Finding the Pressure Points

This weekend saw one of the most dramatic finishes to a cricket game I have experienced in quite a while. I suppose the real drama of it was mainly created by the speed at which Clifton capitulated from a seemingly unassailable position. My last memory of such a turnaround was when I played at Loughborough University in BUSA Final. There, it was Durham University who were cruising towards our modest total when suddenly they embarked on a self-destruction mission. We always joked that they had their victory cigars on a half price sale the next day. Yet how can teams lose matches from such a comfortable position?

Cricket is such an unusual sport. I can’t think of many others like it other than perhaps Baseball or Rounders, which combine the adversarial individual battle of ‘me against you’ within a team context. Yes you are playing within a team, and you are reliant on your teammates to support you when fielding and batting (making sure they don’t run you out!), but ultimately it is a contest between batsman and bowler. Others would also argue that is as much a battle with yourself as it is with your opponent, stating the famous adage that ‘cricket is 90% in the mind and 10% in ability’.

The fielding team can put a batsman under pressure

Does this explain though how we can get such dramatic swings? Well a huge part of playing any sport is the ability to perform under pressure. This is an area which is traditionally associated with the field of sports psychology but it is just as much about training methods as a whole. The reason we practice the repetition of skills is so that when we need to draw on that particular aspect of our game, it becomes tacit, and stands up to the scrutiny of competition. Much of training is geared around repetition, but as players and coaches, how much of that repetition is high quality? Do we spend enough time repeating the skills that should be core to us? Only when we do this can we expect to perform well under the scrutiny of pressure.

Yet what creates a pressure situation? Surely Clifton on Saturday at 117-2 needing 148 to win would have felt little pressure with the target so close and men left in the shed. What they probably started to do, was concentrate on the scoreboard and less on the execution of batting well. We suffered the same fate last week at Sandiacre. With an ugly pitch, rain in the air, and a high quality attack, as batsmen we were probably worrying less on ‘batting’ and more on the excuses we might have for getting out. As wickets then started to tumble, the bowling side can make you feel like you are doing worse than you probably are. It is only the most mentally robust batsmen who can shut out those external factors, and concentrate on playing the ball as they see it. I am not saying that batsmen should not play to the situation they face, this is something that is critical to success. The skill though, is can they accurately read the situation they are going into and react accordingly.

On Saturday, when we were 15-3, Dominic Brown and James Mann batted slowly, yes, but intelligently, as they recognised the importance of building a partnership at all costs. That was being mentally robust. Thankfully for us, Clifton missed that trick, and as well as Atif Sheikh bowled, we should not have really won that game. If we can continue to win the mental battles through the season, it should be worth some points, Saturday being a casing example.  

Is it time to call time on tea time?

As the rain hammered down on Saturday afternoon, frustrated cricketers around the country spent the day looking for things to do to keep them from boredom. With such a young side at Kimberley, it is normally the case that the changing room becomes a ‘play area’ with different versions of one-hand-one-bounce, slip catching, and football keeping the young pups occupied!

For myself and Sam on Saturday, we were able to enjoy the build up to the FA Cup Final, where his fiancée Victoria was singing Abide With Me and the National Anthem as part of her brilliant classical group Amore (they are definitely worth a listen!).

Losing time in a cricket match though is always a frustrating experience, as the reason everybody gives up their time on a Saturday, as well as their match fee, is to come and play. While I love a good game of changing room cricket, it is not the same as being out in the middle. One way that we often try to ‘save’ a bit of time in the game on a rain day, is to take tea early. It is this that has got me thinking this week.

What on earth are we doing have tea in the middle of a sporting match? On the face of it, it is just ludicrous that we stop the game then sit down to have a meal at an arbitrary point in the fixture. Could you imagine a 30 minute half time in the Six Nations or Premier League where both teams sat down to eat a nice spread of sandwiches, crisps, pizza and cakes before heading out for the second half? Or Sir Chris Hoy chomping on a some sausage rolls and chips with his cycling opponents in between sprint heats at the Olympics? It would hardly fit into the ‘marginal gains’ approach of Sir Dave Brailsford. Yet at over 6,000 cricket grounds around the country each week, we put down our bats, balls and gloves and break off for a nice spot of tea.

A typical cricket tea involves sandwiches and cakes

Some would say that this is an institution that is vital to keeping the traditions of our sport going. But that is just poppycock. Sport, and cricket in particular, are constantly evolving to meet the needs of its participants, and also their desires to maximise their performance. Quite frankly, an arbitrary tea break, does not meet those requirements in the vast number of situations. I would like to add at this point that this article is by no means a slight on the quality of the teas at Kimberley (which are exceptional, especially Karen’s chocolate cake) or on any of the teams in the Nottinghamshire Premier League. My argument is however a simple one, move the meal until after the game.

If the main tea was taken after the game, players would not only be able to eat without the worry of participating immediately after, but they could do so in a much more social environment, where they could have a (soft) drink and reflect on the game with the opposition. It would put an end to the real shame of teams, rushing off at the end of fixtures and encourage them to socialise with opponents, something that has sadly been lost from our sporting landscape.

So what would players and umpires do for food during the day I hear you scream!? Well I imagine the players they would do what they do one the other six days of the week, and eat when they want to making their own arrangements. For instance, an opening bowler might choose to eat a sandwich or spot of pasta they brought with them during the first innings if his team are batting first, while the opening batsman can eat when he is out. For umpires, a small spread could be provided to keep their energy levels up, and all players would be able to get some biscuits and cups or tea mid innings.

I know cricket is a game steeped in tradition, but in my opinion this is one tradition that needs to be evolved.

Now we are warming up for the cricket season, is it time to stretch ourselves?

Now we are a couple of weeks into the season, the initial excitement of being back outside on the cricket pitch has started to wear off and the realisation has kicked in that we need to work hard on the training ground if we are to reap the benefits on the Saturday’s.

I have been trying to run our training sessions differently this year, placing emphasis on high quality repetition, and practising with a clear focus on outcomes. The players seem to have responded well so far, and hopefully as the season goes on, that hard work will begin to pay off.

One area that I think we can develop both at training and prior to the matches, is the way we warm-up. This year I have been lucky enough to be part of the Nottinghamshire County Council Talented Coaches Scheme. During the past week as part of the scheme, I attended a session run by Sport981 on injury prevention and performance preparation. I found this a most eye-opening experience, particularly with regard to stretching.

Stretching before and after a game is considered
a must, but how much care do we take with it?

I have always found warming up for cricket a peculiar process. If you think of a typical invasion game such as rugby, football or hockey, your warm-up can be timed and planned around the fact that all players will soon be engaged in dynamic movement activity. Therefore a programme of stretching, pulse raising and sport specific practice routines can be planned to ensure players are at the perfect point of arousal prior to the match. It still bemuses me a little that Premier League footballers do all that preparation prior to a game then at half time, sit down for 15 minutes where their muscle temperature drops by up to 2 degrees and the body switches off from activity, and do nothing to prepare fully for the second half. Some research has suggested that is why injuries are common in the first ten minutes after half time as players muscles get back up to speed.

If we take the way we warm-up for cricket for example, this same problem can be accentuated by a few hours! We can spend 40 minutes doing a thorough warm-up then find out from the skipper “right boys, were batting first”. Suddenly, it is back to the pavilion and put your feet up for a couple of hours. Then bang, a couple of wickets, and you’re at the crease.

So how could we prepare more thoroughly? Well one of the techniques exposed to me during my session this week was the use of Self Myofascial Release or SMR. This technique usually involves a foam roller, or even a cricket ball, and is used to help stretch muscles and relieve tension in tight muscular groups. If done in combination with thorough dynamic stretching, and on a regular basis, it can improve muscle movement, increase the power base, and most crucially reduce the chance of repetitive injuries.

It is certainly an interesting question though why we all warm-up for cricket in the same way we would for playing football? Should we not start to plan our preparation around the different roles we are likely to play? Should a batsman go through a full warm-up routine as he prepares to go in next? Should the bowlers not have a lighter tea and hit the field for a warm-up earlier if you are fielding second (I know some who would not be keen!)? These are all questions I am considering as we look forward to an exciting double header this weekend, where a cool down is definitely on the agenda on Saturday evening!

What does Alan Hansen know anyway?

This weekend I achieved a career first. As I looked around at the squad assembling for our team warm-up at Quarndon on Sunday, I realised that I was in fact the oldest player in the team. While this admittedly was a blow to my self-esteem (I always pride myself on being ‘down with the kids’), it also emphasised to me the youthful vigour that is filling the Kimberley dressing room this season.

Alan Hansen famously said that “you will never win anything with kids”. As a Manchester United supporter, I was of course delighted to see Fergie's Fledgling's rip apart that ludicrous assumption in the 1995-96 season as a team filled with Beckham, Scholes, Butt, Giggs and the Neville brothers romped to a league title. To be fair to Hansen, his statement was perhaps more driven out of the fact that it was a big surprise for Ferguson to sell Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis in the summer before the season began.

