Waltham St Lawrence in the leafy English county of Berkshire is not a place you expect to find a redefinition of cricket. Somehow, that’s exactly what has happened.

The team are throwing off the traditional culture of village cricket in an effort to do better in their matches. Slowly, they are moving away from the old-fashioned way. The team are adapting proven methods from the first-class game to turn them from recreational to competitive.

The evil mastermind behind the scheme is player Matt Connor. As he got older and realised he wanted to continue playing cricket for Waltham St Lawrence as long as possible. He started looking around for ways to improve. He stumbled across PitchVision Academy.

Combined with his rugby background and a burning desire, the ideas on the site planted a seed in his mind to start a fitness programme that would keep him fit through the summer months. He began training with minimal equipment and just a couple of other players.

The three of them blazed a trail in the cold winter months, knowing the hard work would pay off later during the season. It worked so well that the following winter saw numbers of players at preseason training dramatically swell.

Now if you go to the Oak Meadow playing field in winter you will see something very different from the traditional image of village cricketers. You now see players training hard and improving their fitness in a highly specific way. If you look quickly you might think it’s the local first-class side having a change of scenery. In fact, it’s guys who have to pay for the pleasure of turning out for the team. They want to get their money’s worth.

It works well because it’s been designed with cricket in mind and doesn’t need expensive equipment. The players get together on the outfield and prepare with:

• Interval training
• Bodyweight strength training

The programme has been designed to bring maximum crossover to the pitch, and come the summer the team will be streets ahead by being fitter with less injuries.

Plus, they are working hard on cricket skills that are neglected at this level:

• The team think about running between the wicket (which ties in nicely to sprint and interval training). An extra run per over in quick singles is a lot in an afternoon match.
• They work on bowler’s ability to bowl in overs (rather than in turns in the nets) and set fields to make practice more realistic.
• And, horror of horrors, they actually do some fielding practice. In some village sides that’s practically a sackable offence.

Of course, there is a long way to go. The culture of training doesn’t change in a couple of seasons. But the kids in the colts section are growing up with the idea that cricketers get fit to play (not play to get fit) and have to work on a range of skills.

That bodes well for this village team and raises standards that others have to match.

To get proven, innovative and realistic club preseason training tips get Countdown to Summer: The Guide to Perfect Preseason Training. The eBook is available for download now. Click here.