This article is part of the "Streetwise Bowling" series from PitchVision Academy. To view the full list of tactics click here.

I'll be honest with you about this one, it's disgustingly simple. So much so you might shrug and go "so what?". Yet year after year I see young fast bowlers make this mistake in the early season and miss out on a bundle of wickets as more canny seamers take full advantage.

So, this edition of "Streetwise Bowling" is more of a story than a set of balls.

Imagine the scene; you stand at the top of your mark at the first game of the season. Early conditions favour the bowler, especially if you are in the UK.

You have spent the winter bowling in indoor nets, you know the batsman has done the same.

And here is where the mistake happens.

• Name: The Preseason Bounce Pounce
• Bowling Type: Fast, Medium, Swing and Seam Bowlers
• Difficulty Level: 4/10 (with the right prep)
• Success Level: High

You and the batsman are used to hard, flat indoor conditions with the ball coming on to the bat for the happy batsman to hit through the line. Yet this pitch is low and slow, the ball is likely to swing and seam.

You bowl a back of a length ball because your muscle memory has been used to making the batsman play back to stop those booming net drives: It pops up and the batsman gratefully pulls it for a boundary.

The captain shakes his head, it's an awful start to the season.

Rewind to nets

Meanwhile the canny old medium pace bowler at the other end knows to forget the nets and to pitch the ball up, hit the stumps and watch the fun.

Rewinding to the net sessions in the winter, that canny bowler got a battering from batsmen in practice. It seemed like he was bowling far too full and the batsmen were driving away full of the confidence of nets. It looked rubbish.

It was actually streetwise bowling at it's most pure: It was exactly the right area to hit the stumps with a bit of swing or seam on a bowler-friendly slow early season pitch.

So the lesson from this edition is simple: Give yourself a chance to use the early season conditions from the first ball. Bowl in nets the way you would bowl in the middle, even if it seems like you are getting smashed. That way you can pounce on the bounce and mistiming you get from batter's used to indoor practice.

Download and print a pdf version of this article to take to nets: click here.