How good are your cricket skills under pressure?

It’s said that pressure either makes you 15% better or 15% worse. The good news is that you get to choose which way you go with some simple work in training.

These who turn up to just hit some balls are choosing to ignore pressure. Pressure, however, rarely will ignore you. So, imagine standing at the crease in a vital match or trial with 80 needed to win, eight wickets down and the opposition fast bowler on fire.

It doesn’t matter how many balls you “just hit” at this moment.

Maybe you are lucky and you respond to pressure with confidence and grit. Or maybe you are like most of us and tremble at the risk of failure.

Can you still win the game batting with a 15% deficit?

Add pressure to nets

Let’s rewind back to the net sessions you had before the game. How can you choose plus 15% instead?

There are three ways.

1. Count. Every drill or net is counted on some kind of clock. It could be actual timed, or a number of balls. Knowing your time is finite and running out makes you focus on the task with full intensity. If you don’t feel pressure as the end draws near, you’re not making it tough enough.
2. Compete. Winning is easier when you practicing winning. Make the bowlers take on the batters in some kind of game. Have a points system. Keep score in everything and make the league tables prominent.
3. Communicate. Everyone is accountable for everyone’s level of focus and intensity. If someone is not engaged, enthusiastically communicate the need for focus. When the culture is about racking up pressure, the slacker stands out quickly. After the pressure building session, discuss how players felt and responded.

This is simple, but it’s not easy. Pressure and stress take you out of your comfort zone. Most of us like to train safely in a comfortable way. It helps us feel better and that we are working hard.

But true hard work is challenging yourself in practice.

And one of the best ways is understanding how you respond to pressure and make it your ally. If you practice well and make pressure an opportunity to raise your game to the best you can be, you’ll get your 15% boost.