Alan Hansen back in 1995 made his statement after United lost their opening
game to Aston Villa. They went on to do the double of Premier League and FA Cup.

Similarities can be drawn to our position at Kimberley. There is no doubt that Hansen would be looking at us and thinking, ‘well how are they going to replace the likes of Birch, Patel and Wright’. What Alan missed back in 1995 however, was something that one of my favourite coaches, Australian Ric Charlsworth, summed up beautifully in his book, The Coach. For Charlsworth, building successful teams requires a blend of ingredients with one of the most important things being to ‘ignore youth at your peril’. There is no doubt that this year we have taken that philosophy to the max!

Its success is dependent on something else that Alan was unable to see in the August of 1995, and that is the quality and hunger of the group of young players. Having worked through the winter in my new capacity as Coach with these boys, and seen them in the first few games of the season, I have huge confidence that they can go on and put in some head turning performances this season. What is going to be the litmus test for the group though, is can they do it under pressure and crucially,  when it counts.

So far, the results have been promising. At 2 for 2 on Saturday, it did look a little bleak, but a brilliant 112 from 20 year old Paldip Sidhu and assured 42 from 18 year old Dominic Brown took us to a position from which we could compete. Off spinner Alex King, at just 19 years old, took 7 wickets across the weekend, and on Sunday 16 year old Harry Ratcliffe put in a faultless performance behind the stumps. With other vital contributions from the likes of Dominic Wheatley, who steered us home on Sunday, and from James Mann, who set up the platform for that success, there are signs that these young players have got what it takes to turn potential into wins and points.

There is no doubt it will be a season with ups and downs. Our challenge is not to get too low when we struggle or believe our own hype when things go well, but to look to learn something from every game. If we can do that, maybe we can surprise a few people along the way.

Purposeful practice will pave the way in 2013...

So here it is. The final week of the season. It has without doubt been one of the most unusual seasons I have played, mainly due to the fact the weather has been so torrid. This has led to many matches being abandoned or rain effected and as a result has meant that the season never really got into full flow.

At Kimberley, while there have been many positives, I do feel, slightly, that this year has been a missed opportunity to some extent. With some of the traditionally strong league challengers being hindered by the weather, it presented a chance for some of the other clubs to step forward and put together a title challenge. Cuckney have really set the standard this year, and assuming, as expected, that they win the title this weekend, it will be much deserved (as it will be for the Academy if an unusual set of results takes it in their direction). For a period in the middle of the season it looked like we might piece together a challenge, but once again, we couldn’t find the form or consistency at the crucial stages to keep the pressure on at the top.

So what could make the difference for us next season? Well firstly, I actually don’t think that we are too far off in terms of the personnel that we have. I am sure Sam will be looking at the balance of the squad and will no doubt be looking to make one or two additions in the winter months to fill gaps he thinks need plugging. But, on the whole, I think we have a group of players with the ability to beat any of the teams in our league on our day. And that is where the challenge lies. We need to make it ‘our day’ more often.

Players need to strive to be more consistent with their performances if we are to put together any realistic assault on silverware in 2013. So how do we become more consistent? Well there is only one answer. Purposeful practice. As a group, we need to find a way of practising with the intensity and desire required to attain the improvements and quality of our performances that we need to deliver on the weekend.

I have seen it all before. On too many occasions players go through the motions of ‘netting’. There is no game plan as a batsman, no focus to what you want to achieve. Without these objectives, any training or practice will lose its effectiveness. After all, why practice if you don’t actually know what you are trying to improve?

The traditional image of a club net session, but, what is the purpose?

The direction and purpose should not always come from a Coach of Captain either. As a player you need to be more aware of what you need to develop and improve and take responsibility for it. This might be a particular shot, catching in a specific position, or as simple as concentrating on your bowling for six balls in a row.

If we can find purpose in our practice next season, we might just find the success we are desperately looking for. See you all in 2013!!

Ps. Look out for my new blog on the hockey season – ‘Glove on Stick’ coming soon!

Ready to be inspired by a great Storey...

As the rain continues to pour though, I do hope that it can abate for the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games, a wonderful spectacle and celebration of human achievement. I have always been a close follower of the Paralympics since the mid 1990s when my sister became very good friends with Sarah Storey, or Sarah Bailey as she was then. In London, Sarah will be competing in her sixth Paralympics, her first being in Barcelona in 1992, and will be aiming to increase her medal tally up from the 18 she has already won including 7 Gold’s. What makes Sarah’s record even more impressive is that up until 2004 she competed as a swimmer, but when an ear infection forced her out of the pool in 2005, she then took up cycling to keep fit. Within a year she had broken the 3000m Individual Pursuit Paracycling world record. Since then she won two Golds in Beijing, won a World Championship Gold in the able bodied team pursuit breaking the world record and almost making the Olympic squad and will be aiming to increase that medal tally in her home Games.

