There is nothing better than watching two great Cricket nations battle it out in Test Cricket. I just love watching the ebbs and flows of the game and for me Test Cricket will always be the best form of Cricket to watch. With the series evenly poised at one all, the attention now moves onto the Day/ Night Test in Ahmedabad. A brand new stadium,a brand new pitch and a pink ball being used for the first time in India. We can only speculate as to what is going to happen. Will the pitch be seamer friendly? Will the pink ball swing? Will India stick to their strengths and prepare a spin friendly wicket? All these questions will be answered in time but England must select a team that is best suited to these unknown conditions.

In a thrilling and historic match England women’s T20 team, captained brilliantly by Rosalind Moody, made Flickit Cricket history today, beating the England men’s team by a single run.

Maddy Villiers was the hero of the hour when she flicked the dice into the 20 Runs scored Flickit Cloud on her fifth attempt of eight possible tries. Her first four tries were either short or long of the mark, but she steadied and composed herself well to flick with accuracy and precision to secure a thrilling win for the women.

This week I would like to analyse and compare the bowling actions of Shane Warne and Adil Rashid. Warne is the undisputed best leg spinner of all time and arguably the greatest bowler of all time. Rashid is England’s best leg spinner and possibly the best leg spinner that England has ever produced. Despite Rashid’s achievements there is a big difference statistically between the two players. Warne played 145 test matches and took 708 wickets at an average of 25.71. Rashid has played just 19 test matches and has taken 60 wickets at an average of 39.83. I am going to compare their bowling actions to see whether bowling technique has contributed to the big difference between these two very fine bowlers.

It was great to get some feedback on my last blog. The majority requests I received were for me to write about the actions of Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad.

Jofra Archer

Jofra Archer has a technically perfect bowling action. His action is a bowling coach’s dream and there is absolutely nothing I would change about it.

Job done - let’s move on to Stuart Broad. Just kidding, not about his action - it is true that it is technically perfect, but about moving straight on to Stuart Broad. There are still things that I could do as a coach to help make Jofra the best bowler he can be.

If somebody asked you what your dream job would be, what would you say? You would probably name a job doing something that you were good at and enjoyed doing. It would probably be a job that allowed you to work alongside some of the world leaders in your chosen field. Maybe it would allow you to travel and to see new parts of the world. Finally, because this is your dream job, it would probably pay well.

I am very fortunate to have a job related to my lifelong passion - cricket. I know how lucky I am to be able to make a living coaching young cricketers. But, I have to admit, it is not quite my dream job. That would be to work with the Australian Cricket Board as their Head Bowling Coach. A close second would be working for the English Cricket Board as their Head Bowling Coach.

I had a rare evening free from coaching recently so I took the opportunity to go for a family walk with my wife and daughter. It was during this walk that we came across a kids’ cricket match between two local teams. It was an U11 match played on an artificial grass wicket. Funnily enough, the first kid I saw was a double hopper (I need to send those coaches my last blog!)

I was about to move on when I noticed a family friend was there with his eight year old son. Let’s call my friend John and his son Jack (not their real names but for the purpose of this blog those names will do). Jack was padded up and due in next so we stopped our walk to say hello to John and to watch Jack bat. I was quite excited to see Jack bat as he is one of those kids who simply loves the game.

When learning to bowl it is crucial that a youngster develops a bowling technique that will allow them to progress as a cricketer. The bowling action is very complex and it is a difficult skill to learn. It is even more difficult to write about the complexities of the action as the movements required to bowl correctly are difficult to put into words. I am a coach, not a writer, but will do my best to put into words something which is a lot easier for me to demonstrate.

As a coach I like to break the bowling action down into five separate stages. I look at these stages separately and then assess exactly where a student may be going wrong with their action. The five stages of the bowling action include…

I have been a bowling coach for many years now so believe me when I say that no two bowling actions are exactly the same. I have seen actions ranging in type from the ‘frog in a blender’ to the ‘graceful and athletic’. Most actions are somewhere in between and it is my job as a bowling coach to make the individual’s action the best it can be with the skills the student possesses.

Having said that, there are some common mistakes that I see over and over. I will be addressing these over a series of blogs in the coming weeks.

A key element of the Flickit Cricket is that you (the player) are the captain of your team. You get to choose your own team mates and these players could be anyone. They might be international cricket greats, your friends, your all time heroes or even fictional characters. You must include yourself in the team because you are the captain.

It got me thinking about what my ultimate Flickit Cricket team would be? I have watched and loved cricket for more than 40 years, and I’ve seen so many great players come and go, from all cricketing nations. I admit that this list focuses heavily on Australian cricketers from the 1970’s and 80’s, but what can I say - childhood heroes stay with you a long time!

Wasn't it great to see test cricket back on TV again? I heard Michael Atherton say that despite no crowds at the ground, it was the most watched test of all time.

So what went wrong for England? There are lots of things that contribute to the loss of a test match, but I am going to focus on just one crucial factor - the man in charge of the team. There’s a reason that players in Flickit Cricket take on the role of team captains. The decisions a captain makes have a big influence on the outcome of a match. Here are my thoughts on Ben Stokes as captain …