This is a guest article from former professional bowler, and current Strength, Conditioning and Fast Bowling Coach Steffan Jones.

How do you train to bowl lightning fast?

Sorry to all the traditionalist out there, but you can't "just bowl". Not if you want real pace.

Neither can you expect to do endless conditioning session that don't replicate the energy systems and effort of bowling. The sessions I'm seeing in some indoor schools and gyms are great for any other sports but not fast bowling!

So what do we do?

Closing date: undisclosed

Northants Cricket is looking for a Commercial Manager and are willing to offer a competitive Salary

Let's be frank, warming up is boring.

Essential for injury prevention yes, but it's not the reason you picked up a bat and ball. So if we can come up with ways to make warming up both fun and functional, we are winning at life. And if there is one coach who knows his way around fun and function, it's Iain Brunnschweiler; author of the Inspired Cricket Manual.

Here's an example of what we mean:

Dr. Deepak Hiwale is "The Fitness Doc", a medical doctor, sports scientist and cricket lover with a special interest in preventing fast bowling injuries. In this article, The Doc tells us about the pitfalls of bowling fast, and how you can stay on the park.

Fast bowlers have always been thought of as unintelligent by batsmen. However, nothing can be further from the truth. Fast bowling an intelligent art but it is also downright hard work. What's more is that more intelligence and planning go into the making of a fast bowler compared to a cricketer with other skill sets.

This intelligence and planning is not only to make a fast bowler but to also increase his shelf life.

This is part 3 of and autobiographical training guide Steffan Jones, professional fast bowler. Can he achieve his aim of reaching 90mph through innovative training methods? For part one click here, for part 4 click here.

In part one of this autobiographical training guide Steffan Jones, professional fast bowler, told us how he discovered the power of strength training to bowl faster. But he was about to take things to another level. Here is what happened in 1999...

The winter of 1999 in preparation for 2000 English season was my first attempt at training specifically for cricket. This is the winter where I began to take things seriously. I began to research more on performance training and spent hundreds of pounds on training books.

At the time I was bowling 78mph. I was hoping to add a yard onto my bowling.

During the winter I followed a basic weight training program. It was nothing intense, simple basic training focusing on body parts. The gym facility we had at the time was machine based so athletic training wasn’t really possible.

Yet, I still managed to increase my pace.

How?

This is the first in a series of autobiographical articles from former-professional cricketer Steffan Jones. Steffan took himself from a 120kph to 145kph (90mph) with blood, sweat and tears.

I signed my first contract in 1990 and was a professional cricketer for 20 years. The average career of a seam bowler these days is 5 years. In that time I increased my speed. How did I do it?

Here is my story.

It's well documented that Zaheer Khan returned to fitness in 2013 by attending a "performance camp" in France. What can you learn from how Zaheer did it to help you improve your bowling stamina?

The exciting part for me is that he did it without the old fashioned mantra of "putting miles in your legs" and jogging. That's not to say he needed a lot of special expensive gear either. Everything the paceman did is simple to recreate at home, in the gym or even in the nets.

In fact, it's a great overall plan for any fast bowler who wants to bowl longer spells and come back for second and third times with equal fire. So lets take a look at what he did:

This is a guest article from Andy Perkins, Strength and Conditioning Coach for Guernsey Cricket

One of the big plus points in the last season with Guernsey was that no injuries were sustained in competitions.

This was in no small part to a concerted effort to protect the shoulder. Today I want to share the causes of shoulder injuries to help you avoid similar niggles. There will be no scientific jargon just straight forward English with practical suggestions you can take and use straight away.

Sam Lavery is PitchVision Academy's new monthly columnist: A coach with wide experience in the UK, Sam is Academy Director at Portsmouth Grammar School as well as a coach at Hampshire CCC and Burridge CC.

Why exactly do we warm up?

I have coached at quite a few clubs in recent years and as I've travelled around the cricket circuit I see warm ups have improved no end with more action, excitement, and diversity.