December the 21st in Britain seems like an innocuous day but this year it taught me something about cricket.

The date is the Winter Solstice: The shortest day of the year when we enjoy just 7 hours and 49 minutes of daylight and darkness arrives before 4pm. Some might say that the depths of winter are depressing, dark, cold and often wet. Others may say this is the start of the long road towards summer.

Dr Ganesh Dutt Chugh is a respected cricket coach and sport psychologist based in Gandhinagar, India. He has an impressive CV including 3 Masters Degrees, a PhD and real life experience coaching since 1985. He has been psychologist to many private clients as well as the Indian netball and volleyball teams.

Dr Ganesh was kind enough to answer some questions for me recently on cricket psychology.

We are approaching the mid-season break for Christmas so I thought I'd write a few words about reflecting on your performance so far this summer.

At a very basic level, everyone will assess their season so far in terms of statistics. That is fair enough, cricket is a game of numbers and players should realise that it is their numbers that will progress them in the game (or keep them back).

I got an email the other day from a reader telling me the miCricketCoach pages have too many tips, drills and information. As a result they are going to stop reading.

They didn't say they were going to get outside and play cricket instead, but if they did I would probably applaud their action. As Merlin Mann said:

As you know, I'm looking for someone to be the Case Study for 2009. With that in mind, I thought it would be interesting to get some more informal views of how everyone is playing and preparing at the moment.

So how is your season (or off season if you are in the winter like me) going?

Putting terrible larger events aside for a moment, England's one day losing streak in India after winning 4 against South Africa got me to thinking about how teams get themselves out of a cricketing hole.

I'm sure your own side has had similar times.

More cricket coaching questions answered this week by Kevin and I. This week we cover:

• Kevin's successful week
• Bowling well under pressure
• Team unity and preventing cliques forming
• Strength, mobility and cardio training for older players
• What to do if you keep bowling no balls

If you have a question or feedback for miCoach drop us an email.

You can download the show onto your computer by right clicking on the link below and choosing "Save Target as..."

Do you sometimes feel alone in the field?

There is the famous story of an English club player many years ago. He was sent to field on the boundary on a pitch with a large slope: A slope so steep that when he got to his position he could no longer see the action.

Undeterred by this he faithfully fielded in the same position all afternoon. Nothing came to him.

Whether you are in the USA or not, the decision of the next President is a critical one. The whole world feels the effects.

In a similar way to the US citizens, your choice has a far reaching influence. Only in this case it's on your aims to succeed as a cricketer.

After a long layoff from his diary, miCricketCoach reader and cricketer Shaaz is back. He is a 14 year old all rounder who has already played for the UAE Under 15's, Young Talent Cricket Academy and Talent Cricket Club. In the future he plans on a long and illustrious International career.