Rather than send scouts to Australia and South Africa ahead of next winter's Ashes tour and World Cup, the England management could do worse than sit down in front of the computers and surf the net.

A new South African virtual coaching clinic - with "a distinct leaning towards the way South African cricketers play the game" - now complements the coaching video clips to be found on the Australian Cricket Board's website.

Together, they offer free help to cricketers of all ability and ambition - not to mention an invaluable insight into the minds of Australian and South African cricketers and how they have achieved success in their own conditions.

Where the Australians offer advice in the form of videos from Shane Warne, Simon O'Donnell, Michael Slater and Ian Healy, the South Africans, on the SuperSport Schools website, have opted for the prosaic, though more comprehensive, approach of regularly updated essays from international cricketers.

Symcox was renowned as a tough competitor

The opening salvos include Fanie De Villiers on how to perfect the timber-rattling yorker in one-day cricket, Kepler Wessels on the art of building an innings and Pat Symcox on the importance of protective eyewear.

And just before anybody points out that the sun does not shine enough in England for sunglasses to be needed, Symcox stresses that they can also protect against wind and rain, as well as illuminate the dark, dingy conditions known to all at the County Ground in Derby.

Mental preparation - one of the 10 categories on which features will be written and then archived (batting, bowling, captaincy, fielding, field placing, the laws of cricket, the spirit of the game, training and wicket-keeping are the others) promises to make fascinating reading.

Habit forming

As Wessels points out in his article on innings-building: "Use a system of concentrating that allows you to switch off at times. No batsman can concentrate for an entire day without tiring.

"It is critical to know when to concentrate and when to relax. Concentration is as important as technique. It can become a habit.".

The Aussies go for a more direct approach, letting actions speak louder than words.

The most entertaining video snippets are offered by Shane Warne who explains that the "stock leggie should be accurate enough to commit the batsman into playing a stroke before spinning sharply to leg."

Warne's perfect leggie was too good for Gatting

The action then turns to Old Trafford 1993 and the most famous ball of his career, with a smiling Warne commenting: "Someone should explain that to Mike Gatting".

In a minute of footage, Warne explains the basics of the leg-break and there are similar features on the "wrong-un", the top-spinner, the flipper and on how to vary flight.

Succinct as ever, he offers aspiring youngsters only two tips that they need to remember when bowling the leg-break: "The grip: two fingers down, two fingers up, and spin hard, in practice and in a game."

Sadly for those looking for a quick fix, the South African website, which is aimed primarily at schoolchildren, offers a sober warning.

"It must always be remembered that knowing what to do and actually doing it are two very different issues," it says.

"Unfortunately, there is just no substitute for hard work, and combining knowledge with practice is in itself a skill."