This short video discusses the benefits of the modern method of taking outfield throws from in front of the stumps.

Is it always a good idea? Watch the video to find out from a real life run out experience.

Click here to view the video.

The core of bowling speed is in your action; get it right and you can bowl much faster. Your action is made up of 4 fundamental points, dubbed the 4 Tent Pegs by Ian Pont.

Ian has coached players from youngers up to full Internationals and has a track record of success. In this video he reveals the secrets of the 4 Tent Pegs and shows you how you can use them to become a fast bowling cricketer.

Menno Gazendam is author of Spin Bowling Project. Get your free 8 week spin bowling course here. 

Spinners that fit into the "successful and unorthodox" or mystery spinner category are from countries who do not have much formalised coaching for juniors; India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Players like Murali are left to themselves in their junior years, untouched by sustained structured coaching, to develop their skills in combination with their weird action.

That's why England or Australia will never produce a Mendis.

Psychologist columnist Karl Stevenson tells us why it's time to forget about the textbook when it comes to batting.

Here is an over-rated phrase:

"That shot is straight out of the textbook!"

The truth is that in the modern era of cricket we hear it less and less. It's no longer relevant, if it ever was.

My problem with the textbook starts with three simple questions; if we look at these questions, we uncover the fundamentals of how batsmen really develop a successful technique.

Menno Gazendam is author of Spin Bowling Project. Get your free 8 week spin bowling course here. 

Asking how long the run up should be is a common question.

And as always, no definitive answer.

Primarily, rhythm is everything: from dancing to delivering the perfect off-break.

It all involves going through the mechanics, feeling comfortable and knowing what the next move should be: a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement.

This summer at Millfield School we ran an experiment in improving the power hitting of the 1st XI players.

It was a new concept to us, and I wanted to see how well it would work. Here is what we did; and what we found out on the way.

We introduced “Back-loading” and played around with shifting weight in the set up as a batter waits for the bowler to release the ball.

This interactive diagram is part of a series from Ryan Maron's Cricket School of Excellence. This time we look at back foot defence. To see Ryan's previous tips, click here.

Ryan Maron - the former Western Province player - is one of South Africa’s leading coaches, running his famous Cricket School of Excellence in Cape Town for over 10 years as well as being Head coach of the University of Cape Town.

Menno Gazendam is author of Spin Bowling Project. Get your free 8 week spin bowling course here.

Finger spinners spin with their fingers. And so, they cannot generate as much spin as a leggies.

This is a guest article from Tom Matcham

No country can consistently produce fast bowlers.

Why?

It’s clearly desirable and clearly possible: the West Indies proved this in the 1980s. With all the science and coaching effort being put into understanding cricket, why do we understand bowling so poorly?

We are not training our bowlers correctly. We have not learnt enough from older, wiser sports, and this is evident in our variable results.

In fact, bowling over 161kph should not be a particularly exceptional achievement.

Gary Palmer has a new online coaching course up on PitchVision Academy where he reveals all the secrets of his latest system - 4 Angles.

In this free preview video, Gary talks you through the 4 Angles system and why it trumps the methods that are currently being used by coaches.