Menno Gazendam is author of the popular Spin Bowling Project online coaching course. This week he discusses how to captain spinners.

The best players have always been the brave players.

Just think of Marshall batting with a broken hand, Graeme Smith a broken finger, Murali with a problem hamstring bowling his heart out at the World Cup, Kumble with bandages around his head still fizzing down top spinners: all great players, all brave.

But, there is a different type of bravery in cricket, one that is often overlooked. One that you will rarely hear mentioned in any commentary.

What’s the best way to handle a pressure situation in a cricket match?

Simple: knowing you have been there before and succeeded. There is no better confidence than the confidence of experience. This is why practicing set pieces is a crucial tool for any side who want to know for sure they can battle out of any situation, no matter how rough.

A good coach or captain is always looking for ways to add this pressure into practice to build confidence. Set piece or scenario practice is the perfect tool for the job.

The talented young bowler had broken into the first team at his club. But the Youth Coordinator insisted to the 1^st XI captain that he only bowled 7 overs in his spell because of the Bowling Directives.

Everything was fine until the day he bowled a destructive spell before having to be whipped off when he was in full flow.

Senior players muttered about the rules, saying it was a pointless exercise that would cost games.

Modern professional cricket teams have a support team of analysts and specialists that the average side can only dream about.

Except, if you build it right, you can have a team that helps your side become the best they can be. And you don’t need to pay a bean in salary.

If you can build a diverse group of people with different levels of experience and success, you’ll be 100% more likely to score more runs, take more wickets and win more games.

PitchVision Academy’s Fast Bowling Coach Ian Pont knows a thing or two about coaching sides to Twenty20 success.

His team - the Dhaka Gladiators - romped to an 8 wicket win over the Barisal Burners to secure the BPLT20 title for 2012 at the National Stadium in Dhaka.

He keeps doing things that go against what you believe. And it’s not helping you, or the team that you captain, improve.

But you have to work together because winning teams are built on a strong relationship between the leaders.

You see, when most coaches and captains have a clash of personalities you soon find it’s not as epic as it first seems.

The team announce your chance to win a feast of Kevin Pietersen prizes this week. Click here to enter.

But it’s not all grabbing swag. There is also a host of advice from David, Burners and Mark Garaway. The importance of “bench strength” is discussed in the light of India, Australia and Sri Lanka in a very heavy period of ODIs.

Readers’ questions are answered on choosing a captain and how to perform again after a good performance. Also, ECB rep level coach Paul Williams guests with some advice on coaching talented youngsters from the club game. 

Imagine you scored 220 of your 50 overs and you now have the opposition 185-8 with 5 overs left.

You’ve bought your openers back on to finish the job, and rudely the last few batsmen are defending like their life depended on it.

You can stick with the strike bowlers and hope the batsmen get bored or the bowlers are fast enough to blast them out.

The game will end in a draw and your hopes of a strong league position fade a little more.

Or you can bring on your more occasional spin bowler.

Cover point is where your best inner ring fielder should always be to a seam bowler, right?