I know you love a drill, so here is one from one of our recent coaching additions at Millfield School, Dan Helesfay. Dan has recently been shortlisted for the ECB Young Coach of the Year and has made a really strong impact within our programme since joining us in the 1st week of the January.

Dan took the drill from another ex-work colleague of mine, Ross Dewar. Ross is the Strength and Conditioning Coach at Worcestershire. Dan adapted it and worked it into a session that was concentrating on the role of the hips within a spin bowling action.

You may recall a recent article which featured the research taken from the ECB's Spin bowling department. This drill is a good way of building a bowling action which promotes increased body rotation, increased revolutions on the ball and a more advanced release position: All good things for a spinner to have in their technical tool box.

Have you ever had one of those "punch yourself in the head" moments?

I do. A moment like this comes when someone explains something so clearly that it completely blows your present way of thinking out of the water.

Steffan Jones delivered an excellent session at Millfield School last week on fast bowling. His approach linked his extensive knowledge of physical training with technical principles underpinned by the 4 Tent Pegs, as well as Steffan's own experiences as a bowler and bowling coach.

Steff spoke about a load of things that I have heard and implemented over the years, yet there was one thing that knocked me for six.

I watched a bowling session last week with Kevin Shine, the Lead Fast Bowling Coach for the ECB. The topic was one that was discussed recently by Steffan Jones: bowling yorkers.

Alistair Cook called England all-rounder Moeen Ali the fastest learner that he has ever played with. England's spinning sensation has gone from barely-used in his debut to take 19 wickets in the series against India.

So what exactly is it that Moeen has learnt?

Here's a shocking fact.

On average, the cost of wides and no balls at school is 27.3 runs per 50 overs bowling innings (28.4 runs per 50 overs for the opposition).

We know this because we analyse the impact of wides and no balls:

Do you recognise this?

Bowlers have bowling with soaking wet balls, drying the ball on a towel kept in the back your trousers and fielders throwing the ball sideways as the ball slips out of their hands. Anyone who has played club cricket will know all about these kinds of challenge.

Can "context" win you matches?

Let's look at an example. I was as amazed as anyone when watching the striking power of the Netherlands in the World T20 match against Ireland.

I love it when a spin bowler comes along with something different.

And not just for the reasons you think.

One of the spinners at Millfield School has gained so much confidence from his winters practice sessions that he felt it was time to bowl his "doosra" against batters in the nets for the first time.

The young lad has been working on developing his own version of the ball in his technical sessions, and also down the corridors of his house. He has been delivering tennis balls into an upturned bucket in order to master the release position and now is letting the delivery go in nets.

James Faulkner turned certain loss into monumental victory in the 2nd ODI against England in 2014. He was brilliant but - it has to be said - England were poor in the last gasps of that game.

One TV expert commented in review that "Surely England can’t be practising their yorkers." An easy assumption to make based on the outcome of the game.

However, the bottom line is that all International teams do practice bowling yorkers a lot. So, why couldn't England land them?

The first in this series used a piece of string as a guide for foot placement in the approach. This is one of the major causes of the back foot sweeping under the body and causing misalignment at the crease.

However, if the feet are landing nicely in the approach and you still note that BFC (Back Foot Contact) is misaligned then the following drills, placed on top of the string based run up drill, will close the deal.