A large parcel delivery company in America has a central warehouse that moves thousands of parcels through every day. Delivery on time is their business so any failure in the conveyor belt means massive losses in profits.

You can guess what happened: The conveyor belt failed.

The company tried to fix it, but everything they tried failed. Time is money so they called in a consultant.

Speak to any great cricketer and they will tell you one of the secrets of their success is to play the game one ball at a time.

If you have ever tried to put a mistake out of your mind during a match you will know that playing like this is easier than it sounds. In fact, the phrase has become something of a cliché for players seeking advice when going through a dip in form.

But a cliché it is not.

Do you find you have problems with team standards and discipline at your club?

Many teams do, it's the nature of recreational sport. Club players are there to have fun as much as to win games. Teams can be collections of individuals rather than a unit with shared values.

With the league season fast approaching here, now is the time to set your cricket goals for the summer.

In the hope that you will be inspired to do this yourself, it's time for me to put my money where my mouth is. Here are my goals for the summer and how I plan to track them:

Overall Aim: To make 2007 my best cricket season ever.

While almost everyone agrees on the importance of regular sleep to sport performance, it seems nobody can agree on the right amount.

Sleep is a vital element in your cricket training plan no matter what your goals. According to studies (and probably your own common sense) the main reasons are all preventative:

Look around the room you are in now for anything that is the colour bright red.

I guarantee you will be able to pick out even the tiniest speck now you are looking for it, even if there is hardly any red at all.

Maybe you have bought a brand new car sometime in your life.

How many of those cars do you suddenly see on the road once you start driving around?

That's the power of focus.

If you can improve your coordination you will get stronger and faster on the cricket pitch.

This works because the more your body's nervous system is able to activate the fibres in your muscles quickly and in the right order, the more efficiently it operates.

Most club cricketers are not making the most of this efficiency potential and so are not using their hidden reserves. Lucky for you, it's quite easy to tap into them with the right approach.

Do you ever wonder what international cricketers mean when you hear them talk about 'momentum'? Is it another way of saying 'we need to win' or is there something to the idea that once you start doing well on the pitch it becomes increasingly easy to keep doing well?

Momentum is a critical factor in cricket because it can make the difference between two sides of equal skill. This is because momentum is having the self-confidence to apply skill at the right moment in a match. It's all about timing.

The vast majority of cricketers leave their success to chance and hope. Why take that risk? If you want get your nose ahead of 95% of players then simply put these 7 rules in place for the coming season.

When everything is going right for you cricket seems the easiest game in the world. If you think back to your best game, did it feel easy or hard work?

I bet that it was the easiest thing you ever did. Sometimes you see the ball early, your feet seem to know where to go and you feel in total command.