Sam Konstas: Are you on board with him?

[PhatBoy]

Agree

It's a feel thing for the coach

When to intervene and when to leave it be

I tried to help a natural "dasher" add some decision making to his game once. Was a dismal failure. Ended up in two minds. He was better off when he went back to throwing the bat at everything. Came off sometimes vs making runs never

I’m not a coach in any official capacity at all and the closest I’ve gotten to it is unofficially mentoring a few younger players in the development grade I’ve played in the last few seasons of cricket I’ve been involved in. At the moment that includes my son who is 16 but he’s closer to a 13 year old in cricket terms in that he’s not really been ‘married’ to it like a typical cricket nerd his age.

I stress when I do talk to them how it’s much more important just to find a couple of really basic things that will let them do the fundamental thing they have to do: there was a bowler I had a bit to do with and he had some great mechanics to be very good and at about 14-15 years of age some of the veteran players started to pick on him bit (it’s an unwritten rule in this grade that you don’t beat up on kids. A boundary an over is acceptable but that’s about it).
So my advice wasn’t anything technical: I said ‘go back to the top of your mark, look at a spot somewhere near the middle of the pitch and aim at it and wizz one around his head.’ He duly did it. Then I told him to do it again. There was nothing particularly dangerous about it but he was quick enough to bowl short and not just be cannon fodder and to me I thought that was much more valuable info than saying to him ‘try and keep your front arm a bit higher and get the ball a foot outside off stump and make him play and miss’ etc

If I’m talking to a batsman it’s equally non-specific most of the time. My son actually looks pretty correct - lefties always do - he leaves well, blocks well outside off, and on the back foot. but when the ball is full and straight his feet are like concrete and he gets castled so at the moment everything is all about just finding ANY method that stops his feet going towards the leg side and playing around it. If that means just a fairly indiscriminate forward lunge then so be it. It doesn’t have to be a textbook back-and-across trigger movement played from the crease to keep the ball out.

 

[MisterMarcus]

I think the volume of players who have succeeded despite obvious flaws in aspects of their game, vs the amount of players you can think of who had really strong technical aspects that failed for whatever reason should tell you that coaching can only do so much and talent, or the application of one’s strengths as a cricketer and the elimination of the impact of one’s weaknesses, will do more for a player than the coaching manual ever will.

You do need some base level of solid conventional technique though.

There are examples of players making unusual things work for them. But I'd suggest for the vast majority of platers, it doesn't matter how 'mentally tough' and 'determined' you are if a weak technique consistently leaves you vulnerable to the same types of dismissals.

 

[PhatBoy]

You do need some base level of solid conventional technique though.

There are examples of players making unusual things work for them. But I'd suggest for the vast majority of platers, it doesn't matter how 'mentally tough' and 'determined' you are if a weak technique consistently leaves you vulnerable to the same types of dismissals.

I certainly don’t think it hurts especially when it comes to the most fundamental aspect of all: keeping the ball off your stumps and pads. Because at the end of the day that’s the one thing as a batsman you HAVE to do so if something gives you the best chance possible of doing that, then it makes sense to incorporate that into your game.

But funnily enough an interview randomly popped into my YouTube viewing last night with Steve Waugh and Mike Atherton and after talking about a few other things they got onto his short ball issue and technique.
I’d heard him address it a bit before but never ever this candidly.
He basically said this:
‘Initially I was a compulsive hooker and puller especially when I played league cricket in England and it bought me a bucket of runs. I played both shots really well. I came into test cricket against the WI though and suddenly I was trying to play these shots against bowlers 10, 15 miles an hour faster. I had no chance. I realised very quickly I couldn’t get away with it so I shelved those shots and got a pair of 90s and it clicked immediately that there was a lesson there. So I just taught myself to not play them under any circumstances and if that meant not ducking and just having to weave or knock the ball down while twisting and turning and sometimes just letting the bowlers hit me, then that’s what I would do.’

That to me - and again I’m not dismissing what you’re saying because in front of the 3 things that matter Waugh was like Fort Knox - is an example where mental toughness definitely DOES override technique.

Shai Hope at the moment needs it. He is crushing the white ball and he’s on the verge of a huge breakthrough in red ball cricket too but teams know they can bounce him out because he’s not mentally attuned to just ‘finding a way’ - he thinks his technique which is virtually perfect in all other aspects - is going to get him through.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

You do need some base level of solid conventional technique though.

