121. Don’t spit the dummy ever. Even if you have been given out and you are sure you are not out, or if you’ve got someone out and they’ve been given not out – it happens to everyone. In the long run bad luck and bad decisions against you will even out against good luck and bad decisions in your favour. (For this reason it is argued a batsman should never feel obliged to walk until officially dismissed by the umpire even if the batsman himself thinks he is out.)

120. When you are dismissed, walk off with your head up no matter what happened. It is cricket and not a place for a primmadonna. Show your disappointment by working harder at training not throwing your gear in the change room.

119. Walk off immediately when you are out, always ignoring any ‘send off’ you get, no matter how unwarranted.

114. As a habit always slide your bat across the crease when completing a run. Every time, every run, no matter how well in you are, because it is almost unforgivable to be run out as a consequence of merely not grounding your bat through complacency.

113. Never complain about LBWs going against you – if you had hit the ball with the middle of the bat then there would have been no appeal.

112. A batsman should never be tempted by small boundaries. Play each ball on its merits.

108. If you are upset about being dismissed, put it in perspective, remember it is a game and if getting out is the worst thing that happens in your life you will have had an extraordinarily good life. Look forward to the next time you get to bat.

107. A clever fielding team will know how to behave to each batsman so as to maximise the prevention of runs and the chance of getting the batsman out. With some batsmen just a little bit of chat or a dare will get them playing wild, ‘get-out’, show-off shots, while others get distracted by total silence. Field clever.

106. Only leave your crease to a spinner if you are certain you can hit the ball on the full – make sure you always try and avoid hitting the ball on the half-volley; miss-hitting a full-toss off the toe of your bat along the ground is less risky than trying to time a half volley. If you don’t get to the ball on the full, immediately think defence, get back in your crease and/or get something in the way of the ball to stop it getting to the keeper before you can get back in your crease.

105. When batting (especially at the start of an innings), keep your hands low in your back-lift, the faster balls are the fuller balls and also these are the ones that tend to hit the stumps so you want to be in position to counter these first and foremost. If the ball is short you should still have time to raise your hands to play it.