnuts (also high in Omega 3), almonds, brazil nuts, macadamias, pistachios, cashews, hazelnuts, and pecans are all good for you as long as they are the raw type (not roasted and salted as the processing takes away some goodness). Peanuts, although not technically nuts, have been shown to have the same benefits.

Personally I'm partial to natural peanut butter (no added sugar), often stealing a scoop right out of the jar to get my fix. Pecans also go really well with salmon.

Image credit: law_keven

7 Ways cricketers can stop lower back pain

David.Hinchliffe — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:25:51 +0000

Back pain is surprisingly common. Yet in many cases it can be reversed easily, so why suffer?

My job involves a lot of sitting down: writing and travelling are big parts of my life. Combined with regular years of playing/coaching and a body in the 30's and you get a high risk of back trouble. It's true I have had the odd bout of taking anti-inflammatory pills for an ache over the years, but in recent times I have learned some simple ways to prevent it.

Here is what I have discovered.

1. Examine your technique

I don't bowl myself, but I have seen the figures from the ECB for bowling injuries. By far the biggest cause of back pain in bowlers is a mixed action. That is when your hips and shoulders are not in line when you enter your delivery stride.

The reason this is bad for the back is that your lumbar spine is not designed to twist. It can twist a little but repeatedly asking it to do so (such as when you bowl a spell) will eventually cause an ache that perhaps grows to a full stress fracture.

Ideally you will have a coach who can help realign your body to a front on, mid way or side on action. If you don't have access to a coach you may want to consider an online cricket coach such as you can get at PitchVision Academy.

2. Stretch your hips

Very often with back pain, the symptom is not the cause.

I see players, even at professional level, stretch their lower back when warming up. As we already know, the back is not designed to stretch. It's the equivalent of picking at a scab: Feels good but not the right thing to do.

Instead, take a look at your hips. Modern lifestyles of inactivity and sitting in daily life lead to inflexible hips with your lower back taking up the strain of reduced range of motion. So the answer is simple: Stretch your hips, not your back. Stronglifts has an excellent guide on hip mobility here. You can do this stretching every day without fear and should at the very least be doing it before any physical activity (cricket included).

3. Strengthen your core

The muscles in your back and stomach area that can't be seen (even if you have a six pack) act as stabilisers for your back. They hold the spine in a healthy position and work on a subconscious level. That means you can't strengthen them with crunches.

Instead, focus on the body awareness that will help your body hold the spin in place. Yoga can teach you the basics of body awareness as can a corrective exercise plan designed by a qualified sports medicine practitioner.

Combine this with core stabilising exercises like planks and side bridges and you begin to bulletproof your back.

As Gray Cook says, the focus is not on creating more power from the core, but learning how it can stabilise your back while movement is occurring.

4. Warm your muscles

It's common in England when the season starts in April to be less than warm. It's also common to see club players, on the first day of the season, getting out of their cars after months of inactivity and going out to bowl or bat.

I'm sure it's similar all over the world. No wonder the back starts to complain.

It's essential to warm up before play in any conditions, especially the cold of the English spring. Build up to the big stuff by warming up for a few minutes.

The same applies to any heavy or long lasting activity. A few minutes of dynamic stretching will make all the difference.

5. Stand up

As we know from our hips, modern living is hard on the body. We sit down to drive, sit down and hunch over the computer and even sit down on the machines in the gym!

If you spend a lot of time sitting, just standing up will do your back the world of good. Once an hour or so, get up and do something: get a drink, walk around, do a couple of static stretches then get back to sitting. It should only take 1 minute.

The same also applies if you are on your feet all day. Take a few minutes every couple of hours to sit or lie down. Your back needs the variety.

6. Get a massage

Everyone gets knots in their muscles through daily use, even if they don't play cricket. Massaging the soft tissue can work them out, restore full function to your muscles and reduce pain.

You can get a professional to do it, or even do it yourself with a foam roller.

7. Move your butt!

Physical trainer Keith Scott deals with a lot of clients with back pain. He claims 99% of his clients have weak glute muscles. Sitting all day shuts them off and cause the hamstrings to take up the slack which puts pressure on the back again.

