How to Keep Rolling After a Big Cricket Win | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

How to Keep Rolling After a Big Cricket Win

On Saturday the team I coach won their game by 307 runs. Where do we go from here?

You see, easy as it seems, winning after winning is more difficult than you think.

It's easy to become complacent. You could assume you are going to win everything from now on because in the back of your mind you have reached the pinnacle of form.

Now is not the time to relax.

It's time to work even harder and smarter.

Reset your expectations

Most people relax a little after a big win. Graham Gooch - who scored over 8,000 Test runs for England - always did the opposite. The bigger runs he got, the harder he worked at nets.

He was right.

When you are in amazing form, feeling fit and swelling with confidence, capitalise on this rare moment.

Work on things to grow your game further now you don't have to worry about getting into form. If you scored a hundred, how do you make it 150 or more? If the team score 350, how do you make it 400?

Plan for the next game

Another mistake of the complacent is to assume every opponent are the same.

While it is true that if you strive to play your best, the opposition are irrelevant, it's also true that different teams pose different challenges. Never assume they will respond the same way as the last team.

So, once the big win is over, start thinking about the next team. What form are they in? Who are the danger players? What tactics are they likely to try? What is a historical winning score against them?

You may not make any changes to your plans from this, but it focuses the mind on the next game, rather than riding off the last too much.

Apply some pressure

In training, it's also a good time to practice under more pressure.

After an easy win, you could enjoy the lack of pressure. You might even get to like the feeling of winning easily so much you don't want to feel pressure. But, you will eventually come up against a team who do put you in trouble.

So be ready.

  • Do net scenario practice where the team have collapsed to 50-4, but you still need to score at five an over to win.
  • Do a throwing drill where you do 10 press ups then try and hit the stumps with 10 throws.
  • Get the bowlers to do a long warm up then, with heart rate up, try and hit a very small marker or face a consequence.
  • Have a net where "out means out".
  • Have a PV-BATEX session.

It's also a good time to have conversations about playing under pressure. Everyone is confident and more open to ideas about when times are tough.

Take the opportunity

Moments like these are rare in cricket, so take the chance to learn from them.

Most people train less or less hard. They say things like "the standard of cricket is too bad" and actually let the opposition get them down! Don't be that team.

Hold off arrogance and complacent by remembering this run will not last forever. Spend the purple patch getting even better and it will last longer and prepare you for bigger challenges to come.

Enjoy it!

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