The Teesra

Category: batting

  • “Don’ts for Cricketers” – on style

    Don’t strive to bat in an “elegant” or “pretty” fashion for its own sake. That which comes natural to you as a batsman is the style to follow.

    Remarkably modern advice for the player, especially if you replace  the words “elegant” or “pretty” with “text-book” or “orthodox”! The absolute necessity for a player to find out what works for him or her is now being re-discovered, as it was back in 1906 by the author of “Don’ts…”

    And there is similar advice for the coach –

    Don’t interfere with the powers of nature: all coaching tends at first to eradicate individual peculiarities and to cramp a natural style.

  • Head hunting – another approach to getting more from net practice.

    Back in November, David Hinchliffe proposed a novel way of getting the most from net practice, with what he described as the “horror movie” approach.  I suggested adding a camera, to give the Blair Witch net session.

    I have been looking for more ways to make net practice more competitive, and more realistic, but I don’t think our 1st XI will take kindly to “consequence” nets (5 press ups if you get bowled), and if we implement “if you are out, you’re out” net practice might finish rather early!

    So we have been trying the “head hunter” net – setting the bowlers the task of identifying and ruthlessly exploiting any weakness they can in the batsmen.  And the results so far have been interesting. (more…)

  • “The Horror Movie” Net Coaching Method

    David Hinchliffe started a LinkedIn discussion on what he calls “horror movie” net coaching.

    …watch your players [in the nets] closely…say little but…log the information as you go…

    Then, after the quiet, you pounce on your victim and give the key feedback after he or she has batted.

    I have just recently started winter nets with our club 1st XI, and have adopted a similar method (saying little/nothing when a batter is in the nets, but saving any comments until after the session), with the addition of a camera to capture video.

    Given my rather shaky camera technique, perhaps I should call this the “Blair Witch Project” net coaching method… (more…)