Charlie is a 19 year old batsman on the brink of making it as a regular in his club 1st XI. He is aiming to score a century in that team this year and in the longer term make it into county cricket. Last year he met his goal of scoring a first team 50 and averaged 16.5.

Mental Skills

Charlie has a good mental approach and uses a lot of techniques already to maintain concentration and set goals. He wants to gain self confidence and this can be done by some more specific goal setting. I feel he may also benefit from learning how to relax at the crease and will show him some ways to do this.

Today's coaching tip is from new guest poster Matt Homes.

photo credit: jnxyz

"You are an athlete in your approach to the wicket, until you hit the crease when you become a bowler."

I hear that phrase a lot from various coaches to fast/medium paced bowlers. It's very true as this maintains the momentum to work in straight lines towards the target with a good arm drive.

Matt is captain, opening bowler and lower order biffer for a side in the West Sussex Cricket League. He is in his mid 30s and last year averaged 16 with the bat and 24 with the ball taking 12 wickets in 13 games. He has recently dropped down a level to captain and improve standards but last year things did not go his way personally or as a team. This season he wants to turn the team round from a bottom side to win promotion.

photo credit: Usodesita

I just joined an 'old school' bodybuilding/powerlifting gym and it's one of the best decisions I have made for my game.

A spit and sawdust gym might not seem an obvious place to start improving your performance in the middle. In the few short weeks I have been there I can say it has had nothing but a positive effect. Here is why:

Here are 2 more participants in the Case Study series this year.

James

James is another unique member of the trial. He calls himself a 'specialist fielder' although he does bat and bowl at 3rd XI level in the West Sussex Cricket League Division 4. He has little experience in the game having taken it up for social reasons last year. He has no ambitions to play at a higher level, just to have more success at his current standard.

image credit: Cronfeld

A friend who I had not seen for a while was staying with me for a few days. He was shocked when he saw what I ate.

"Are you trying to bulk up?" he asked.

I'm not sure what prompted the comment. I was eating a salmon fillet with spinach at the time. Perhaps he had seen in my supplement cupboard. A place that I admit appears to be bulging with all kinds of powders and pills.

I have been sent a great story by Jon Dixon about a Beach cricket event he is putting on this year. Take a moment to check out the details:

Proceeds from the first ever UK International Beach Cricket Tournament are to go back to local cricket this summer. Set on the glorious sands of Weymouth Beach the event will feature players from village green to Test arena.

Last night I ran a fielding only net session for my club.

As it's winter here the cold and dark restricted us to the local sports hall.

Normally we have a net session but I have long been gunning for more fielding practice and Sam, our club captain, decided he wanted the same and asked me to run a session. The session was an hour for around 14 adults ranging in skill from club first to third team. We had the whole hall to train in. All the equipment we had were 4 sets of spring loaded stumps, some bats and balls.

The proof of any cricket system is how well it works for real coaches and players. SAQ is no different.

That's why I was delighted when Matt got in touch with me to tell me his experiences with adding SAQ to his coaching.

Here is what he told me:

I used the SAQ for was with a group of 11/12 year olds last year of mixed ability. In terms of the skills required in some of the phases within SAQ such as Mechanics (hurdles) , Innervation (ladders) and Explosive movements there was a vast improvement from the start of the 10 week course to end in terms of running technique and quick multi directional fast foot movements which are vital in all aspects of cricket.