We check fast bowling actions, wrist positions and are fastidious with their strength and conditioning.

Yet do we check their shoes?

Many of the leading Cricket nations now use "Talent Testing" for 13 and upwards as a part of their talent identification process. I want to show you how to use some of these tests in your coaching.

Here is the first of the talent test drills that you can use to test players and then provide feedback that improves performance. What's not to love?

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.

Congratulations to the West Indies; overturning the odds with a thumping win against Sri Lanka in the World Twenty20.

From the coaches dug out, how did they do it, and what can you learn from it with the teams you coach?

With the World Twenty20 in full swing, I look at some new tactics that will be used in the tournament, and how you can copy them in your games.

1. Spinners in the powerplay

The difference in short format cricket now is the specific use of spin.

The IPL is the perfect example of spin being used as an economical and wicket-taking tactic.

I was asked an interesting question the other day;

“What is the one best physical exercise for cricket?”

Now, fitness is more than one exercise.

A programme would incorporate numerous drills, exercises, aerobic training, anaerobic training, strength, power, core, weights and many other elements to boot.

The word that sprung to mind watching South Africa’s 2012 win at the Oval against England was 'clinical'.

The one thing that was evident to me was the the South African batters adaption their individual games in order to counteract England’s spin talisman, Graeme Swann. Here are the tactics they used so well, and what the off-spinner could have done to prevent their success.

Yorkers will single-handedly win games of cricket in this year’s edition of the IPL. And they will do the same if you coach it well because the yorker is an exciting ball that can be practiced and developed through coaching routines and practices.

Malinga has made himself into one of the most valuable T20 players in the world in the IPL over the last 2 editions.  It’s no shock to learn that he attempts over twice as many yorkers than any other bowler in the IPL. 

Malinga is a diligent trainer and is often seen aiming his yorkers at targets before matches with unerring accuracy. Here’s how your bowling unit can copy his success.

Just as with the pace bowlers in a previous article, we are concentrating on drills and progressions in pre-season. This week it's the turn of the spinners.

Bowling from the Delivery Stride Drills

I don't know about you, my eyes are good, but they can’t freeze frame, move images forward and back frame by frame or calculate angles.

So to support my coaching, irrespective of the standard of players, I use cameras and computer applications to support my players learning and development.

In the modern world there is no excuse for a coach to avoid the use of video cameras and visual feedback with players.

The technology is so easy to use and accessible. Yet incredibly powerful.