Recently I saw a coaching session that seemed to be designed not for the kids to have fun but for the coaches to impress their own will to win.

I can just imagine the drop out rate.

The reason kids come to play cricket, in my view, is to have fun. Winning is a factor but without the enjoyment more will leave than stay.

How do good coaches go about this while still teaching the skills of the game?

Keep everyone involved

Long time reader Arvind got in touch about this post:

If sledging were to be accepted as a part of the game of cricket, would we then have to coach it like the other disciplines?

That got me to thinking. Is he right and if so what else should coaches be coaching at club level?

Watch the best cricketers in the world and despite differences in technique and style there are constants.

Talent, balance, coordination, strength and technique are all vital but more important is developing these factors as one.Like fingers working together to catch a ball.

As club players we want to make as much of our more limited talents as the elite do. We train when we can and work on our skills in the nets.

But just like training one finger and expecting to improve our catching, netting is not enough.

We need to look at the whole picture.

One of the Australians hall marks in cricket is their intensity in practice.

For them it's all about getting as close to game pace as possible. Jeremy Snape demonstrated something similar in his World Twenty20 diary with the England team:

What can club cricket teams learn from the story of Ireland's victory over Pakistan?

The proud minnows against the apathetic giant perhaps?

"They just wanted it more" the commentators will no doubt say.

Many will compare the passion of the two sides. For me this, Irish win is about something a lot more down to earth.

They were better prepared.

Has your cricket club got a coach?

I'm talking about the senior section here, not the colts or youth teams. If not, have you ever considered why not?

I know that at the clubs I have played the answer to both questions is 'no'.

There is not much that is more satisfying for a seam bowler than steaming in, beating the batsman for pace and seeing the stumps cartwheeling back. If anyone knows how to tease that extra pace out of you it's Ian Pont: Cricket guru and fast bowling coach to Essex CCC and the Netherlands World Cup squad.

If the cricket club you play for is anything like mine, success means a great deal. We may be amateurs but we still want to do well personally and in our leagues.

But playing well means training well, especially for those of us who are not lucky to have the talent of Ponting, Flintoff or Ntini.

Time restrictions might stop you practising as much, but you can still train the way the top guys do. Here is how:

Make a commitment