The weekend proved to be another mixed one for us at
Kimberley Institute. The 1st XI got themselves into a strong
position before a poor batting display saw us fall away to defeat. On a more
positive note, the 2nd XI won convincingly in the second leg of
their double header against Bottesford and the 3rd XI also claimed a
victory in their first outing. One of the great things with this club is the
way we celebrate the success of all our teams, and it has been brilliant to
hear of the performances of Sukhdeep Sidhu over the last two weeks.
After starting well on Saturday with a brilliant spell of
bowling from Jon Shaw, tearing through the Clifton middle and lower order, it
was very disappointing to come away from the match with a defeat. Despite some promising signs during pre-season,
our batting has yet to fire in the three competitive matches we have played
this season. I can promise you it is not from lack of trying or diligence at
training, and once again this week the boys have been hard at work trying to
get themselves into a good place ahead of another tough test this weekend.
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| Jon Shaw took an impressive seven wickets on Saturday |
There are many different mantras of thought when it comes to
‘getting into form’. There is no doubt that it is very frustrating when you
score two or three low innings in quick succession (I should know!). It can be
very easy to then become very analytical with your game, trying to unpick your
technique, and talking in terms of being more or less positive.
Some people work to the basis of ‘hitting their way into
form’. Others like to develop an approach of trying to ‘spend time at the
crease’ in order to get back in a groove. The fact is, as with most things in
cricket, there are many ways to skin a cat.
One of the things that we have been focussing on heavily
this week, and it is something that I am a big believer in, is hitting as many
balls as possible during practice. Not only that though, we have been trying to
re-create the pressures and situations we face in matches. Only by practising
as we mean to play can we realistically expect what we do on a Tuesday and
Thursday night to become natural to us on a Saturday.
It is important for our batsmen to treat each innings as a
separate event from the last. Yes we can learn (technical aspects) from the
previous knock, but there is no point in over reflecting on any dismissal. The fact
is that when you get out it is for one of two reasons; either the bowler bowled
you a good ball, or you made a poor decision. Occasionally it can be a mixture
of both, but more often than not in club cricket, it is the later. We therefore
have to work hard over the coming weeks to reduce the number of poor decisions
we make. Sometimes a poor decision can be to defend a ball you didn't need to.
On other occasions it might be to defend a ball you should have attacked. Sometimes
a poor decision costs you runs, on other occasions it cost you your wicket.
If we can train with a match intensity, be willing to accept
that a decision might have been poor even if the outcome was satisfactory, and
focus our sessions on the decision making process, we can quickly get ourselves
‘in to form’. At the end of the day ‘form’ is only the ability to make good
decision on a consistent basis.
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