“Slow down, and you will bowl straighter”. I never appreciated receiving this advice when I was a young (never very) quick bowler, and I certainly don’t like hearing it now, from an experienced player advising a youngster who I have been encouraging to (try to) bowl fast.
Bowling fast and straight is not impossible. It is challenging, but anything worth doing generally is. Being told to slow down does not make a fast bowler. And the role of the coach has to be to encourage the exceptional.
But how to deal with this (well-intentioned but ultimately unhelpful) advice from beyond the boundary?
By making sure that everyone connected with the team – players, parents, other coaches, committee members – knows about “the plan”, whatever it might be. Fast bowlers try to bowl fast; slow bowlers flight the ball and give it a rip; fielders are encouraged to try for run outs (so you had better be ready to back-up the throws).
And that’s where “connection and extension” comes in. (more…)