We have all been there, sitting in the changing room, despondent and angry at losing the match.

Emotions are high, especially if it’s an important game or the latest in a run of bad results. The captain or coach pipes up first, trying to review the match. The need for an explanation is strong. The reasons and excuses come out.

Is this a useful thing to do when the pain of is still so strong?

It is if you understand what’s happening.

So to do that, here are the only four reasons anyone loses, and how to deal with each one.

1. Unlucky or unfair events

The umpire was against you and gave four LBWs and a stumping against you while the opposition got away with murder.

The pitch was wet and drying out when you batted but after the break it was baked and flat for the opposition.

Things just didn’t go your way.

These things are all valid reasons to lose a game you should have won. It happens sometimes. Life, and cricket, is unfair sometimes. The bigger question to ask yourself is this; was it really luck or was it something else?

Most of us tend to want to protect ego and come up with reasons for failure that are out of our control. It’s easy because you can’t replay the game with the exact same players and conditions. So you look to the hand of fate and resign yourself to a bad day.

So, always be checking yourself. Ask if, despite the events, there is more you could have done. Could you have been more aware of the ball hitting your pads if you know the umpire can be biased?

Even if there is literally nothing you could have done - like the ball hitting a stone when you bat and deviating so much you had no chance - do you need to do something else before the next game to lower your chances of bad luck?

Research has shown that there is plenty you can do to be more lucky.

2. Unsuitable conditions

You have five seamers and the pitch is a slow, dusty turner when the opposition have three spinners.

The pitch is horrible for batting and the batting line up is weak.

In short, conditions are against you. These types of problems are less common in club cricket where conditions don’t vary a lot between grounds. They happen more when a team goes to another country and comes up against unfamiliar pitch conditions. However, it can still happen.

Once again, this is an external factor that you have little control over. How do you prevent yourself from losing in this situation?

One way is to be better prepared. If you know you are playing on an unusually spin friendly pitch, batters can prepare for it in nets, and have a tactic for scoring. Selection can prioritise the spinners, even if seamers have been doing well.

If you do end up losing due to conditions, chalk it up to experience and work out what you need to work on to improve for next time. This will improve your chances of success in the long run

3. Not good enough

This reason is one of the hardest to take; the opposition were just better. The star bowler ran through you, the opposition batting line up never looked in trouble against your bowling.

Yet again, there is little you can do about being beaten by a better team.

First, ask yourself the same question as before; were they really always going to win? Perhaps you can honestly answer that yes, today was the perfect day for them and they barely made a mistake and had a stronger line up. Perhaps it’s an excuse.

Either way, the next question is this; what can we do about it?

Find better players?

Make the current players better?

Find weaknesses in the opponents and prepare different tactics to use next time against them?

Whatever the plan, when you come up against clearly stronger opponents, your job is to focus on the small chance of winning and go for it. If you think you have already lost before you walk out to play, you have already lost.

4. Didn’t try hard enough

In most cases, this is the real reason for losing a match. Teams are roughly evenly matched, conditions are the same for both teams and luck is about even.

In most games, the team that wins is the team that has put in the most effort.

When I say “effort” I’m not talking about running onto the pitch shouting “well bowled” and firing each other up.

That might work for a bit, but it’s not where true effort is found.

True effort is motivation to get to nets every week, even in the off season. True effort is working towards understanding how to get the best from yourself and your teammates every week. True effort is seeing failure as a stepping stone to success.

For example, no one tries to bat too slowly, decides to release the pressure by hitting over the top and pops it to mid off for a catch. But if you do it repeatedly without improvement over a number of weeks and don’t try to improve or change tactics at nets, you are not trying hard enough.

Some people are afraid of being seen to try too hard. They want it to come naturally and if you strive for something you can’t be very good in the first place. These people never try hard enough. For those where it does come easily - a professional playing club cricket for example - they can afford to not try very hard and still do well.

However, even these players would do better if they were happy to strive. They would do better, as would you, if if they throw all their effort into improving.

That way, even when you lose, you can say “we didn’t deserve it today, but we won’t make that mistake again”. You never really lose if you say that. You

Summary: Striving is winning

So, the trick to winning more is to understand the reasons you lost and work towards preventing them again.

That mean striving, failing, fighting, supporting each other and trying as hard as you can to improve.

Sometimes you lose and things are out of your control. Recognise these moments, shrug and move on. Most of the time, these things are excuses more than reasons. So, fall on the side of caution and use the failure to drive your motivation to improve and increase your chances next time.

You’ll be suprised how fast you start winning.