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PV/VIDEO Weekly Highlights: Unusual to Say the Least

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Welcome to the PV/VIDEO Digest, your highlights summary of the weeks best videos from PitchVision Interactive

You can share these videos by email or onto facebook, and post your comments right here: From serious analysis to Friday fun. Here are the top videos uploaded from PitchVision systems around the world this week.

Cricket Show S6 Episode 36: Arm Speed for Spinners

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PitchVision Academy - PitchVision Academy Cricket Show 328.mp3
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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 discussion on the importance of arm speed on getting spin on the ball. A great one for all you spinners.

Listen in, subscribe and enjoy!

CRICKET JOBS: Research Consultant - Chance to Shine (UK)

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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.”

How to Captain: Placing the Fielders

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.

Wrist Spin Variations

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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.

How to Have Batting Practice During Bowling Drills

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?

Cricket Show S6 Episode 35: Cricket or Boxing?

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PitchVision Academy - PitchVision Academy Cricket Show 327.mp3
8.87 MB

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.

Coaching Different Kinds of Leg Spinners

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?

Stop Coaching Cricket!

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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?

Improve Your Bowling Accuracy With the Right Focus

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.