104. Keep your eyes on the ball for as long as possible when ducking – move as late as you can by watching the ball as far as you can. The ball slows down dramatically after bouncing so don’t panic on short balls if you haven’t immediately picked it up in flight – chances are you will with plenty of time to watch it still and decide whether to take avoidance or hit the ball.

103. Indoor cricket is excellent for working on bowling and fielding skills but make sure that when batting you don’t get too much into the habit of chopping the ball down hard into the ground or trying to play too square of the wicket.

102. Timing is more important to a batsman than bat speed or weight or even how hard you swing at the ball. Watch the ball all the way into the middle of the bat and it will get to the boundary.

101. It is dangerous to ‘give yourself room’ when trying to cut balls close to the stumps because it encourages a bad habit of moving the head backwards. When a player starts pulling their head and thus their weight back to the leg-side when cutting, the shot becomes out of control and is usually missed or mishit. (If the game demands you give yourself room to cut balls on the stumps still make sure that after the initial movement backwards you return the direction of your weight (and head) to moving forwards towards the line of the ball as you play the shot.)

100. Put your weight into your cut shots. Simply step back and across into the cut shot, hit it hard but concentrate on your weight moving towards the ball and getting the ball to the ground before it reaches the fielding ring. You should be able to play a cut balanced comfortably on your back foot without swaying backwards and then remain balanced on that foot after hitting the shot.

99. In defence against a spinner you can never smother the spin enough. Work hard at getting as close to the pitch of good length balls as you can, stay low, play with soft hands but play to hit the ball with the middle of the bat.

98. When batting against spin and slower bowlers and on pitches that are keeping a bit low be prepared to go forward onto the front foot by default to ‘in between balls’ and cover as much movement as possible. Always get your foot as close to the pitch of the ball as possible on the front foot (of course, remaining in your crease if the keeper is up).

97. When batting against fast bowlers or on bouncy pitches be prepared to go back and across by default to balls that could be played of either the front or back foot.

96. When playing the sweep shot make sure the ball hits your pad if you miss. Don’t get bowled or stumped around your legs.

95. It is better to discard a risky shot or tactic that is getting you out than to try and hit your way into form with it.