Sarah Storey has always been an inspiration

                For Sarah’s story (forgive the pun), there are many others, and I look forward to hearing about the  remarkable tales of bravery, achievement and dedication of these true sporting heros over the next few weeks. What I am certain about, is that many peoples misconceptions of disabled sport will be challenged, and I hope to see greater opportunity and access to disability sport following the inspiration provided by these great athletes.

                With just two weeks to go of our cricket season at Kimberley, it is getting to that stage where sometimes it can be hard to find the focus. With no chance of winning the league and finding ourselves in the comfort of a mid-table position, there can often appear little to play for as the season begins to peter out to a close. We must make sure that we do not fall into this position and that we keep our standards through to the end of the season. Two wins to finish could leave us as high as third in the table, and that should be what we are aiming for as we come up against two strong opponents in Clifton and Welbeck. It was great to see Dan Birch and Akhil Patel in full flow last weekend as they demolished Worksop and hopefully they can maintain that form through the final two weeks to let us leave the season on a high note.

Finding the winning formula

As the cricket season enters its final throws, my attention has already started to drift a little on to the difficult task of preparing my Beeston hockey squad for the new season. With a new season always comes the challenge of building a new team. Very few teams have exactly the same personnel each season and once again, we will have a small amount of player turnover for the new season. It is always important to have renewal. This does not necessarily have to be new players, but renewal can be as simple as new challenges for experienced players, new tactical considerations or different approaches to previously turgid tasks. Of course, new renewal does not mean that you should not continue to build on previous achievements and successful aspects, and both at Beeston this season, and Kimberley in 2013, that will be the challenge we face.

Building successful teams though, is as much about creating the right team environment as it is about having the best players. There is no doubt having top players is helpful! However, as we have seen with England during the past two weeks, the best players at times can often be the most disruptive!

So how can you deal with awkward players as a Captain or Coach? Can you ever fully integrate players into a successful team whose goals or targets are not aligned with those of the group or who values their own success above that of the team?

For an answer to this question I have looked to the words of Ric Charlesworth, a renowned cricket player and Olympic hockey player and coach. He states “Complex integrated team activities require co-operative, co-ordinated actions, both continuous and spontaneous. An athlete whose primary goal is not the success of the team will usually not improve the team’s performance. Athletes are occasionally self-centred to the detriment of the team, but rarely is it a consistent pattern of behaviour. What is common, however, is that the athlete is distracted by outside influences such as the media, family, friends, personal issues and lifestyle issues which can absorb and overwhelm them. These influences can cause athletes to lose awareness of the team dynamic that contributes to performance. Being able to co-operate and work together is critical to team sport.”

Kevin Pietersen's desire to play in the IPL has been the real cause of disharmony in the changing room

As much as you can guess, I think this assessment pretty much sums up the situation that had led to Kevin Pietersen being jettisoned from the England team. While there is no doubt that he still takes pride in playing for England, and wants to continue, as demonstrated by the hastily put together video interview prior to the last squad announcement, the lure of the big bucks of the IPL and no doubt poor advice, has forced him into negotiations with his employers which have clearly ruffled the feathers of Captain, Coach and teammates. The inevitable consequences in any dressing room are then disharmony as the perception takes place that this man would rather be somewhere else.

Yet is it all KP’s fault? Of course not. This particular problem surrounding the IPL has been brewing ever since its conception. Other countries have had issues already, Chris Gayle of course a clear example. If the IPL continues to fill the window it takes in the calendar and the ECB insist on playing Test cricket in April and May then it will not go away. The ICC seriously need to take a look at the cricket calendar and decide in which direction they want the game to go. I fear that they can’t continue to have their cake and eat it for much longer.

What though, as club cricketers, Captains and Coaches can we learn from this saga? Well primarily it is that you need to have everyone working towards a collective goal. If you as Captain want to win the league, but others in the team do not share this vision, it will be hard to carry people with you. Everyone must strive for the same goal, and in doing so appreciate that personal sacrifices may have to be taken in reaching it. They also have to trust and believe in their own ability, but perhaps more importantly in the ability of their teammates. Sharing this trust, and also enjoying the success of others as much as your own is the only way to become a successful team.