Today's article is a guest post by cricket coach John Hurley. You can read more tips at his blog and can find him coaching at Activate Cricket Centre in Mortlake, Sydney.

Imagine how successful you would be if you managed to find some sort of activity that would give your players a significant edge over 90% of their competitors.

Having watched and participated in many sports at a variety of levels, it seems to me that cricket is a sport played by many people who are "non-athletes".

By this I mean many cricketers have difficulties making athletic movements.

1. We are always told that all the great cricket teams were good fielding sides. Perhaps they were good fielding sides because they were athletic.
2. Great batsman are agile and well balanced at the crease and frequently good at a range of sports. Perhaps this is because they apply sound athletic principles to whatever sport they play.
3. Great bowlers frequently have actions that are graceful and efficient. They are balanced and powerful and capable of long accurate spells. Perhaps they are all these things because they are athletic in their approach.

Cricketers are not intrinsically less athletic than their peers from other sports. Cricket is seen as such a technical sport so that young players are taught cricket specific technique, rather than learning to be athletic.

So recently I have been training my clients, ranging in age from 10 to 25, to move athletically: To train as athletes who play cricket.

Accelerated technical development

These players technical development has accelerated as a result of the change in training regime. They feel more balanced and powerful as well as agile and more body aware.

So if you’d like to try and make yourself (or if you are a coach: your players) more athletic, you might like to try some of the following.

Strengthen the posterior chain: The set of muscles including the lower back, glutes, hamstrings and calves and encourage greater hip flexibility and strength. These muscles are generally associated with developing greater speed and explosive running power.

To develop these muscles, drills involving step ups and step downs from a low box are performed.

Stepping down from a low box fires many muscles in the posterior chain and hip. Stepping up works the same muscles, but in a different manner making the extension and contraction of the muscles used for running, bowling and lunging to a straight drive stronger and more easily controlled. This is because you are accelerating and decelerating the limbs. Controlling these big movements is the essence of athleticism.

By stepping down from a box with the point of one foot, deliberately to a set of specified positions, this control can be practised and enhanced. A set of 15 steps to a particular point is sufficient to work the appropriate set of muscles. Once 15 reps have been completed, the player should turn around and perform 15 reps of the same movement with the other leg.

Players should always remember to train both sides of the body.

A workout may include 2 sets of 15 reps to each of the following points: straight down; forward 20cms; 20cms out at 900; and 20cms back at 450.

Moving faster

Once a strength base is evident in the posterior chain and of course the core, you can introduce basic sprinting drills focusing again on controlling the arms and the legs and using them efficiently.

Drills such as high knees, pawbacks, reaches, skipping and bounding will all enhance the players running form and efficiency and contribute significantly to improving the speed and quality of the individuals cricket-specific movements.

These sprint drills should be performed over 10 to 20m for the less explosive movements like walking and jogging; and 5 to 10m for the bounds which must be performed very explosively.

Agility drills compliment these activities, but it is important that the player must be encouraged to perform the drills in an athletic manner. i.e. at top speed, with balance and co-ordinating his/her arm and leg movements and making straight lines.

Skipping with a rope is just about unbeatable as an athletic activity that has multiple benefits: Improving co-ordination, endurance and agility. You can continually challenge yourself to get better at it and the fact that the rope is so portable, I believe every cricketer should have a skipping rope in their kit.

Most of the drills mentioned can be viewed on my coaching blog at hurlsweb.blogspot.com

The more strength and endurance work a player can do that incorporates athletic drills, the greater the positive impact on actual their cricket performance.

I believe making players more athletic as they develop their cricket specific technique could be significant in making players more successful in a relatively short space of time.

So make yourself an athlete as well as a cricketer. Or as a coach, making your players athletes will make your job that much easier.

Photo credit: Alan1954