John Harmer loves cricket. He loves coaching it, he delights in analysing the mechanics of the game and he's constantly looking to push the boundaries of the game.

He is at the forefront of the biomechanical presence that is starting to make itself felt in cricket.

Because he challenges some of the time-honoured principles of instruction in cricket, he doesn't find his ideas always accepted in the halls of power of the game.

But as coach of the Australian women's cricket team, the world champions on the last occasion the World Cup was contested and the hot favourites again for the CricInfo-sponsored title, he has credibility for his theories.

The Australian women's team has taken to his biomechanical approach. That's because they are always in the shadow of the men's game, but his highly-talented side want to make their own mark in cricket.

Harmer isn't one of those coaches who likes to hide his formula away from public gaze. He subscribes to the sharing of information for the benefit of all.

That is why his instruction methods are being produced on a CD Rom for distribution around the world. He has already completed fielding and wicket-keeping versions and in the spare time he has been able to find at Lincoln University he has been writing his batting version, a version that he believes will be the best of all.

As well as being a cricket nut, a former physical education teacher, a biomechanics practitioner, the Deakin University of Melbourne lecturer has an unerring ability to break down the basics of cricket and apply methods to help players develop their skills.

His CD-roms are written with a three-dimensional approach to coaching; for players, for coaches and for teachers.

The result is an unbeatable description of every skill needed to play cricket, with film demonstations of how to practice the skill and how to perform it in a match situation.

Drills for coaches and teachers to employ are also included. The fielding CD-rom alone has 250,000 words of information and 260 fielding drills on it.

Under the system the resource is written for, the learning stages graduate from easy to difficult.

Harmer likes to work backwards in skill work. In other words, he takes the end product of any cricketing function and then works back to the biomechanical beginning.

He also likes players to develop their reactions. To enhance quick thinking, he has players perform routine skills with their eyes shut. Then he will sometimes throw two or three differently coloured balls and ask them to open their eyes and then hit or field a ball of particular colour.

It's all aimed at getting players to respond quickly to anything thrown at them in a game.

His variety of drills have made learning interesting, and when followed by results like those achieved by Australia's women they have plenty of evidence to show their worth.

Harmer has been helped in getting his material produced by Australian company DigiSport. The company has already made its mark with rugby coaching products.

"I've been working on my material for two years. Digi saw me working with women's skills on cricket and were interested in doing something with me.

"I wanted something kids could use and move around as they like. It's not as formatted as a book and they can use the film to learn rather than photos in a book.

"The batting one will be ready soon," he said.

Harmer introduced his philosophy to the Australian team at the last World Cup and the players have become very supportive of his methods.

Interestingly, much of the early part of Harmer's development in the phys-ed area was from textbooks produced in New Zealand.

"All of us in Australia bought New Zealand phys-ed books because they had skills awareness and for the way they were done," he said.

His interest in biomechanics goes back a long way and he can recall filming West Indian great Gordon Greenidge in 1983 in Australia to study his techniques.

"I used to do it for myself and my game.

"I need to be motivated and challenged as much as a player. I need to get the satisfaction out of what I do as much as the players do. I love it.

"The girls have done this work best. They are chasing the men with points to prove. They want to get somewhere.

"The status of the men's game is so high, they are at the top of their game while the women's game is not so high."

He also did work on the back problems suffered by fast bowlers in Australia.

He said that one of the problems is that when the fast bowler plants his back foot in the delivery stride, the pressure is 10 times his own body mass, and when he moves onto the front foot the pressure is six times the body mass.

"You have to pay attention to technique. Very few front-on bowlers get back problems. The problems occur with people who are rotating their spine in the delivery stage."

The basic principles of biomechanics can be applied to any sport but there is no doubt his CD Roms will be the modern-day equivalent of the MCC Coaching Book, or perhaps even the computer version of the graduation diploma of the cricket school of hard knocks.

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