Pitchvision Academy


Hi,

This newsletter talks technique, looks at your feet, helps your fielding skills and gets you focused at nets. It's another cracking week for cricketers and coaches!

Have a great weekend,



David Hinchliffe



Grow Your Cricket: Working Out Batting Technique

You might have been told the best way to learn something is to work it out yourself. But how do you do that in a cricket net?

 

I recently had a net session with a good batsman who was going through that exact dilemma. Here is how I, as coach, helped him work things out for himself.

The result, as you will see, was impressive and instant. The player went from playing poorly to confidently executing a plan.

Let’s see what happened.

A bad start

At the start of these practice session we set the goal of rotating the strike. As an opener, the batsman wanted some pace bowling so I got the sidearm thrower out to send down 65–70mph away swing bowling.

The batsman started his net with a focus on looking to hit the gaps.

However, it quickly became clear things were not going well.

His footwork was generally good, but his timing was off and he struggled to play balls from the stumps. These are usually his strong areas. He was beaten several time and edged a couple.

 

Analysing live

After about 20 minutes, I noticed contacts were gradually getting worse: Well past the time it takes him to “get his eye in”.

Even worse than this, he was going into his shell, forgetting about working the ball into gaps and instead trying to survive.

We stopped the session for a moment and had a chat.

He told me he was feeling frustrated about the session so far. Nothing was clicking and he was searching for timing and making errors he usually did not make.

At first he thought he was just tired - which he was - but this was not enough of an explanation for me. So I followed up by asking about why he thought the tiredness was influencing his game so strongly.

I told him I saw he was playing much more to the leg side of the ball than usual. This batsman is normally very strong off his legs, but it looked like he was getting tied up.

He suggested he correct this by moving his stance across slightly and batting on middle and off.

Back to the best

When he made this self-directed change, suddenly things started to click together for him.

His drives were well timed. He was beaten far less. He started working balls into gaps that felt impossible before, especially off his pads.

He was still tired of course, but now his had worked out what happens when he is tired: he tends to stay a little too leg side of the ball to be effective.

He also recognised his mental state is different when he is tired, and how this influences his game. He gets frustrated more quickly and often settles on an explaination he has no control over (I’m tired, I’m out of form, I have lost my skills). Once he is in this state of mind, he goes into his shell and bats too defensively, hoping to survive rather than dominate.

As we saw though, he had complete control and didn’t need to think any of those things!

So - through his self-analysis with a little pointer from the coach - now he knows what to look for when he is batting in a game and the same thing happens. he can reset his guard, reset his assumption about the form he is in and improve his chances of success through his natural game of fast scoring through strike rotation and hitting the bad ball for four.

The alternative view

Of course, the alternative view is that the coach, as the expert, should have told him to adjust his guard and stop playing so leg side. Would this have worked?

Perhaps it would.

But I am sure the player would not have learned something about the way he plays in the process. When he is in the middle he might remember to adjust his guard but still be in a fixed mindset because the coach is not there to reassure him.

Perhaps even then, his change leads to a good innings and he is thankful to the coach for such great advice.

But the trick that worked was exactly that to the batsman; a trick. Your coach bestowed magic upon you. You need your coach to do it again next time. It’s an external force working on your game.

In reality, the self-sufficient player knows they have all the answers inside. With the right mindset and self-knowledge they can succeed by their own technique and mindset, not that of the coach.

Naturally, this was only one example and is not proof a cricketer-centered approach, but hopefully it shows you that growing your own game works pretty well.

You might have been told the best way to learn something is to work it out yourself. But how do you do that in a cricket net?

 

I recently had a net session with a good batsman who was going through that exact dilemma. Here is how I, as coach, helped him work things out for himself.

The result, as you will see, was impressive and instant. The player went from playing poorly to confidently executing a plan.

Let’s see what happened.

A bad start

At the start of these practice session we set the goal of rotating the strike. As an opener, the batsman wanted some pace bowling so I got the sidearm thrower out to send down 65–70mph away swing bowling.

The batsman started his net with a focus on looking to hit the gaps.

However, it quickly became clear things were not going well.

