Not being able to score runs is painful. I’m sure you have experienced something similar to Kevin Pietersen and his slump as England play Pakistan.

59 runs in 6 innings? Awful; especially when you decide the best form of defence is attack and hook straight down deep square leg’s throat.

So what are KP and his coaches Andy Flower and Graham Gooch going to do about it?

Preparation for the bowlers at the start of the innings often relies on stretching and a few practise balls, with the marking of the run-up left to necessity at the last minute.

Something my team started to do was to get the whole bowling attack to mark their run-ups together from both ends.

When preseason starts we are all filled with hope and optimism for a stellar summer ahead.

Then life gets in the way, we lose motivation and fall back into old habits. The Grand Plan is lost for another season.

This preseason will be different because you will have followed the advice below and find yourself with a cast-iron will and brand new good habits that stick.

Be realistic

You’ve scored an unbeaten ton in your last 3 innings.

You’re batting well, you feel good and most importantly, you look good!

You can carry as much form as you like coming into your next game, but unless the opposition study and follow your scorecard closely, they are unlikely to know your recent success.

But, they can sense it.  They know something special is coming out to bat when you walk out. It’s almost an aura.

It’s a simple calculation:

Desmond Haynes was a world-class batsman. He is a world-class coach. The unique skills he can teach are invaluable to any player (or coach) with the desire to improve.

But you will never get to have coaching from him.

This video is the final free preview of the online coaching course Batting Lion: the Desmond Haynes Masterclass.

Everyone thinks that the best way to iron out mistakes is to get in the nets and work on your flaws.

 This video is the 3rd free preview of the online coaching course Batting Lion: the Desmond Haynes Masterclass.

One of the secrets of success of the famous Greenidge-Haynes partnership was their working relationship. They were far more than the sum of their parts.

Here’s a common problem; you are batting in a run chase and the rate is climbing. Your big hitter is back in the pavilion and you have always been more of a touch player.

Easy, think of the chase as less about a sprint and more about a marathon.

Chasing runs rates is just as much about pacing trying to finish it as quickly as possible.

Runs and wickets are limited as a way of seeing how well your team is doing in the field. There is no easy way of seeing where the psychological momentum lies.

At least, there wasn’t until some bright spark in the England setup developed ‘Match Play’

Match Play is used to judge how well a team is performing as a unit in the field without comparison to the opposition or the conditions.

It concerns the mental boosts or falls found during the game and how this affects the confidence of both sides.

They say that winning is a habit. Unfortunately so is losing. But you can use momentum to carry your team into winning ways; one innings at a time.

So, momentum is a very real thing that we focus on during our games.

Imagine it, you win the toss and choose to bat.

After 30 overs you are restricted to 60-3 and your side are deflated by the prospect of setting just 130 to win.

With a few wickets in hand the batsmen stage a comeback and score a quick 150 off the next 20 overs.