Yorkers and death bowling

Setup

1. Bowlers warm up fully and bowl a few build-up balls off a shortened run before starting at full pace.
2. Mark a yorker box in the block hole: from the popping crease to about half a metre in front of it, the width of the stumps. An old pair of shoes or a yorker mat at the batting crease makes a good visual target.
3. Mark a wide-yorker box on the off side, just inside the wide guideline used in your competition.
4. For the first block, no batter: a keeper or a coach stands back. For the final block a batter in full kit, including a helmet with a faceguard, takes strike.
5. Count every ball bowled. Keep each bowler's total inside your association's fast bowling workload guidelines, including today's other bowling.

How it runs

1. Block 1, targets only: each bowler bowls an over aiming at the yorker box. 2 points for the box, 3 if it would hit the base of the stumps.
2. Block 2: an over at the wide-yorker box, then an over where the coach calls 'straight' or 'wide' as the bowler reaches the crease.
3. Block 3, the final over: the coach sets a target (for example, 10 to win off 6) and a field. The bowler tells the coach the plan for each ball before running in, then bowls to the batter.
4. The batter tries to win; the bowler wins by defending the target. Talk through the over afterwards: which balls worked, which missed and why.
5. Rotate bowlers so nobody bowls more than a short spell without a rest.

Coaching points

• Pick the target early and keep your eyes on it from the top of your mark to release.
• Keep the same run-up and rhythm as your stock ball. Speeding up at the crease usually drags the ball into a full toss.
• Release a fraction later and stay tall with a firm front leg so the ball comes out flatter and full.
• The wide yorker needs the line set early: aim to land just inside the guideline so it isn't called wide.
• If you miss, miss full rather than short and in the arc. A high full toss above waist height is a no-ball, so a controlled release matters more than extra pace.
• Have a back-up ball ready, such as a slower ball or a wide yorker, if the batter moves around the crease.

Common mistakes

• Trying to bowl faster for the yorker and losing control of length.
• Watching the batter's feet instead of the target at the moment of release.
• Bowling the same ball every time so the batter can set up for it.
• Carrying on through back or side pain. Stop straight away and tell the coach.