photo credit: FoolishCross

April in the UK means 2 great things and 1 frustrating thing for club cricketers.

Anticipation

Even when it snows (like it has been this season), spring is well on the way. You can feel the anticipation. Players are talking about getting outside for practice "as soon as we have some nice weather" and kit is being bought or dusted off in anticipation of the first game.

This time of year brings hope of your best season yet with runs and wickets galore. You can hardly wait to get out there and start doing well. Thoughts of failure, no matter how real they become as you walk out to the wicket for the first time, are nowhere to be seen a week or two away from the first game.

Preparation Time

In the right conditions April is one of the most important months for your preparation. You want to start the season well and avoid going into the first league match cold.

Now is the time your fitness training you have been doing all winter is coming to a head and becoming cricket specific. If you want to clean up your diet you can spend a few weeks sorting it out before the season starts. It's also a great time to try a few mental training methods out too.

One trick a lot of club players miss is the chance to move from indoor to outdoor practice early. It's hard to practice outdoors when it's cold and wet but nobody want's to be in a sports hall right up until the first game. Each club will have a solution to this but the captains need to have the will to invest time at the start of the season rather than the end, like my club has done the last couple of years.

Waiting…

April is also a pretty frustrating month for cricket. There is a lot of waiting to do.

It rains (and sometimes snows); it's tough to get outside. Games and practices are few and far between and often called off. Matches are usually friendlies so don't quite have the kick of the first league game.

After a long winter we all just want to get out there!

Despite that, I love this time of year.

Welcome to the cricket season. I hope it's a great one for you.