In recent years a new criticism of a player has entered the vocabulary of cricket: That of 'slavishly following the coaching manual'.

They have a perfect off drive that goes straight to mid off every time: A great shot for none. They are typified by slow scoring and a lack of power in their shots. They may even be described as a player from another age.

Today we are delighted to introduce a new guest writer to miCricketCoach. Ben Baruch is a 13 year old cricketer from Buckinghamshire in England. He has played district level cricket. Today he gives his views on how to improve your strike rate, something very important for all young players looking to make an impression.

This article is part of "The complete guide to cricket field settings" series.

Limited over cricket (especially Twenty20) is all about restricting the runs and this field is designed to help the opening bowler. When the ball is new and the bowlers are fresh, it's possible to be a little more attacking to get early wickets and restrict the run rate with the field up.

It seems strange to think that the more limited the format the more creative cricket has to become. Yet it can't be denied: The twenty over game has thrown up some of the most unique play since World Series Cricket.

I was shown that recently when I went to watch the four best amateur teams in the UK compete for the Cockspur Club Twenty20 Cup.

I'm pretty sure Jeremy Snape wasn't referring to club cricket when he said this:

One of my top secret weapons to keeping as up to date as possible is getting the resources from the ECB Coaches Association. If you are an ECB coach you will know what I mean.

Not many things on the cricket pitch top hitting the ball cleanly over the boundary. It looks and feels great. To improve this skill you need to have good technique and work on your 'speed-strength' during the winter. Speed-strength, in shot making terms, is how fast you can swing the bat. The faster you can do this with good technique the harder and longer you will be able to hit a cricket ball. This velocity is developed in three distinct phases:

Everyone loves Twenty20: The players, the fans and the county clubs bank managers. The only exception are the traditionalists who see it as a corruption of the great game. There is much to learn from the short game though, even for club cricketers who turn out once a week. Here are 10 of them: