Play smart and park the bus!

Last weekend was one of mixed fortunes at Kimberley. After a disappointing result on Saturday away at Radcliffe-on-Trent, where we twice failed to capitalise on excellent positions within the game, Sunday saw us complete a very polished display against a strong West Indian Cavaliers side in the third round of the Royal London Cup.

This is the first time I have reached the fourth round and regional final of the National Knockout despite numerous attempts, so it is pleasing to finally get a run together in the competition. We were very much indebted to a superb innings by Sam Johnson on Sunday where he carried his bat through our innings scoring 95 not out in the process. Sam really showed his class on Sunday, and while he has not scored quite as many runs as he would have liked so far this season, despite some very good contributions, he will now hopefully use that innings as a springboard to really kick on.

Sam Johnson was in great form on Sunday showing great discipline

If we are to have a successful season, we must now do our best to eradicate the poor performances, such as Saturday’s, as developing greater consistency is obviously the key to challenging.

There was no doubt that Saturday was always going to be difficult with the pitch offering a lot of help to the bowlers. What we failed to do was to react the situation, and learn about the conditions while we played. We have many talented young players within our side, many of whom have a dazzling array of scoring shots. Saturday however, was a day for playing within yourself to get the job done.

Jose Mourinho famously described opponents who defend deep as 'parking the bus', ironically a criticism that has at times been aimed at his current team.

Sport can be like that sometimes. There are certain days you need to operate in a certain way to get the result you require. It might not always be the most aesthetically pleasing or the purest of performances, but you do what you need to , and play to the limitations the game and the opposition allow you to. Perhaps we are more familiar with this with invasion games such as football. We often refer to Jose Mourinho and his phrase of ‘parking the bus’, where teams operate a low defensive block (or defend deep to avoid tactical jargon) to limit the space and room for opponents to attack. You can then attack on the counter, playing to your specific strengths.  On Saturday, we needed to ‘park the bus’ more with the way we played. Showing caution and patience was the way we needed to go about chasing 160 on a difficult wicket. With the exception of a superb innings from Alex King, too often, our attacking flair overpowered our defensive discipline. That is why Sam Johnson’s innings was so important on the Sunday. It demonstrated someone had learnt the failings of the previous day and applied themselves with steadfast dedication to singlehandedly set up a winning position.

New Zealand played smart by attacking hard at the right times (c) Getty Images

Playing the situation is not always parking the bus. Sometimes you come out and press hard in a footballing analogy. If you think about the way New Zealand played their cricket over the last week you saw a team who set up a winning position from attacking the game. Were they gung ho though? Nope. They attacked smartly. Not when the ball was new, but when it was old and the change bowlers were on. Teams that win on a regular basis play smart, and play the situation. That is where we need to get to in order to be consistent.