The Teesra

Category: coaching

  • Numbers that matter – contributions that don’t show up in the averages

    An interesting question posted by Shamus Robertson to the LinkedIn Cricket Coaches Worldwide group on LinkedIn – can we quantify the intangible contributions that do not normally not show up in the averages?

    …if our top 6 all averaged 50+ would the hundreds matter?

    Averages can only tell part of the story.  Is a score of 350+ (6×50+, plus a few runs from the tail) going to be enough?  Can you score the runs quickly enough to bowl the opposition out, twice?

    More important than absolute numbers must be the context – runs scored to win (or save) a game are (should be) worth more than runs scored in a draw.

    Supporting a team mate through a long innings, and backing up in the field – not recorded in the score-book, and rarely acknowledged in match reports.  But these are the contributions that are missing from a less successful team.

    Off-the-field contributions count for a lot, too, especially away from the professional game.  Turning up on time makes a big difference on match day, and being available every week saves the skipper from wasting his week filling up the team sheet for Saturday.

    We should be recognising the overall contribution of our players, and not just the runs scored and wickets taken (important as these are).  But how to devise a contribution scale that combines the quantitative (averages, aggregates, results) with the qualitative?  Does it even need an objective component? (more…)

  • “Four tent pegs” – twist

    Very interesting blog post from Steffan Jones (former County player/coach (Somerset CC, and Derbyshire CC, ECB Level 3 & UKSCA Certified) and a Strength & Conditioning expert), on the “four tent pegs” drill, as expounded by Ian Pont.

    “Drop step and block” (go on, buy the book!) certainly feels like a very dynamic start to an explosive delivery, and the whole drill offers a solid set of basic principles for bowling fast.

    But the video highlights one challenge I have to the tent pegs, and that is the transition from “tent peg 1” (essentially, back foot landing) to “tent  peg 2”.

    (more…)

  • Performance goals – what do you want?

    An interesting initiative at our Club this year, in the form of a self-assessment form for all players – strengths, weaknesses, objectives and training needs.

    I don’t know yet how many senior players have actually completed their forms, yet (two weeks into our 18 match League programmes) and I do wonder if there will be a need for the Captains to provide a little direction, but I can see a lot of (potential) positives.

    In the absence of a Coach working with the senior Club, players will need to rely on self analysis and feedback from team mates.  But I suspect that the main benefit of the exercise will be a better understanding of strengths and weaknesses.

    It does not need to run to complex statistical analysis or psychological profiling; just a look at the stats on the Club website will show if you are bowled more often than caught, or if you really are LBW more often than anyone else in the Club.  And from that can come at very least a resolution not to keep hitting the ball in the air.

    This is definitely a project I would hope to be able to implement for the older Colts, maybe not now the season is under-way, but perhaps when we start winter nets, in October.  A little self-awareness is probably a good thing for a young player, if it is supported by a well thought out training and development plan.  More work for the coaches, to design group sessions that support multiple development needs (we won’t have the luxury of individual coaching), but a rewarding challenge, I hope, for coach and players.

    (more…)