The simple solution to this is to reactivate the glute muscles in two ways. First, as part of your warm up include movements like glute bridges. Second, in the gym train your glutes directly with exercises like single and double leg deadlifts.

I know from my own experience that this stuff works to reduce the pain when it comes. Get into the good habits and you may save yourself from injury too.

Image credit: Pensiero

Cricket Show 13: Cricket fitness with Rob Ahmun

David.Hinchliffe — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:27:18 +0000

Its cricket fitness special this week as I interview Glamorgan CCC Strength and Conditioning coach Rob Ahmun.

We cover a wide range of performance enhancing and injury prevention tips for cricketers of all levels including:

The role of fitness in both professional and club cricket
How professional cricketers train for strength, power and endurance (and how club players can adapt their methods)
How to save time and be more efficient with your fitness training
Protecting against shoulder injuries
Training for women and Under 18's
Training if you have an extended season

If you have a question or feedback for miCoach drop us an email.

You can download the show onto your computer by right clicking on the link below and choosing "Save Target as..."

You can also subscribe to the show to get it every week. It's free. You can add the feed to or any podcast catching program: http://feeds.feedburner.com/MicoachCricketShow

The show is also available in iTunes.

Field Settings: Medium pace, some movement, slow wicket, limited overs

David.Hinchliffe — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:09:25 +0000

This article is part of "The complete guide to cricket field settings" series.

This is a field with a single purpose but can be used by medium paced bowlers from the faster to the slower end. The purpose is to 'squeeze' a batsman who is looking to score runs by stopping the singles. It does away with attacking fielders to prevent the runs so is ideal in limited overs cricket.

It can be used early on in the game or in the middle overs, but the later stages need to be even more defensive.

It can also be used in longer format games to frustrate batsman who are taking easy singles but not hitting many boundaries.

Bowling to this field

With a slow pitch, a slow outfield, some movement and pitched up bowling (around 12-15m from the bowlers popping crease) this field can be frustratingly hard to pierce. The conditions do the work for you.

Wickets come from batsmen trying to create runs under pressure of the clock, so bowl a consistent off stump line and aim to bowl maidens.

Bowling variations

For bowlers this is a field with a specific tactic. That means there is no scope for variations. You want to predictably put the ball in the same spot every time rather than mix things up.

If the batsman is overcoming the tactic by scoring runs easily then go for a different field with scope for variety.

Avoid bowling

Batsmen can throw the bat at bad balls knowing there are no attacking fielders so avoid:

Short of a length/long hop. Anything too short (around 11m or closer to the bowler's popping crease) will sit up on a slow wicket and can be cut or pulled easily by most batsmen. The better the back foot player, the closer they can cut and pull giving less room you have for error.
Half volley length. Most drivable balls (over 14m from the bowler's popping crease) have good outfield protection but there is little boundary cover square on the off side so penetrating the infield leads to runs. Even wide half volleys are safe to hit as edges wide of the keeper are unprotected.

Field variations

Most of these variations work better at the faster end of medium paced bowling.

If you bowl away swing/seam you can move square leg to strengthen the off side.
Fine leg and third man can move up to save the single. Third man can even move to a deep gulley position for the slashed drive or mishit cut.
Mid on and mid off can be pushed back into the deep with extra cover and mid wicket level with the bowlers stumps to save the driven single.
Cover can be set deep. Point can also be moved back, but not both at the same time.
Square leg can move to the boundary, especially if the ball is moving in to the batsman.
If third man and cover are saving one, point may be better used at third man, short fine leg or deep midwicket/cow corner.
The wicketkeeper can stand up to add even more pressure.

Batting against this field

As soon as you see this field in place you know what the tactic will be. If you are lucky the bowler will not find the right line and length and you can pierce the infield with good timing for easy runs.

If the bowler is on top of you, it is very hard to score and you will quickly get frustrated unless you find a way out. The easiest 'get out' shots are over the top of the field: Straight and midwicket areas.

You can also pick up singles down to fine leg and third man with late cuts and flicks off the leg.

