Has your coach ever said something to you that you don't quite get?

Don't you feel like you are missing out because you can't decode it?

You are not alone.

"The difference between an average cricketer and a top class cricketer is how mentally tough he is."

A recent study has looked at mental toughness through the eyes of cricketers and their coaches. The conclusions have given hope to millions of players.

The work comes from Junaid Iqbal at Leeds University, who researched the latest findings from sport psychology and combined them with experiences from coaches and players at all levels of the game.

His dissertation concluded that mental toughness underpins cricket ability at all levels, and it can be improved in anyone.

Once you know that, you are a step ahead of others still focused on technique alone.

So what does that mean from a practical standpoint?

Isn't it great when you find something that clicks in your game?

This week I missed the usual training session at my club, so I arranged to get to the ground early to "have a net" with a couple of other guys in the team.

As you know my feelings about nets, you know how I am not keen to just have a hit, but I hoped it would be better that going into the game totally cold.

As there were just two of us to start, and neither of us bowl to first team standard, we got out the bowling machine.

As you know my feelings about bowling machines, you know I would much prefer real bowling, but that wasn't an option.

Yet, that 20 minutes was a revelation that will give you quite the kick.

Winning is important for every team. It's also not the only thing, and that's a problem.

For sides who fall somewhere below the professional level, other factors can easily take over and define you far more than the quest for victory: Jobs, family, escapism from the daily grind and so on.

These factors are real and unavoidable, but they don't have to command the side. With some simple, almost zen-like, changes to your approach, you can account for everything and still become a more professional-acting club team.

Here are some practical tip for calmly becoming more focused on winning without being ridiculed for "taking it too seriously".

Nets. Cuh.

It's a brilliant idea to practice in a net, but it's poorly done 66% of the time. If you are not getting better, what's the point of dragging your carcass to practice in the first place?

Pressure.

That's the difference between a net session and a game.

In nets you can roll your arm over, or knock the ball about for 10 minutes and have some fun. Even the best managed nets lack the context of a real game. That means there is no chance for you to develop your mental toughness skills.

Which is kinda a problem. You have to teach yourself how to deal with pressure when you are under pressure.

Cricket coach and PitchVision columnist Sam Lavery tackles how to integrate running into net sessions.

Runs are the currency we value the most. So how do we go about improving how many runs we can score?

There are two simple ways:

Either improve our ability to hit the ball with a range of shots, improve our ability to run, or both.

Last week we asked PitchVision Academy readers how you train.

Here are the results.

If you filled in the form, many thanks. If you didn't, you can still look over the stats and come to your own conclusions about how you can tweak your training based on what other people do.

So, let's take a look.

It's easy to be typecast as a cricketer.

When you have played for any length of time in the same place you start to get a reputation. You are the bowler who is a bunny with the bat. You are a batsman who doesn't even bowl in the nets. Every team has one player like that.

And I guarantee that somewhere deep in their heart, each one of these players wishes he had more skills.

Every batsman wants to be able to bowl bouncers to give back a bit of aggression. Every spinner wishes they could biff revenge sixes over deep midwicket.

So, why not try?

Last week we looked at how to score big without boundaries, now we are going to switch it and look at some boundary options.