His footwork was generally good, but his timing was off and he struggled to play balls from the stumps. These are usually his strong areas. He was beaten several time and edged a couple.

 

Analysing live

After about 20 minutes, I noticed contacts were gradually getting worse: Well past the time it takes him to “get his eye in”.

Even worse than this, he was going into his shell, forgetting about working the ball into gaps and instead trying to survive.

We stopped the session for a moment and had a chat.

He told me he was feeling frustrated about the session so far. Nothing was clicking and he was searching for timing and making errors he usually did not make.

At first he thought he was just tired - which he was - but this was not enough of an explanation for me. So I followed up by asking about why he thought the tiredness was influencing his game so strongly.

I told him I saw he was playing much more to the leg side of the ball than usual. This batsman is normally very strong off his legs, but it looked like he was getting tied up.

He suggested he correct this by moving his stance across slightly and batting on middle and off.

Back to the best

When he made this self-directed change, suddenly things started to click together for him.

His drives were well timed. He was beaten far less. He started working balls into gaps that felt impossible before, especially off his pads.

He was still tired of course, but now his had worked out what happens when he is tired: he tends to stay a little too leg side of the ball to be effective.

He also recognised his mental state is different when he is tired, and how this influences his game. He gets frustrated more quickly and often settles on an explaination he has no control over (I’m tired, I’m out of form, I have lost my skills). Once he is in this state of mind, he goes into his shell and bats too defensively, hoping to survive rather than dominate.

As we saw though, he had complete control and didn’t need to think any of those things!

So - through his self-analysis with a little pointer from the coach - now he knows what to look for when he is batting in a game and the same thing happens. he can reset his guard, reset his assumption about the form he is in and improve his chances of success through his natural game of fast scoring through strike rotation and hitting the bad ball for four.

The alternative view

Of course, the alternative view is that the coach, as the expert, should have told him to adjust his guard and stop playing so leg side. Would this have worked?

Perhaps it would.

But I am sure the player would not have learned something about the way he plays in the process. When he is in the middle he might remember to adjust his guard but still be in a fixed mindset because the coach is not there to reassure him.

Perhaps even then, his change leads to a good innings and he is thankful to the coach for such great advice.

But the trick that worked was exactly that to the batsman; a trick. Your coach bestowed magic upon you. You need your coach to do it again next time. It’s an external force working on your game.

In reality, the self-sufficient player knows they have all the answers inside. With the right mindset and self-knowledge they can succeed by their own technique and mindset, not that of the coach.

Naturally, this was only one example and is not proof a cricketer-centered approach, but hopefully it shows you that growing your own game works pretty well.



Discuss this article with other subscribers


Improve Your Bowling by Working on One Wicket at a Time
 

Nobody can ride two horses at once.

That’s an old cowboy saying, and it’s equally true when it comes to your cricket. It means to get good at something, you need to focus on that one thing.

 

In cricket, there are ten types of dismissal. As bowler, you will take any of them in a game. As a net bowler, you need to pick one and focus relentlessly on how to acheive it until you are as masterful at wickets as a cowboy is at riding horses.

So at your next net session, focus only on bowling batters out.

Forget the one the batsman edges, or hits up in the air, or get hit on the pads. Today they mean nothing.

The only thing that counts is the “death rattle”.

This single dismissal is your only focus.

Because we know how powerful a single focus is on helping you take wickets.

Focus means wickets

Most cricket nets don’t have this focus. We argue over shots in the air that might have been caught. We celebrate everything with equal joy.

But the fact is we will never know if a fielder was there and the catch was taken cleanly. So, let’s focus on something we can know for sure instead.

You know when a batsman is bowled. You even know when you bowl a ball that would have hit the stumps (and if you are unsure, ask PitchVision).

With focus, you can measure your success.

Over a session you can see how many balls were hitting the stumps. You can see how many times you hit them and you can see how often the batsman put them away.

You can formulate a plan to get wickets by hitting the stumps. Then you can go about honing that plan so by the time you play a game you know exactly what gives you the best chance of getting someone bowled out.

When you look at it like that, you begin to wonder why you try and spilt your focus at practice.

