For my son
This part is written to one person. It is the running log of what we have talked about after games and in the nets, kept in one place so he can find it again. Everything else on this site is the theory. This is what it actually looked like in one season.
The card you take out to bat
Five lines. Read them at the gate, then forget them and watch the ball.
- Watch the seam out of the hand, and keep watching until it hits the bat.
- Still at release. Feet moving before, statue the moment it leaves the hand.
- Let it come into the box. Play it late, under your eyes.
- Look for the gap, not the fielder. Score off every ball you can.
- Hold the bat firmly, hit it hard, and keep it on the ground.
The log
Wait for it
- Wait for the ball to get into your box, then drive it into the ground.
- High to low on the hook shot.
- Back and across for the cut, then steer it down into the gaps.
Put them under pressure
- Rotate the strike. Try to score off every single ball.
- Hit the gaps. One metre left or right of cover is a run.
- Soft hands for quick singles. That brings the field in, and then you hit past them.
- Do not let anything wide of off stump go past you.
- Back up at the non striker's end, and tell your partner to do the same.
- Coming back after drinks: reset, go to your happy place, start again.
Let go of outcomes
- It has to be about enjoying and embracing the process.
- Results do not create discipline. Discipline creates results.
Not baseball
- Do not play BBL baseball. Good technique first.
- Timing is more important than hitting hard. Then hit hard.
- And straight.
Under your eyes
- Picture a small zone near your stumps. Feet, hands and bat all stay inside it.
- Let the ball come into that space rather than reaching out to it.
- Adjust the size of the box to suit your stance. Smaller if the ball is swinging.
- Play late. Let it bounce into the box. Maximum damage, minimum risk.
Watch it all the way
- Look at how Dewald Brevis keeps his eyes on the ball the whole time.
- Not to a metre in front. All the way onto the bat.
Power, from Maxwell
- Extend the arms on the hook and the pull.
- Aim square for the gaps on those shots.
- Back and across if it is short.
- Wait until it is inside your box for maximum power and control.
- Hold the bat firmly, otherwise it moves in your hands.
Stable base, hold the pose
- Do not move while you are hitting. Hold the finish.
- High to low for the cut. Guide it to point and hold the pose.
- Straight arms on the hook.
- When the field is back, hit it at their feet and run one. That forces them in.
Two targets
- Practise landing it thirty centimetres in front of the crease. That is your yorker.
- Bowl full on fifth or sixth stump to stop them having a swing.
The things that are not about technique
Be brave, and sometimes we make mistakes
That is what makes us better. A brave mistake is worth more than a safe nothing.
Be brave, and accept that sometimes we make mistakes, because that is the thing that makes us better. A brave mistake is worth more than a safe nothing.
on being braveNobody in life is too good to have manners
Not one person. Not ever. This is the easiest thing on the whole site and it counts more than any of it.
Nobody in life is too good to have manners. Not one person, not ever.
on mannersDo not get too high or too low
Six off the last ball, bowled off the next. The player who stays level in both is the one still batting at the end.
Do not get too high or too low. Six off the last ball, bowled off the next. The player who stays level through both is the one still batting at the end.
on staying levelNever give up
Games turn on somebody deciding it is not over. Hat tricks happen to teams who have already stopped trying.
A hat trick to finish a game that was already gone. Somebody on that field decided it was not over.
never give upBe a great team mate
You cannot bat alone, field alone, or bowl without fielders. If you tried, it would just look funny.
What being a great team mate actually looks like, in behaviour rather than in slogans.
on being a great team mateMental strength is trained, not issued
Nobody hands it to you at birth. It is built in the boring parts, on the days when nothing is going well.
A short piece on mental strength that is more useful than most of the genre.
on mental strengthWhat we are working on next
The cut shot
- Back and across, early
- High to low, face pointing down
- Guide it to point, do not smash it
- Hold the pose afterwards
A plan against spin
- Above the eyes, go at it
- Below the eyes, stay back
- Never a half step
- The sweep, while the fire is small
The yorker
- Thirty centimetres in front of the crease
- Same action every time
- Until you can find it when you are tired
- And the game is close
Communication, and communicating regularly, is so important to a winning team. Ben Stokes