While there's as many ways to approach training as there are cricketers, some things never change when it comes to improving your game. Here are the 7 elements that you might keep in mind when planning your practice:

Innovative batsmen are constantly messing about with tried and tested batting formulas. It's all in the name of getting the advantage in their quest for fast, big innings.

Matthew Hayden and Kevin Pietersen are both batsmen who are innovating in this way: Coming down the pitch to seamers in order to disrupt their line and upset their rhythm.

If you have ever seen TV coverage of top class cricket you know how good the super slow motion cameras are for seeing the grace and power of a great shot.

Is there any more maligned a shot in club cricket than going over the top?

Almost any shot in the air is usually derided as a clue that the batsman is about to hit one straight to mid off or that he is a desperate slogger with no panaché.

But well selected lofted shots are a fantastic way to infuriate bowlers and manipulate the strike. As Robert Croft of Glamorgan says, there are no fielders in the air. You just have to make sure you hit it hard and high enough.

The art of spin bowling takes years to master. That's a lot of overs in the nets and in the middle.

One of the fastest shortcuts to taking more wickets as a spinner is often overlooked: Practice with your wicketkeeper.

Keeper can be just as flummoxed by a decent spinner as a club batsman can. The more you practice with your keeper, the better they will get at learning your own particular variations, limitations and way of bowling.

Captains are stressed out people out in the field. There they are plotting several overs ahead while trying to winkle out the current partnership, set the field and change the bowling.

In the midst of all that chaos there is something every fielder can do to make the skippers job much easier, and improve you chances of winning:

I was watching the highlights of the Australia Day ODI and in his analysis Tony Greig brought up the role club cricket has in making a strong national team.

Tony's argument can be summed up in an interview he did with the Guardian back in 2003:

"The problems with English cricket are not to do with the odd blunder by a captain or a lack of talent. The problem is that there is no meaningful amateur game. The sooner the ECB persuades the MCC to take total responsibility for the amateur game, and the sooner the MCC develops a format which allows a kid to work and still have an avenue to progress to international honours, the better.

In Top Gun, Tom Cruise looked cool in his Ray-Bans. Many men tried to emulate his effortless machismo (and still do). In a way, you can emulate him too, but not to look good: To improve your cricket.

As we have talked about before, it takes around 10,000 hours of playing and practicing cricket to get really good at it.

Have you resolved to have a better cricket season this year?

In the UK it's a great time to start working towards that goal as indoor nets start across the country. You have enough time to get stronger, fitter, faster and more skilful before you even face a ball in anger.

But just as 90% of people who resolve to get fit in January give up, you might find yourself overwhelmed and unmotivated.