Alan Murdoch was our Strength and Conditioning Coach at Millfield school (he recently picked up a new job with Bath Rugby). He speaks my language, and I used some of his fitness advice to improve batting technique.

When one of the players came into The Bubble and really struggled with balanced at ball strike, the solution to the problem was simple.

We used the same language that Alan had used in strength training sessions to improve core stability in this lad and turn him from "wobbly-base boy" to an immovable unit in the gym over the space of just 12 months.

Alan's language was centred around:

• stability (static and dynamic)
• base
• power production
• precision

When Alan works with the players on core exercises like glute-bridging, tabletops or tripods, he asks the players to:

"say A, B, C, D, E in your head before moving on to the next hold".

So we did the same with the left handed batter. We got him to hold to pose in each post-contact base position for the count of "A-E" before finishing the shot in his bowling machine, throw downs or side arm sessions.

The results were instant and so positive. The left hander now looks more like Kumar Sangakkara striking the ball through the offside.

The player connected with the language and principles that sat behind the intention. The net result was that the movement from batting stance into the base position became more efficient. The width of the base increased, the body was able to unwind as a result of the increased stability which meant that the arms and hands worked in unison increasing the productivity of the contact point.

The technique looked completely different to the one that we had seen in the previous round. No technical input, just a shift in language that connected the player to a concept that he has mastered in another of his performance environments.

It's a very simple but great drill for any player whose balance and stability is compromising contact and control in front foot shots. It also is a great example of transferable language that helps to connect the gym environment to cricket performance.

There was a saying within Millfield Cricket a few years ago that hugely concerned me on my arrival into the school. I was told by anger coach that "In cricket, you don't have to be fit to be great".

So to Alan: Thank you for helping me eradicate that type of limiting belief from our culture for the huge physical gains that our players are demonstrating every time they have fitness tests in their respective County and International environments and for helping a couple of lads to reach new highs in their batting techniques.