Images supplied by PitchVision - Coach Edition software

Free video reveals how bowling 3 different lines can get you more wickets

David.Hinchliffe — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:37:51 +0000

There are a variety of different lines and lengths to bowl. Many club bowlers sick doggedly to the 'corridor of uncertainty'.

While this is a good area to bowl, Sticking to one line and length reduces you chance of wickets.

In this short video, I show you how to adapt your bowling to different situations.

This "situational" style bowling will give you better results.

As a side note, this is a quick video I knocked up this morning so the quality is not perfect, however I'm interested in your feedback.

Do you prefer this type of video it to traditional written articles or not?

If you like it I can produce more, if not I can go back to articles.

Give me your thoughts in the comments section or via email.

Q&A: The miCoach cricket fitness plan

David.Hinchliffe — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:15:46 +0000

Since I posted version 2 of the miCoach cricket fitness plan, a few questions have come up, mostly via email. I want to answer those questions today.

If you are using the plan and need to understand a little more about it you can leave your question here. I'll answer anything you need to know.

Anyway, on with the questions:

Q: What type of exercises can I use for bodyweight training?

A:There are a wide variety of exercises using your body only. The trick with these is to pick exercises that can work the whole body when they are put together. You can split it into movements like this:

Power: plyometric press ups, jump squats, scissors jumps.
Pushing: press ups (several variations), dips, handstand press ups.
Pulling: chin ups, inverted rows.
Knee dominant: squats (several variations), single leg squats, lunges.
Hip Dominant: cook hip lift, glute bridges, single leg deadlifts.
Core: Planks, side planks, crunch variations, leg raises
Full body: burpees, crawling.

There are many more, some more focused on mobility, others on strength but the key is to do 1-3 exercises from each movement so your whole body is covered.

If you want a complete program, turbulence training follows this approach and has a complete bodyweight section that you can do almost anywhere.

Q: How is interval running different from acceleration training?

A: Simply, interval training is mainly designed for developing sport specific endurance (or work capacity). A full explanation is here. Acceleration training is a type of speed work designed to improve your ability to get to top speed quickly.

Both these will improve with general training, particularly strength and mobility. However, specific acceleration training can easily be done in a field with a few cones or markers.

Its best done in pairs so you can examine your sprint technique. Mark out a short distance (10-15m or so). Set yourself at the start line. On a cue from your partner, aim to cover the distance as fast as possible, accelerating through the second marker.

It's important to get a full recovery so leave at least 2 minutes between attempts.

Variations on this include:

Changing start position (lying, sideways, backwards, walking in)
Wearing batting equipment
Racing others
Adding a ball as a cue (i.e. Try to catch it on the second bounce)

Make it a game and they can be a lot of fun, especially when the competitive side comes out!

Keep acceleration sessions short but intense with 5 sets of sprints. Always do them at the start of a training session (after warming up) but you can integrate it in to other training types if you want.

Q: What is steady state running and how does it differ from interval training?

A:Steady state running is simply jogging. So if you were to go on a jog you would want to run about 15-20 minutes nonstop (after a suitable warm up) this helps with reduction of body fat and increases in aerobic capacity. It's not very specific or efficient to do this so it is reserved for the deep off season when the least specific work is done.

This type of training can also include 'long intervals' where you run for 5-10 minutes and walk/jog for 2-3 minutes.

Most cricket endurance training is done via the various shorter interval methods as it is more specific. The main difference between the two types is rest. With steady state you never stop, even if you just drop to walking pace. With intervals you stop between sets.

Q: Can you give me an example circuit session/simple set/super set workout for fast bowlers?

A:I have lumped all these into one question to make it easier to answer.

First, let me explain each method:

Circuit training is a good way of improving all round fitness and is very time efficient. Typically you move between 5-8 exercises with no rest. After the last exercise you rest for 1-2 minutes and repeat for a given number of 'circuits'.
Simple set training is the classic gym weights workout. You pick you exercises, how many times you want to lift the weight (rep) and how many times you want to repeat the lift (set). The classic example is the Stronglifts 5x5.
Super set training is a variation on simple set. You still have exercises in sets and reps but you pair two different (usually opposite) exercises together and do them without rest. This saves time and gives a slightly different effect.

