Fitness | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

4 reasons why Mike Selvey is wrong about running. (Or why Steven Finn won’t be like Bob Willis.)

Mike Selvey, cricket writer, commentator and England international knows a thing or two about fast bowling. He took over 1000 wickets.

But he’s perpetuating a myth will harm upcoming young bowlers if they follow his advice.

So it’s time for a rebuttal; long, slow distance running is not the way to get fit for bowling.

Readers Tips: 21 spin bowling tips

Earlier this week I ran an article from spin bowling guru Menno Gazendam. It got one reader so fired up that he sent me a huge email reply packed with tips.

It was so good I just had to share it with you.

So thanks to Shiva, an NCA qualified coach in India for the following:

What’s better for cricket: Bodyweight or weight training?

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Everyone knows you need to be fit to play cricket at your best.

Where the disagreements start is on the best way to do it.

Because fitness is cricket new (and still not fully accepted in many quarters) players who are keen to train have had to take lessons from other sports that have been faster to embrace the benefits of strength training: Rugby, American Football, Track and Field.

And in turn these sports have taken their cue from the original gymnastics and strongman training that dates back as far as the Ancient Greeks.

The 6 traits of first team cricketers

Cricket club selection meetings always bring up controversy.

In every club that puts out more than one team, there is bound to be the fringe player who splits the committee. In my club this is especially true of young players looking to break into the first XI.

I’ve sat on selection committee all this season and one of the qualifiers for whether a player is given a chance or not is if he ‘looks like a first team player’.

One fast, simple way to improve your cricket stamina

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Everyone who has played cricket has felt that 'heavy leg' feeling.

You want to keep going, but the body just doesn't give you the same after a long innings, bowling spell or session in the field.

While no one can stave off the feeling forever, there is a really simple way to get more stamina.

Up the anti: Why you need to forget core training for cricket

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Core training is dead.

Ask any power lifter. They don't bother training the core.

Why would you when squatting and deadlifting movements give you abs like iron anyway?

And cricketers can learn from this idea.

The fact is that lower back injuries in cricket happen because the spine is moving too much. The fast bowler with a mixed action has a lot of rotation at the spine and over time this leads to pain and stress fractures.

Cricket Show 86: Notes from the first team

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PitchVision Academy Cricket Show

David talks about his experiences moving up a level last week while Kevin looks on in awe (at least we think that face is awe). Listen to the show to find out how things went in the first team.

Plus we answer your questions based around fitness issues this week, including:

Strengthen up like Stuart Broad and Steven Finn

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If you need proof that cricket is changing, look no further than English fast bowler's Stuart Broad and Steven Finn.

The pacemen were the first to openly miss competitive cricket to improve their strength and conditioning, showing how important fitness has become, especially to young fast bowlers.

If you have lofty fast bowling ambitions, should you follow their lead?

5 Ways to recover from a hard day's cricket

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How do you get over that next day (or few days) soreness that cricket gives you?

I'm thinking about it especially today because, until now, my team have been good enough to bowl sides out well inside the allotted 50 overs. But this weekend it took the full overs to get the runs and my keeping legs have been feeling the strain.

It's not just annoying to walk around at work feeling stiff on a Monday either.

Whistling down the mine: How to improve your bowling by going back to the old days

It used to be said that if Yorkshire (and England) needed a fast bowler they just whistled down the nearest mine.

These men seemed carved from granite. They bowled a thousand overs a season on nothing but a warm beer and a bag of chips at the close of play. They only ever got injured if they broke their knuckles on someone's jaw.