Becoming the Ranji Trophy’s highest ever run scorer takes relentless patience. You learn to bat the opposition out of the game by waiting and picking off the weak bowling.

Amol Muzumdar, who is in a see-saw competition with Wasim Jaffer to finish with the highest run tally, knows his game in this way. He has a strategy and he sticks to it.

But what if you are just starting out as a batter; how do you learn to play your own way and emulate this success in professional cricket?

Online coaching is what we do here at PitchVision Academy, which is why this week we are delighted to welcome Serious Cricket and their world-class coaches to the platform.

As you know, we are constantly seeking out talented players and coaches to give you the highest quality cricket coaching advice in the courses section.

Serious Cricket are in the same game and have gathered together 4 top coaches who we are adding to the fold here.

Serious Cricket have teamed up with PitchVision Academy to provide online cricket coaching from some top name coaches.

To celebrate the launch of the first course, Batting with Toby Radford we are giving away a free video on how to play the back foot defence.

Cricket is a game, but to do well you need to get serious. So who better to help you on your journey than the coaches at Serious Cricket?

To celebrate the arrival of Serious Cricket on PitchVision Academy You can get a free 10 week email-based coaching course that covers batting, fast bowling, spin bowling and wicketkeeping exclusively from the Serious Cricket coaches. Just enter your email below to get the goods.

This week's winner of the Cricket Show podcast question competition is Johnty. He wins a free coaching course from PitchVision Academy.

The winning question was:

"I'm a fast-medium bowler and have read your guide on getting 5-wicket hauls but they don't seem to work for me. I have played about 20 club matches and a couple of matches for my college. But a 5-wicket haul always keeps eluding me. The maximum no.of wickets in a match for me has always been two. Even a 3-wicket or a 4-wicket grab would've made me happy. Please help."

Listen to the panels answer to his question here.

To enter your own question for the chance to win your choice of online coaching course send your questions in here.

MCC President Philip Hodgson is interviewed this week by Martin Gleeson of Cricket India Academy. They talk cricket in Afganistan and Sri Lanka.

Burners plans his trip to Mumbai and David Hinchliffe and Mark Garaway answer coaching questions on taking 5 wicket hauls and the catching relationship between first slip and the wicketkeeper.

Slower balls and speed variations are important now more than ever where pitches are so flat that conventional swing bowling has a limited window of impact.

Here are 3 variations, as demonstrated by bowlers who have become masters of the slower ball.

Whatever level of cricket you play, you will recognise the pressure faced by cricketers playing in the current Ranji Trophy.

The tournament is typified by many games wedged into a short period, but as a player you are expected to be at your peak the whole time.

PV Coach Aaksash Chopra often talks about his stressful experiences

No wonder elements like gym work and healthy eating get cast aside when you are hit by the firehose of playing, travelling and nets without rest.

Mandeep hit us up with a problem he is having;

How would I set a field for aggressive batsmen? We are playing a team in a couple weeks time and their top 4 batsmen are very aggressive and good at finding boundaries all over the ground.

Sounds like a nightmare, especially if you are getting smashed all round the park.

This is the 2nd part of John Cook's guest spot on PitchVision Academy. Part 1 talked through the rationale for training and mobility. In this part we complete the picture.

A second attribute of fitness you can work on as a fast bowler is strength.

But where do we need strength and what is the best way to develop this?