Of course, bowled is only one example. You can pick any type of dismissal that suits your game.

Then, do whatever it takes: line and length, yorkers, variations and find the pace and deviation you need. Be relentless in your effort. Be ready to fail, learn and try again.

Then, as you approach cricket mastery through focus, you will be confident, successful and a wicket taker.



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Work Out the Best Long Throw Tool for Deep Fielding Jobs
 

With the season soon approaching, our floodlit Thursday fielding sessions are used to increase our throwing volume and we have been looking at different ways to attack a ball in the deep.

Each player is experimenting with a variety of approach options with the intention of building awareness of their own performance levels in each method. This way they can develop a number of fielding tools which they choose to deploy according to the requirements of each ball.

Ultimately, we are looking to explore different lines of attack to the ball and then look at testing our decision making in different match situations.

The traditional way

Historically, we have been taught to approach the ball quickly, picking the ball up alongside the body and then throwing the ball in using your approach momentum to assist the velocity of the subsequent throw.

The challenge with this angle of approach is that it makes it very difficult for us to present an maximal hand area to the ball. This is why we see so many balls bounce out of the hands and in some cases, the ball is completely missed altogether when players approach the ball at speed.

However, when pick up is successful, this method can be appropriate and sometimes discourages an attempted second run.

The tiger line

Another method of discouraging a second run but also to create a run out opportunity is to run a “tiger-line” to the ball. This is the most direct line to the ball and often means that the fielder is picking the ball up whilst running at a rapid pace.

Whenever we introduce significant speed, multiple limbs moving rapidly whilst bending down to collect a moving ball we increase the likelihood of error at pick up. As a result the “tiger line” is a skill that has to be practiced over and over again.

It’s also an option that is best deployed on the flatter outfields as it’s made me look a bit of a clown on a couple of occasions on some rougher club outfields on the Isle of Wight or in South Africa.

However, in a match in South Africa on an rocky outfield I found myself hurtling to the ball trying to run a batter out last ball of a game when the 2nd run was the difference between a tie and a win for Hermanus, my team.

If I missed the ball completely then that potential Hermanus win would slip into a outright loss because of the speed of the incoming ball.

Should I take the easy option, limit risk and take the tie?

Nah. Not in my nature so let’s give it a red hot go and see what happens!

I bent down at full tilt, hand ready to scoop the ball up off the rough soil. The ball took a stoney hop, slammed into my wrist, looped up in front of me so I caught it, took on extra step and pinged the throw to the keeper to beat the batter by 2 yards. I’m a risk taker and I got away with it.

Just!

The “J”

The “J” is a method that is used on a very long throw such as when you are looking to run out the returning striking batter at the keepers end from deep mid on. A fielder will curve around the back of the slower moving ball so that their last couple of steps leading into ball contact place the ball directly in line with the target (keepers/bowlers end).

We can use this direct alignment, the momentum that we take into the pick up and our body rotation/torque (square pick up - sideways - to square at point of release) to generate significant ball velocity and carry the ball on the full or one bounce on the square back to the keeper.

It’s a fantastic move that with practice can be a partnership breaker or a victory-maker!

The “Traditional”, the “Tiger Line” and the “J” are three methods for ball approach on the boundary. Each can be used in different contexts to create something special.

Practice hard to work out your you best long throw tool for each deep fielding job.



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Cricket Show S8 Episode 4: Death Batting and Crunch Moments
 

Mark Garaway, Sam Lavery and David Hinchliffe talk cricket. The team look at the good and bad side of compromises. There is merit in standing your ground and working out a solution.

Plus there is chat about batting at the death and captaincy during crunch moments in cricket matches.

Listen in for more.


Read More...
 
The Inside Track on Cricket Shoes
 

You under-appreciate your feet.


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About PitchVision Academy
 

Welcome to this week's guide to playing and coaching better cricket.

I'm David Hinchliffe and I'm Director of the PitchVision Academy team. With this newsletter you are benefitting directly from over 25 Academy coaches. Our skills include international runs and wickets, first-class coaching, cutting-edge research and real-life playing experience.

 
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Issue: 449
Date: 2017-02-10