In my first few years as a coach I used to go along to coaching presentations and hear about the benefit of reflection and review.

Having been bought up in a “beer and chat” environment as a player, all this was a bit lost on me: A bit of utopian and conceptual thinking rather than real coaching practice that I could use with teams and cricketers.

Then I met Ricky Ponting!

Be it praise or criticism, tip or coaching, useful or useless; there are always people who want to give you cricket advice.

How do you sort the good from the bad?

We have all been there, sitting in the changing room, despondent and angry at losing the match.

Confucius was a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher. I bet he was a decent coach too! He knocked around the Lu State in China and passed away in 479 BC.

Managing players used to be easy didn’t it?

Not any more.

It’s shocking to see so many cricket players sabotage their chances by lying.

At training last night one of my team was clearly "not up for it". He wanted to put in his usual high work ethic but he was flat and unenthusiastic. Nothing felt right.

When this happens, how do you get out of the slump?

Here’s a simple test of your chances of becoming a cricketer: ask yourself why you train and play.

How many cricketers have you met who get stroppy and throw the towel in when they have been dropped from a team or suffered a loss of form?

How good are your cricket skills under pressure?

It’s said that pressure either makes you 15% better or 15% worse. The good news is that you get to choose which way you go with some simple work in training.