Last week I wrote about how constraints led practice fast tracks development of batters against spin.

Last night I was faced with my own set of constraints as my beloved Millfield cricket "bubble" indoor facility was flattened by 'Storm Clodagh'.

In a game that is full of stats, we are still searching for a way of assessing and measuring fielding effectiveness.

Kate Warne-Holland - Millfield's fantastic Director of Tennis - recently ran a drill that inspired me to adapt it for cricket.

When I was Head Coach of Somerset, my main intention was to develop a fielding unit that would smash all others out of the park.

We worked significantly on our positioning, our specificity with specialist deep fielders, "box men " and slips. We ensured that everyone could high catch and dive in an effective fashion. We focussed on our high traffic area fielders being excellent stump hitters.

A mate of mine used to fly for one of the budget airlines. He let me into a secret about their landing strategies; they come in very steep in their descent and land heavy, often bouncing a little on the runway before all the wheels are rolling smoothly on the tarmac. The reason, so he claims, is to save fuel. Less time in the air equals less fuel burned.

The second of the Graham Thorpe batting against fast bowling drill packages is fun, functional and a wonderful drill to layer up with last weeks drill.

I had a great pleasure of working alongside England Lead batting coach, Graham Thorpe last week. Graham presented a batting masterclass which covered his approaches to developing quality players of pace and spin.

Thorpey's philosophy to coaching any batter, irrespective of age, was to 'coach back from the challenges of International game'. The first International game challenge that he identified was the fast, short pitched delivery.

Here at Millfield School, the UK season has drawn to a close. The players have had a few weeks off cricket and are now itching to get back into the cricket bubble and hone their skills for next season.

Over the past week, the coaches at school have been interviewing each player as part of out review and planning process. This guides the players and the coaches (both internally and externally) through a long winter training period.

Here is a simple coaching formula:

Admiration + Bags of bravery = More coaching knowledge

2015 gave me the most amazing coaching experience of my career.

It was a huge privilege to work with a top group of blokes who taught me heaps about desire, commitment and team-work. All the more incredible given that the average age of the team was 14.

In December 2014 I inherited a team who had lost 70% of their games in the previous season. Feedback from that year centred on a lack of leadership, the selfishness of one or two key players and the general lack of cricketing ability.

12 months on and largely the same of players lifted the England Schools Cricket Association National T20 Cup.

So how did this group of players do it?