It sounds like one of those crazy fad diets, but body type training is grounded in science and growing in popularity.

Until we have genetic profiling, it's the best we can manage for personalised eating and training for cricket. You see you will react to different foods and training methods in different ways depending on your body type.

Planning your cricket fitness training is a difficult balance.

On one hand you know the benefits of strength, speed and endurance on your game. On the other hand you don't want to waste time training elements that have little crossover to the cricket pitch.

That's where the PitchVision Academy Fitness Plan comes in.

From the impressive girth of Dwayne Leverock to the diminutive skills of Sachin, there are few sports than can incorporate the full range of shapes and sizes that cricket does. Nevertheless, there are certain ideal elements that everyone can aspire to.

What are these elements?

In two simple practice sessions your club side could make dramatic improvements in both speed between the wickets and judgement of runs. That could lead to an extra 50 runs per innings in an afternoon match.

These sessions can be run by coaches or captains and don’t require much equipment beyond normal cricket stuff.

After warming up, this is how you do it.

Practice session one: Improving technique

 

 

Last night I ran a fielding only net session for my club.

As it's winter here the cold and dark restricted us to the local sports hall.

Normally we have a net session but I have long been gunning for more fielding practice and Sam, our club captain, decided he wanted the same and asked me to run a session. The session was an hour for around 14 adults ranging in skill from club first to third team. We had the whole hall to train in. All the equipment we had were 4 sets of spring loaded stumps, some bats and balls.

Ferris Bueller, as you already know, was the coolest kid in school. Who doesn't want to be a bit like Ferris?

Ferris would have been a great cricketer, had he not been busy being a 1980's fictional Amercian High school kid. Here's why.

Ferris uses bluff to his advantage

An average club cricketer might spend a few hours a week improving their game.

You might play a couple of games, go to the gym and train in the nets regularly.

What about the rest of the time?

What you do outside of this time also has a huge effect on your performance. Getting the edge and playing good cricket at any level requires good intense training. It also needs attention to the other hours in the day.

This idea is often known as the 24 hour athlete.

Lighter nights, warmer days and flowers blooming everywhere.

Spring has arrived around these parts and that means pre-season training has begun in earnest.

How can you make the most of this critical period in your preparation?