Whatever your style as a batsman, you can't use it as an excuse.

If you are a big hitter and you get out in a tight run chase trying to clear deep midwicket, you can't shrug and say "it's the way I play".

If you are a naturally cautious batsman there is no excuse for making the middle order have to take risks because you have wasted balls at the top of the order.

Some might say it's selfish batting.

England's disarray against fast bowling at Lord's was not a surprise to those who have watched them closely over the years.

Despite Lords being a very good batting track, England seemed clueless against the fast bowling onslaught in the 4th innings.

Australia shifted their length of attack to push the batters back and then pitched the ball fuller to bring the stumps in or get the edge. The classic combination of short, short, full. The same combination that undid them in Australia 18 months ago.

So what can be done in this situation?

Here are some drills.

Coach and Minor Counties Cricketer, Chris Watling, shares his experiences with another article on using your mind to get you out of bad form and back to run scoring.

When you're in a bit of bad form it's easy to be negative.

I'm sure you know the feeling of being stunted by in your mindset as you approach your next innings: You start to analyse how you’re getting out. You think about your technique. You want to correct those errors.

Stop the mistakes. Stop getting out.

This approach is hurting your game.

Iain Brunnschweiler, top coach, has a great tip for those wanted to get better against playing spin.

If you want to be effective against spinners, it's really important that you are confident enough to use your feet and get down the wicket. Most spin bowlers know if they are bowling at a player who is confident in their footwork and decision-making, their margin for error becomes very small indeed.

Graham Gooch got a pair on Test debut but went on to be one of England's best batsmen. What lessons can you learn from his experiences?

In this video, Goochie tells us about his path to the top and what he did to harness his natural gifts into thousands of runs. If you are at all interested in batting, this is the video for you.

If you can't see the video above, click here.

In this video Graham Gooch talks about the lessons we can all learn from some of his big scores when he played: His record 333 against India in 1990, and his favourite innings - 154 against the West Indies on a difficult wicket.

Watch the video to get tips and advice on producing innings of the same value to your team:

Confidence is slippery. You want it but how do you stop all those negative thoughts? In this video Graham Gooch shares his methods for breaking through doubt and walking to the crease with confidence:

If you can't see the video above, click here.

Last night my team lost a Twenty20 game by over 50 runs. The failure was down to a simple fact: We didn't know how to pace a run chase.

So, instead of starting slow and hoping to smash 79 runs in 48 balls like us, here's some simple ways to make sure you are keeping up with the rate.

The ball spinning into the stumps at pace has always picked up wickets at a faster rate than the ball spinning away from the bat at pace. Wickets fall quickly unless batting methods are developed and honed.

In the England-West Indies Barbados Test, the bowlers foot holes developed quickly and the contest between spin and bat ultimately proved to be the defining factor in the contest.

Moeen Ali was batting against Permaul, the West Indies Left arm spinner, in England's 2nd innings. And as I watched I remembered something my first coach at school had told me.

The relationship is simple: The better you pick length, the better you are as a batsman. It's, at least, one third of the art of batting.

Yet, as a coach, I see many players struggle to pick length well. They hit balls in practice all day long and look technically sound. Then they go out in the middle and get caught playing forward to a back of a length ball, and spooning a simple catch up in the air.

People say things like "he's stuck on the crease", "he falls over" and "he's too defensive". While all these comments may be true, they are not the root cause. The root cause is often not picking the ball in time to get into the right position.

Do you recognise these symptoms in yourself?

Here's my solution.