It only seems like a few years ago when every team had at least one batter who would walk to the wicket with his team-mates giggles carrying across the outfield.

We were all waiting for the inevitable death rattle as the "bunny" plays all round a straight one.

Top level coaches now encourage the "bunny" to think about scoring runs rather than just surviving with leaves, blocks and evasion. As a result it's common to see lower order players reverse sweeping and moving across their stumps to tuck the ball into the on-side for one.

So how can we develop the next generation of lower order batters in our clubs, academies and schools?

Can you imagine this at Manchester United's training ground:

Sir Alex Ferguson: "Robin! What are you doing?"

Robin van Persie: "Practicing my free-kicks Boss"

Sir Alex Ferguson: "Are you mad? You know that we don’t allow that! You're only allowed to take free kicks in matches. But make sure you don’t miss."

Often we concentrate on the boundaries and pay scant regard to singles and developing the art of running between the wickets.

One of the reasons for this is the reliance on standardised nets to develop batting technique rather than incorporating innovative practice and facilitating brilliant cricket discussions to build run scoring awareness.

The definition of a big total in 1-day cricket has changed hugely over the years. 5 an over used to be considered impossible when I started playing the game. Now 8 an over in the last 10 is a walk in the park with some teams and, in particular, some batters.

Here are some tips to chasing down huge totals.

On the day Chris Gayle rewrote the Twenty20 history books, I aptly worked with some talented young players on power hitting.

As with many young players, the guys I worked with today swung hard, hit a few for 4 and missed plenty of balls that sailed harmlessly through to the keeper.

You are the coach. What do you do?

An 8 year old walks into a junior session for the first time and gets into a batting stance with his feet wide apart and his knees flexed.

There is a temptation to adjust the stance into a more conventional narrower stance as seen in MCC manuals from years gone by.

But is that right?

This week I have watched 4 live games from the Women's World Cup at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. The standard of cricket has been excellent with some very tight tussles going down to last ball deciders.

What has this got to do with you as a coach?

The new ODI laws will continue to encourage players and coaches to develop new methods and shots to optimise scoring possibilities in the outer areas of the cricket field.

When the changes come into to your level, you're going to have worked on them already.

Here are some of the boundary fielding options for seamers and the options available to batters:

It's no secret that it's easy to struggle against spinners in the Sub-continent. England's batsmen have failed for decades.

Here is the inside guide to playing spin in slow, low turning conditions so you can coach your players to be a little more like Dravid.

"Watch the ball closely!"

How many times have you - and I - uttered those immortal words?

It is great information.

For some of our cricketers; but not all of them.