1. Some teams always play for the draw. Too many times a captain will blame the opposition for a boring draw. There are very few sides who deliberately aim to go for the bore draw. More likely, neither captain has taken control of the game enoughto keep it close. The answer: Be prepared to take a risk. You will play in a lot less draws.

This post is part of the Cricket Fielding Drills Week series. To go to part one click here. 

The single best way to get better at cricket is to actually play cricket. But what do you do if you want to practice particular skills in a game situation?

You setup practice games.

Practice games recreate the competition and pressure of a real game, but focus of developing certain skills rather than just being a general game. Here are 4 mini game to improve your fielding(and other skills) and some ideas for games that can involve everyone in a short period of time.

This post is part of the Cricket Fielding Drills Week series. To go to part one click here.

You can never practice your fielding enough. Even 'natural' fielders need to keep their skills sharp to reduce the chance of dropping catches and missing run outs. Here are some drills that cover picking up, throwing and catching. You can also use them for fitness if you make them more intense, and don't forget the fielding drills I have already posted.

Every now and again I'll update you with my own schedule, just to give you an idea of how a club player can do it. Hopefully it will give you some context to my tips.

Last time I updated you I was just starting my recovery phase. Mainly to give my body time to recover after the season.

Now I'm feeling fit again I will be taking this week as complete rest (well, I'll be walking about 30 min a day but nothing else).

This post is part of the Cricket Fielding Drills Week series. To go to part one click here.

Sometimes it's very difficult to stay motivated when trying to get fit for cricket. You want to improve your fitness, but fitness drills can seem very far detached from getting more runs and wickets. To find a balance you can combine fielding drills with fitness training.

Fielding drills are great. They improve skills, can be done almost anywhere and can help with your fitness. They are also hard to find online. It's about time that changed.

• Traineo is a funky looking site to help you if you want to lose or put on weight. It also has good forums and articles.
• Shane Warne and Derek Pringle agree that great players don't need coaching but less great players do. Well, duh.
• Do your cricket boots come untied too often? This video shows you one knot that will never untie.

Yesterday, Sussex clinched the County Championship ahead of bigger rivals Lancashire. Considering the side finished dead last in 1997, the team have become a case study in how to win league cricket: Something which all club sides can learn from.

Captain Chris Adams puts it down to teamwork (although Mushtaq Ahmed's 102 wickets may have helped too). While we don't know exactly how they did it, we can look at the clues and come up with some ways club sides can follow the lead of successful teams.

Seam bowling all-rounder Kelvin has been back in touch with me.

You may remember he asked me some coaching questions a little while back. He now has a run up problem which I hope to solve for him.

Part of a good run up is being fit enough to perform it properly. In Kelvin's case, his hard work is starting to pay off in real cricket performance:

Do you think you have your kit bag sorted? You may not have, even after you have packed your bat, pads, gloves, box and whites.

That stuff is great for playing and practising but it doesn't cover everything. So here are 5 more things every cricket player should consider having on hand.

1. XLR8 Cricket Kits