How can a berry improve your cover drive?

Of course, it can't. Not even a strawberry. Not directly anyway. But what it can do is represent something bigger than itself.

I see the berries as a whole attitude. A way of life even: The way of the berry. And this way is the fastest route to becoming a better cricketer.

Berries are regarded as a 'superfood', one of those unique food types that give you maximum bang for your nutritional buck. Blueberries, blackberries and the rest are packed with healthy antioxidants, those magical molecules that beat off free radicals.

Well, free radicals are nasty. They damage your body's cells and are linked to a number of nasties like heart disease, cancer and diabetes. The antioxidants in healthy foods like berries are on hand to counter the damage.

So if you eat berries you eat other healthy foods

And if you eat other healthy foods you exercise and get enough sleep

And if you do those things you are looking after yourself

And cricketers who look after themselves are better than those who don't.

That's a fact I re-discovered first hand recently. I had been on a Christmas night out and didn't get to bed until the small hours of the morning. The next day, hungover, I ate very little: A sausage sandwich and a curry in the evening (not a berry in sight).

I still wasn't at my best on Monday morning when I took my usual trip to the gym. Normally Monday is front squat day so I set up my usual weight for four sets of six reps (75kg (165lb) if you are counting). I didn't add any weight but I knew I could do the work and was trying to account for me not feeling my best.

I only managed a couple of sets of six, one set of four and bailed out completely of the last set.

I had lost the way of the berry and the Gods were punishing me (in a manner of speaking).

It's easy to realise how badly I would have done if I was playing cricket that day. After all, my job as keeper requires not only squats but reactions and jumping around. All things that were broken for me because I had not looked after myself.

The moral of the story is that I needed to get my berries. Not to make any direct influence on my game, but to prove I am serious.

And if you are serious too you won't ignore the cranberries and raspberries.

Or the greens, or the exercise, or the extra training or the fitness work or the sleep. Each part is an investment in your game.

But itall starts with an attiude personified by a berry.

image credit: darwin bell