mas cambios
Active Member
Patience - the hardest skill?
Seeing as my little look at the mental side of cricket recently has been a bit batsman heavy, it’s time to look a little more at the needs of a bowler.
A vital skill to have is patience, yet it is often overlooked as being boring. Few good batsman are dismissed within 3 or 4 balls so it’s important to be able to apply pressure until a mistake is made. Stopping the flow of runs is the easiest way to this, but this means that you have to be prepared to continue plugging away with ball after ball. This is where the nets can play a key part.
Like many of you, I tend to see the nets as a bit of a lark about. Sure I go there with good intentions but after 10 minutes I’ll be trying out as many different deliveries as I’m able to. This is where having a good coach is handy as he should be able to remind you of the aim of the session and get back to bowling with a plan.
If you haven’t got access to a coach then take a plan along with you, try the classic of bowling 5 balls swinging away from the batsman, and then bringing one in or pushing it a little wider of the crease. Short ball followed by the Yorker but most of all practice getting the ball to hit the top of off. Once you have your man, go back on start again. No matter mundane this is, stick at it, building pressure is the key, no matter what level you play at.
We all like to blast a batting side away but look at the likes of Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee and see who is the most successful; indeed, it was only after Lee decided to work on his patience more that he started to see greater success!
Seeing as my little look at the mental side of cricket recently has been a bit batsman heavy, it’s time to look a little more at the needs of a bowler.
A vital skill to have is patience, yet it is often overlooked as being boring. Few good batsman are dismissed within 3 or 4 balls so it’s important to be able to apply pressure until a mistake is made. Stopping the flow of runs is the easiest way to this, but this means that you have to be prepared to continue plugging away with ball after ball. This is where the nets can play a key part.
Like many of you, I tend to see the nets as a bit of a lark about. Sure I go there with good intentions but after 10 minutes I’ll be trying out as many different deliveries as I’m able to. This is where having a good coach is handy as he should be able to remind you of the aim of the session and get back to bowling with a plan.
If you haven’t got access to a coach then take a plan along with you, try the classic of bowling 5 balls swinging away from the batsman, and then bringing one in or pushing it a little wider of the crease. Short ball followed by the Yorker but most of all practice getting the ball to hit the top of off. Once you have your man, go back on start again. No matter mundane this is, stick at it, building pressure is the key, no matter what level you play at.
We all like to blast a batting side away but look at the likes of Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee and see who is the most successful; indeed, it was only after Lee decided to work on his patience more that he started to see greater success!
.