There is a lot of advice to coaches about how to be better at coaching. One thing that is rarely talked about is how you can be a better student to your coach and how this can help your game.

If you are a young player with a coach at your club you are lucky if you find one who can develop you. It's not that these coaches are unwilling or unable. It's just most are part time volunteers with good intentions but incomplete knowledge.

Today's article is a guest post from Dr Paul Botha from Spininfo: All you need to know about the art and science of spin bowling.

He never is part of the seam attack who clamour over the pros and cons of the new ball. They sit at the end of a long day’s play with their feet up in the dressing room claiming all the accolades for bowling the opposition out cheaply. 

This article is part of the miCricketCoach 2009 Case Study. To stay up to date with their progress get the free newsletter.

Our two case study subjects have been working hard since we last caught up with them.

Every player can benefit from developing their own set of routines and processes to help them prepare and play successfully. 

In the first installment of this series, I dealt with developing routines to be employed during batting, bowling and fielding practice. 

Do you dream of bowling the perfect spinning delivery?

You know the one. For the off spinner it's the one the drifts away from the batsman before ripping sharply back off the pitch through the gate. For the left-armer and leg spinner it's the one that pitches on leg stump and clips the top of off stump. Bowled Warnie!

Today we are delighted to introduce a new guest writer to miCricketCoach. Ben Baruch is a 13 year old cricketer from Buckinghamshire in England. He has played district level cricket. Today he gives his views on how to improve your strike rate, something very important for all young players looking to make an impression.

Listening to ex-International bowler Damien Fleming recently, I was interested to hear him refer to some players as 'Having a good map' with respect to how they prepared for each game. I have always said “You have to have a plan!” and it seemed to me that Fleming was making the same sort of statement.

What is 'The Map'?

Everyone has a set of processes they follow prior to playing a game.

It's possible to make changes to your field without actually moving the fielders.

Tradition dictates that changing a field involves moving a fielder from one position to another. Mid off may go to deep mid off in defence or silly mid off in attack for example.

Last season my team were cruising to an easy victory in a one day game. We had skittled the opposition for 144 and were 120 for 2 in reply.

I was down to bat at 6 but had not bothered to pad up, a situation which rapidly changed when we lost our best batsman to a rash shot followed almost immediately by the new batsman muttering something about unplayable deliveries as we passed each other.

How much training can you do during the season?

Many people might say the more the better. I think it's more complex than that. After all, most club players will not have the time or resources to spend all day training. That's without the risks of injury and fatigue through overtraining.

Getting the balance right is a science and an art.

This complete guide covers the articles on this site that give you the answers to the questions: