What does this story have to do with winning cricket matches?
Does this remind you of anything you have seen as a player?
The home team players arrive at the ground at different times, some just before the start.
Three or four players are throwing the ball at the wicketkeeper with a distinct lack of focus. Throws were wild, many were fumbling the ball and all were more interested in talking about the upcoming night out.
Other team members sat outside the pavilion, smoking a cigarette or drinking a cup of tea.
Meanwhile the opposing team arrives at the ground forty-five minutes before the scheduled start.
They walk into the changing room, change into their kit, and make their way onto the ground and start, as a team, going through ground-fielding and catching drills. They only spend twenty minutes on this, and of course, some of them make mistakes. Encouragement is consistent and there was constructive criticism for those who drop a catch or fumble the ball.
The home team players are watching out of the corner of their eyes.
It happened this season to my team.
We were the home team. It made us sit up and take notice. We had been inconsistent up until that point in the season.
Despite little difference in ability between the sides, we lost the match by eight wickets. However, the lasting impression was far more important for the club during the last few games of the season.
We decided to set a few ground rules.
- Players should arrive at the ground an hour before the start of play. No later.
- Players should arrive at the away ground, like the above team, 45 minutes before the start of play.
- All players would be involved in a 20-minute practice session before the start of play.
- All players were encouraged to suggest new practice drills.
- All players would walk out at the start of play at the same time.
Nothing too difficult or demanding.
The discussion in the dressing room and the bar after the eight-wicket defeat centred on the impression the opposing teams actions had on us as individuals.
We might not have the best facilities or indeed the best players, but the ground rules were designed to help us create more of a team spirit.
We implemented them to improve as players, to look and act more professional, to try to win the little battles before the game started.
To create an impression.
The truth is the ability and skill levels between the two sides were minimal. We finished two places below the opposing team in the league at the end of the season. When we arrived at their ground for the penultimate game of the season, we went through exactly the same routine as they did at our place.
Only one team was ‘glancing out of the corner of their eyes’ and it certainly wasn’t us. It was arguably the best game we had all season, losing in a dramatic final over, but battling all the way.
In the bar afterwards their captain came over to us and said our actions, before the game, had made quite an impression.
We thanked him for giving us the inspiration in the first place.
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Comments
Good article. Its all about psyching out the opposition. There are a lot of things you can pick up about your opponents in the pre-game routines and you can even make yourself look a better team than you actually are. This is the point where your opponents start to think "Hey, these guys have come here to play". Cricket is all about winning these little mental battles even before the game has started.
Yes, agree: you only have to look at the current Ashes series to see how important attitude and preparation going into a game is. I hate it when my team meanders in the ground, and half of us meander out for some pathetic tossing of the ball between us, while the rest of the guys are sitting in the rooms discussing some club matter or something else we arent involved with.. it just robs your team of purpose. This isnt saying everyone should charge out through a banner AFL style full of testosterone and agression; but a bit of common purpose is powerful in its own right - and definately intimidates the opposition!
'Purpose' is an excellent way to describe it. It sets the mind for the task ahead.
Exactly, at this level of sport these pre match routines are important, the game can be won before the first ball. I've been trying to implement a similar routine on a Sunday morning with my football team, easier said than done! but I know it has a huge impact on the opposition.
I find one really easy way to push the team ethic is to suggest to the team they are looking like a rabble in front of the opposition. Many player's don't want to look like they are trying too hard if they play at recreational level. I don't agree with he philosophy but it exists. However, even the most Corinthian of player takes umbrage to the idea he is letting the team down by being shabby. Play on their pride in being part of the team and say "Do you want to look like a rabble or do we at least want to show we want to win rather than just turning up?"
A few years back we were a second team in decline due to players underperforming and a few key players reaching retirement age. So we had a young side that for the first season mainly experience was loosing cricket matches. We appointed a new skipper and as part of that we tried to implement a more professional ethos to the team. We did the very same thing and ended up with two season being promoted on the bounce and finishing third this year. The difference this made to the league was great by the end of the first season most teams we played the second time round were following are example bar one team the saw fit to point and laugh as we went though our warm up, who we went on to beat by 8 wickets.
Now the search for the next advantage continues your thoughts would be welcome
There are a number of ways to improve a side:
A more professional attitude to training (you nailed this one already by the sounds of it).
Continue to recruit players. Even just one more talented player can make a big difference to a team. recruit a new opening bowler, and suddenly last season's average opening bowler is a deadly 1st change option etc etc.
Improve the players you have through personalised coaching at winter nets. Focus on improving the marginal players over just working with the superstars. Relatively young players (15-35) are often very willing to improve their game.
Superior tactical knowledge and detailed preseason and prematch planning can make a huge difference. Make sure everyone in the team understands the plan and its rationale.
Give senior players specific responsibilities. This will keep them involved and focused. When we're in the field, we give one of our batsmen the task of sussing out which shots he thinks the opposition batsmen are good or bad at playing. As a side effect of his new found focus, his fielding improved significantly.
An improved team spirit by socialising, and doing other activities as a club: Suddenly people are miraculously available for more games now they have become better friends with their team-mates. We play golf together during the offseason for example.
Good points AB. I like the point about giving senior players some responsibilities. Makes them more involved, more alert and it gets the whole creative juices going. When the opposition is piling on the runs, ideas very quickly run dry and the captain is left feeling the whole baggage. I am in favour of having a leadership group, it was something I suggested at my club, I will push it more next season.
They do it successfully in the AFL clubs and I think even in cricket the Australian team may have some form of leadership group. I would say have a leadership group consisting of the captain, the best batsman,the best bowler and possibly the wicketkeeper or vice captain as good nucleus. 3-4 people, no more, and maybe 4 is too many, 3 may be enough.
This would be similar to rugby where you have an overall captain, a sort of captain of the backs and captain of the forwards. This is primarily designed to get the most of your training, on the field the captain is still in charge, but at least now the captain has his go to men and can get info on how a particular batsmen/bowler is going, etc. I can see the bowlers getting together and formulating plans on how they bowl to a certain batsmen, field setting etc, the batsmen talking about how they will attack a certain bowler, and the batting/bowling leaders relay this to the captain for approval.
I am sure the model can be refined even more to make it applicable to cricket, but I think it has potential in a cricket setting.
These are good ideas, but you have to remember a lot of players at club level just want to rock up, play and have a post-match pint. They are totally disinterested in leadership groups, coaching, roles and individual responsibilities. This is the common attitude in many clubs. For me, when you are faced with this problem, it's less about the system you use, and more about appealing to the pride of those players.
The problems with using that form of motivation i.e pride is that differently players respond differently, its not universal. It all plays a part of the bigger picture, and most likely you will need a combination of some sort of motivating factor and structure, that would be ideal, but is is upto the captain to assess the situation and apply what suits best for him team. Ultimately the captain sets the standard and should lead by example.
If the captain is a goof and and doesn't really give two
effs, that sort of attitude will catch on like wildfire.
Yes, it's highly individual, different teams need different methods. Some sides would laugh at you for trying to create a management group, other teams would consider it foolish to NOT have one.