Picture the scene; there I am, delivering my message to a committed and excellent group of cricket coaches in Denmark when the following points go up on my Keynote speech under the banner of "Batting non-negotiables":

1st response when ball hits pad or body is to think "run".

1st response to mid off and mid on is to think "run".

These 2 points were met by the raising of 10 arms.

Having established that that all 10 coaches weren't in need of a toilet break, I asked why two seemingly harmless points could cause such a unilateral local reaction. The coach told me "in Denmark, the local councils cut all the outfield grass to the same length all year round. This is a setting is for football, not cricket. The ball doesn't run, so the fielders are really close, there are no singles in the inner ring!"

Time for a re-think Mr Garaway!

We then started a conversation which touched on the following topics which may have some relevance in your own environments:

How to combat tightly packed fields

The players told me that batters in Denmark wait patiently for a full ball to hit over the tightly packed field. The aerial shot is more important than the single. That means "Runs per scoring shot" is a more important metric than "scoring ball percentage" in 50 over cricket.

They told me that it would take 3-4 aerial hits to push a fielder back, then they can use the long outfield to generate easy singles or hard run 2s where the fielder has to come in 20+ yards before reaching the ball.

This local knowledge had proven to be advantageous when opposing nations were playing in Denmark, yet the players generally found it tricky to adapt quickly when playing in more English, Australian and South African outfield conditions.

So how can we simulate overseas conditions in Denmark?

The coaching group decided that the indoor practices that make up at least 7 months of each 12 month development programme could be used to practice the ability to hit the ball along the ground on slicker outfields. This promoted the development of transferable striking techniques for the aspiring International players as well as the skill of judging a run to mid off and off. We also discussed strategies for pushing the field around in different outfield conditions.

What other conditions impact on our single running strategies?

We then branched out the discussion and discussed the following:

• Extreme heat/humidity - quality of contact becomes more important than rushing around for singles (Sri Lanka and Goa spring to mind).
• Using "rough" or "bobbly" outfields to pressurise fielders on the single or on boundary edge. This is a tactic that England used to use in the West Indies.

The Denmark Coaching Conventions final conclusions were:

1. Teams and individuals take far too long to adapt to "alien" conditions.
2. Can this be talked about and imprinted on the brain ahead of the game?
3. Can coaches help players to prepare for upcoming "alien condition exposure?"

I think that we can! More importantly, my colleagues in Denmark think we can!

What local conditions can you exploit, and how can you adapt to different ones?