I had an article ready to go for you this week, but last night we had an session with the 1st team squad here at Millfield School that I just had to tell you about.

Around 5pm, the coaching team grabbed a coffee in-between squad sessions.

I asked a simple question, "Could either of you two inspire me ahead of the last session of term please?" and my two brilliant assistants came up with a innovative session plan which led to a great session:

One of Bob Woolmer's batting drills was the one-legged drive which I featured right at the start of the Coaching to Win series.

This gem of a drill helps players who lead their forward movement to the ball with their heads. (Not your Pietersen, Amla or Gayle who lead with their feet but more like the Bell, Ponting and Strauss).

Bob would ask the batter to not move their feet, yet wait for the fuller ball to bounce and move their head towards the line of the ball.

What does this drill develop?

During my ECB Level 3 batting modules, I always ask the fellow coaches to throw up any ideas or drills that they have to add value to the module.

Last week Sussex Sharks Cricketer, Chris Nash, demonstrated a great drill that was intended to challenge decision making. The drill achieved its aim and opened up other vital elements of batting.

The basic drill

Get a batter padded up and ready to receive a ball. As a coach you stand 7 metres away from the crease.

Armed with a ball, the coach walks in 2 paces before delivering a fast-paced underarm delivery into either:

I was terrible at science when at school. I couldn't see the relevance of it and found every way possible of avoiding lessons. However, the bit that I did like was experimentation.

The fact that I was allowed to try things, to see if they work or don’t work was great and I have taken that on into my coaching.

Experiment with these opposites with your individual players and see what impact they have on their performance/experience when catching and batting.

The final part of my series on how to become a professional cricket coach looks at the role of the internet and creating your own practical opportunities to extend your learning.

To get up to speed with the rest of this series, take a look at part 1, part 2 and part 3.

So where do I go online to build my knowledge? Apart from PitchVision Academy of course! A couple of websites that I visit frequently are:

This is the third article in a series showing you how to progress as a cricket coach. To read the first two parts, click here.

In the last article I talked about the importance of informal learning as part of your skill development as a coach. I stressed how online coaching is an important part of that. But in this article I want to give you further options for informal development.

There are some incredible books out there which I have on my shelf in the office and skim read chapters on a regular basis. Here are some of my favourites in a few categories that I feel are important to coaching:

This is a follow up to last week's question from Paul Wood asking how he can progress as a coach. I recommend you read last week's article first.

Last week we looked at the formal pathway through to "performance" level (rather than helping beginners). This week we are going to go one step further and look at both elite coach education, and informal options that are available to all coaches, irrespective of qualification or coaching environment.

I recently received an email from a coach who has a plan to become a professional coach He asks what is the best path and process he can follow to help him meet his goal.

Here is my reply. This is the first part and I will finish off in the next article (link at the bottom).

The Northern hemisphere season is coming to a close and I return to Millfield School this week to start the individual 12 month programmes with our County, Regional and International players.

In the main, the players will be kept out of the nets for the first 5 weeks, despite the fact that some will be kicking and screaming about it!

We often talk about video analysis of bowling actions and the importance of building your understanding and awareness of your bowling action as you look to develop and improve.

Lots of people use video analysis, some do it well and others miss opportunities. The reason? Footage from poor angles.

Here is my guide to filming bowling actions on your mobile phone.