Developing your ability to field off your own bowling can make a huge difference to you and your teams performance.

It gives the captain an extra fielder to work with, can take surprise wickets through low catches and run outs and discourage batsmen to go for quick singles. While you could leave it to chance or natural ability, but it's very easy to train yourself to stay on the ball even after you have let that cherry go.

The complex discipline of sports biomechanics has some surprisingly simple suggestions to improve your batting.

It's often assumed that the skills of batting are natural. Although many aspects are down to talent, anyone can become more efficient by applying simple biomechanical principles to their game.

The SAQ cricket fitness system promises a lot, but recently I have been wondering how effectively it delivers.

All cricket players can benefit from extra speed and agility. Whether it's running quick singles or diving about in the field. So the principle of SAQ is sound.

The SAQ book covers a plethora of excellent drills and routines to help players with this, as endorsed by the great Graham Gooch at Essex CCC.

Half hearted cricket training is as bad as no training at all.

Low intensity training is a waste of time because a few knock-ups on the outfield are not going to prepare for a searing drive heading straight for you at cover.

Here are some ways to ensure you are training hard enough:

• Keep drills short. Whatever drills you are doing keep them short in duration with plenty of participation. This way you can do everything at a faster pace: Hit the ball harder, run faster and go at game speed.

There is often little time or motivation for club players to practice fielding. That means doing everything possible to maximise what chance you have.

Good practice can give a club the edge. Based on experience and the advice of South African fielding coach Jonty Rhodes here is how you can do it:

• Keep it short and intense. Never drill for the sake of it. The intensity of your fielding practice should be close to game intensity. Do a few drills as hard as you can then move onto something else when the quality starts to go.