I'm reserving the actual workouts for the PitchVision Academy. This is because there are too many variables (equipment, time available) to be able to cover it all in one article. The fitness section is written by a first class county strength and conditioning coach and will give you position specific workouts.

You can do all these training types with dumbbells or a barbell. Mix in some bodyweight stuff if you like but still stick to the exercises based on movements:

Power
Pushing
Pulling
Knee dominant
Hip Dominant
Core
Full body

If you want sample exercises for this I recommend the excellent Men's Health Book of Power Training which has over 300 pages of exercises to put into circuits, simple or super sets, sorted by movement type. It's a brilliant resource.

Q: I don’t have access to a fitness trainer, can I still do Olympic lifts?

A: Olympic lifting (OL) is a very good way of developing speed, strength and power for cricket. You are moving weights with great speed and coordination which translates well to batting, bowling and fielding.

The problem is that they are very hard to learn. It's dangerous to do OL without proper coaching so forget about attempting power cleans or snatches without a coach. That said you can still get a great deal of benefits by using the safer OL variations.

Variations are a single part of full OL, so are safer but still allow you to perform explosive movements and get the benefits. You can safely perform the following moves without a coach (although you may want a training partner to watch your form):

Squat jump (with and without weight)
Hang jump shrug
Clean pull
High pull

All cricketers serious about improving their fitness should have some variation in there as the power generation benefits are very applicable to cricket. For explanations and pictures of these take a look at the Men's Health Book of Power Training.

That's all the questions about the cricket fitness plan for now. If you have any yourself you can post them here for me to answer.

Image credit: reemer

Diary of a future cricket star: Conditioning camp

David.Hinchliffe — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:07:38 +0000

miCoach reader and cricketer is a 14 year old all rounder who has already played for the UAE Under 15's, Young Talent Cricket Academy and Talent Cricket Club. In the future he plans on a long and illustrious International career. Follow his progress here. You can also find out what he is doing on his twitter page.

This week Shaaz gets a taste of professional fitness training at the UAE Under 17 Conditioning Camp.

Monday

Today was the first day of 'Conditioning Camp'. It was fitness and fielding related coordination, mental alertness and concentration drills.

There wasn't much of jogging (our training camps give more importance speed). However, we did lots of dynamic warm-up and most of the exercises were weird and new.

Once we were completely warmed up we did lots of sprints. The coaches timed each one of us, and told us where we stood compared to international standards. We did strengthening exercises, followed by lots of fielding drills.

The first drill was about team work -and it required you to call out players' names to ensure that you did what you were supposed. The other two were on mental toughness. You were supposed to catch the ball in confusing situations. We ended with a cool down.

Tuesday

I didn't get as much sleep as I would've wanted. My thighs, hamstring, back, shoulders: Yeah, it was paining everywhere! I had slept at 11:30 pm and woke up at 6 am to go to school. I had to stay back at school for an extra two hours to write a test. I managed to get some sleep in the evening. That relaxed my back tremendously (I slept with a pillow under my knee).

At the camp, after warm-up and sprints we started with more fielding drills.

We played a game (two teams) where you just kept on backing up and throwing at a single target stump. Then we did fielding and throwing underarm. We were taught the technique picking up the ball at the right spot (just in front of the outside of your right leg if you're right handed) and flicking the wrists (not swinging the arm) to avoid wasting time. I also found it helpful to align myself with the stump as I ran in to pick the ball. We finished with a cool down.

Wednesday

I didn't manage to get enough sleep once again and had to make up for it in the evening. My back was fine, even though my thighs and hamstrings weren't.

The camp was more fitness. Instead of sprints we were made to do a drill where there were four cones, and three cones had balls placed on top. You just had sprint and place a ball on the empty cone three times until all the balls were on a new cone and then sprint back. We were all timed.

The coaches then showed us exercises we could at home to strengthen various parts of the body. They told us which parts of the body were used while playing cricket and how much was used.

Thursday

Today was a rest day and a much needed one!

Friday and Saturday

Matches on both days. You can see how I did on my twitter page.

Photo credit: Seema KK