This is a guest post by Laurie Ward from The Complete Cricketer Academy in Cape Town, South Africa.

Does this scene sound familiar?

As the game goes on barely watched, your team are involved in a mini game or kicking a football around. How many times have you seen one of these players scrabbling for kit and rushing out to the middle with no idea of what is happening?

Your team are missing some serious tricks by not observing the game.

Not only can you support the batters battling in the middle, you also learn about the opposition, the state of the game and your own role.

By not getting ready you are giving away a huge advantage.

So put down the tennis ball and start taking the "crease management" advantage.

When does crease management start?

Crease management starts well before a game. You should be comfortable with your grip, stance, guard and any pre-set routine such as trigger movements or actions. Repeating these in practice or even in front of a mirror at home will make these feel natural and comfortable.

Repetition brings the feeling of control and with control we can reduce nerves. The old cliché: 'control the controllables' is never more apt as at the start of an innings.

At the match crease management can start early. Arrive in plenty of time, never be rushed. Allow time to look at the conditions and pitch. Get a feel for the ground and visualise playing positive cricket.

Take your stance at each end to get used to the background for when it is your turn to bat.

The game begins

When the game starts, keep alert and looking for clues to give you an advantage.

There are two things to examine: How your batsmen are doing and how the opposition are playing.

Watch how your team call and run between the wickets. Every team has a whippet and every team has a poor judge of a run. Know who they are. Make a mental note to talk to them about how to take control of calling and running if you are batting with them.

Don't panic if your teammates are struggling. Remember everyone’s game is different. It's more important to watch the opposition. Try to see what tactics they are incorporating.  What line and length are they bowling? What fields have they set?

• Watch all the fielders closely. There will be one or two that are a bit sleepy or wander into bad positions. Others may not have strong arms or accurate throws. Some will be left-handed so you can take care which hand you take them on for before a quick single.
• Take a close look at the bowlers. Try to see what they are attempting to bowl, (seam up, finger spin, leg spin) and how well or poorly they are doing it. Watch out for strange actions that might catch you out, such as a low arm action, bowling off the wrong foot or a delayed release as a spinner. You want as few surprises as possible when you face your first ball. 

What to do when you are not watching the game

Of course you can't watch every ball, but there are more productive things you can do instead of having a quick go on the Nintendo DS.

Pad up in good time. Each player should get his own routine but there is nothing worse than rushing to get ready, particularly when a couple of wickets have fallen and panic is setting in. Be prepared. When the openers go out to bat 3 and No 4 should be padded up with all kit at hand. When the first wicket falls No 5 should get ready, and so on.

Get comfortable and ready. Some players like to have throw-downs, some to tap the ball up and down on their bat; others just sit still and relax. Don’t get too relaxed and stiff, stretch your legs and have a walk now and again to keep loose and flexible. 

Keep crease management going when you get to the crease

When it comes your turn to bat try to relax and breathe deeply before walking in. As you walk out, look up and adjust your eyes to the light.

Walk out with a positive stride, even if you are trembling inside. Loosen your arms by stretching with the bat or playing positive air strokes.

You will get some form of welcome from the keeper and close fielders. Ignore their comments and use any negativity to focus yourself and increase your determination.

Take guard; take a good look at the field settings (making no direct eye contact) and note where the weak, strong and different handed fielders are positioned. Put all of this information to the back of your mind.

Now, all there is to do is keep your head still, watch the ball, judge the line and length, make the correct shot selection and move into the correct position with footwork, head and hands working in unison. 

As this is all over in generally half a second, aren’t you glad that you made the effort to implement basic crease management?

If you want to learn everything there is to know about batting, check out Gary Palmer's interactive coaching courses. Gary is a coach with over 20 years experience teaching players to become first class cricketers. For the first time he has put his drills online, only at PitchVision Academy.

image credit: Bushtick