Newsletter | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

Hi,

You have to envy MS Dhoni a bit. He has it all; money, talent and a fine head of hair. But envy is bad and emulation is good, so this week we take a look at how India’s super-skipper made his millions.

Even Dhoni has made mistakes on the way, so we also examine some of the common ones we make as cricketers. Plus Mark Garaway is on hand to tell us about conducting team meetings. Its action packed as always!

Have a great weekend,

David Hinchliffe

How MS Dhoni Became the World's Richest Cricketer

According to Forbes, Indian captain MS Dhoni made $26.5 million last year. That shows the rewards for cricket have never been greater for those with the right approach.

So how did he do it, and how can you emulate his success with your own game?

It’s quite possible that endless riches are before you if you can hit a cricket ball harder than anyone else. But Dhoni’s real talent doesn’t lie in bat speed, hand-eye coordination or counting the money.

Because, as Dhoni knows, to get the fortune you have to ignore the fortune.

That is to say; it’s not all about the Benjamins, despite what Biggie told you.

For all professionals from Dhoni to the most humble corporate stipend player, cricket pays the bills. But chasing the money for the sake of it is a distraction.

The real way to be a successful cricketer is to have a deep passion for the game that runs beyond how much you make. If you do it just for the cash (an external reward) you will eventually lose your motivation to train. Studies in sport have backed this up. The boffins have proved it.

Riches will come, but only if you get through the poor times. Dhoni spent many years unpaid, and then poorly paid as a cricketer. In that time he was driven by his passion to improve.

It took years and years.

Pressure, what pressure?

That alone will get you started on the road to becoming a cricketer in the mould of Dhoni, but there is one other secret to his riches.

Dhoni is incredibly good under pressure.

He is the type of guy that, in the old cliché, you would want to bat for your life. He will put everything into it and stay eerily calm throughout.

Most people buckle under pressure. And in my view that is one of the key reasons people fall away from cricket before reaching their potential: the just can’t handle the thought of failure.

Dhoni is the opposite. He thrives on the pressure moment. He walks out to bat in the World Cup final in the sapping heat with plenty of work to do. He never doubted for a moment that he would be the man to win it (and he wasn’t thinking about IPL money or endorsements at the time).

There is no doubt that he is so good because he has this ability.

For some people, this strength comes naturally. Others need a strategy in place to deal with pressure.

That’s why, if you want to be as rich and as good at cricket as Dhoni, you put in plenty of hours practice and enrol on this mental training online course to develop your skill under pressure.

Being as good as Dhoni is a long shot, but he is not a one off and all his skills are ones that can be learned. It can be done and the Forbes Rich List awaits those who but their passion into action.

Can you step up?

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Cricket Show 167: Royal Challengers, Artificial Pitches and Spin Bowling Troubles

With Burners on tour, it’s down the Mark Garaway and David Hinchliffe to discuss the cricket coaching issues of the day.

We chat about Tom Maynard, the New Royal Challengers Academy in Bangalore, practicing on artificial wickets and bowling spin late in a one day game.

We also struggle to find a Tailender. Will Garas’ list of International cricket contacts come to the rescue?

Listen to the show to find out.

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Stop, Start, Continue: Review Meeting Magical Tips

It's very rare for coaches to be educated in how to run a team review meeting, yet we are all expected to review a game with our team at the end of a day’s play.

Often players switch off and think "this doesn't relate to me".

To help prevent that fate at your meetings, here are a few tips that have worked for me.

Review behaviours rather than techniques

Too much time in meetings is devoted to reviewing individual deliveries or shots that were played rather than attitudes, methods and behavioural strategies

Behaviours can be changed quickly, they are largely controllable and can be cued positively by other members of the team or even by individuals themselves. These make the biggest difference to team performance and often provide the foundation to more technically precise execution.

Start. Stop. Continue.

This is a great tool to pull some structure around a review. The team have 3 things only to define as things to stop doing, 3 things to start doing and 3 things to continue to do in their future performances.

Therefore, instead of having to trawl through numerous irrelevant comments before a gem comes out, you will find that players will think ahead and are more likely to offer the points that are most pertinent or relevant.

Also "SSC" ensures that players look at the other side of the coin. By this I mean that in defeat they also look for things that have been done well (the continue) and in glorious victory players also look at things that can be developed or halted that could undermine performance in future matches (Start and Stop).

Always have a whiteboard or flip chart so that the SSC's can be recorded and referred to in practice and in the next match. If something comes up repeatedly in the two S's then you know there is some specific work to be done. If something features in the C's regularly, you know that this positive behaviour is becoming part of your team’s culture or fabric.

Pre-frame the meeting for your quiet ones

Advanced notice is vital for your introverts or quiet ones. Tell them what areas are likely to be discussed and then you will find that they come with their thoughts prepared and will often off the most thoughtful and insightful points that lead to enhanced team performance.

Often, without pre-framing, the introverts get drowned out and dispirited in team meetings by the noisy extroverts who think out loud and dominate the airspace. It's not that the extrovert is always a hindrance in a team meeting, yet it's vital that all members feel that they have a voice and an opinion.

That way you will get more positive take up of the appropriate behaviours across your whole team.

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PitchVision Academy Fielding Tips

This article has been written by the contributions of the community (and edited by the Director of Coaching). My thanks go out to Munwar Hussain, Rutej Mehta, Tev, AB, Kerron Ryan, TonyM, nurav_cool, shivbaba, AjayBP, Coxy, Robin Collins and Paul Williams for their contributions.

In cricket we are obliged to give it our best in the field for a full innings, which is significantly more time than we spend bowling and almost always more than we spend batting. We can approach fielding from several angles.

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