There are examples of players making unusual things work for them. But I'd suggest for the vast majority of platers, it doesn't matter how 'mentally tough' and 'determined' you are if a weak technique consistently leaves you vulnerable to the same types of dismissals.

One of the coaches at SACA did an exercise where he asked a bunch of experienced, high level coaches to send through what they thought the "non-negotiables" were for a batsman to be successful. The basics according to them.

The variation from coach to coach was massive

Some had reams of requirements, others only a handful of things. Some were very technical, others more about mental side of the game, others about making good decisions, others about concentration for long periods, others about run scoring weapons, some about attitude/work ethic, refusal to give your wicket away

The ones with technical focus were mostly about batswing, head position, grip/hands enabling batters to present full face.

One just said that the bowlers had to hate bowling to you.

One just had runs, double underlined.

Even if it's agreed by everyone that teaching batters "the basics" is important, there is quite a bit of wriggle room there for coaches to impart what they believe are the key principles and foundations.

Travis Head's coach and Rahul Dravid's coach probably had different philosophies

 

[PhatBoy]

One of the coaches at SACA did an exercise where he asked a bunch of experienced, high level coaches to send through what they thought the "non-negotiables" were for a batsman to be successful. The basics according to them.

The variation from coach to coach was massive

Some had reams of requirements, others only a handful of things. Some were very technical, others more about mental side of the game, others about making good decisions, others about concentration for long periods, others about run scoring weapons, some about attitude/work ethic, refusal to give your wicket away

The ones with technical focus were mostly about batswing, head position, grip/hands enabling batters to present full face.

One just said that the bowlers had to hate bowling to you.

One just had runs, double underlined.

Even if it's agreed by everyone that teaching batters "the basics" is important, there is quite a bit of wriggle room there for coaches to impart what they believe are the key principles and foundations.

Travis Head's coach and Rahul Dravid's coach probably had different philosophies

I was a really instinctive player as a kid and it got me a heap of runs in junior cricket, just relying on my eye, hitting the ball in the air a lot, and doing the same as I got into men’s cricket: but I played in a fairly small town so the quality wasn’t great and it flattered me a bit.
Then I discovered alcohol and I stopped playing for about 4 years. When I came back I could still play a bit and I was actually more of a bowler but I could bat ‘enough’ that my team could see I was worth persisting with if I could work at it.

The best bit of advice I got from anyone over that season or so was a former Western Zone (so the middle of country NSW) captain who was a little bit past his best but still very good, and was our club captain. We didn’t actually have any coaches.
He just said this:
‘You need to block the balls on your stumps.
You need a front foot boundary shot.
You need a back foot boundary shot.
And you need a get-off-strike shot for both.’

And to this day it’s stuck with me into my 40s and I think it’s a great philosophy.

 

[Bedi]

I was a really instinctive player as a kid and it got me a heap of runs in junior cricket, just relying on my eye, hitting the ball in the air a lot, and doing the same as I got into men’s cricket: but I played in a fairly small town so the quality wasn’t great and it flattered me a bit.
Then I discovered alcohol and I stopped playing for about 4 years. When I came back I could still play a bit and I was actually more of a bowler but I could bat ‘enough’ that my team could see I was worth persisting with if I could work at it.

The best bit of advice I got from anyone over that season or so was a former Western Zone (so the middle of country NSW) captain who was a little bit past his best but still very good, and was our club captain. We didn’t actually have any coaches.
He just said this:
‘You need to block the balls on your stumps.
You need a front foot boundary shot.
You need a back foot boundary shot.
And you need a get-off-strike shot for both.’

And to this day it’s stuck with me into my 40s and I think it’s a great philosophy.

got a ramp shot in you?

 

[PhatBoy]

got a ramp shot in you?

Lolll the hell I do.

But funnily enough the first (it’s not like I have a stack - I’ve only hit 3) hundred I ever scored was on a fairly small ground, small run chase of about 125 on a syntho pitch where one guy bounced me relentlessly. I’d never played an uppercut or any shot like that in my life.

I must have scored 55-60 runs from leaning back and uppercutting him straight over first slip. I still don’t know where the f**k it came from