In cricket, you can’t eliminate luck, but you can give yourself a better chance of success.

Some people say you are in control of your cricket. If you work hard enough you will see success. Anyone who who fails just needs to try harder. Fate can be overcome with willpower. The harder you work, they saying goes, the luckier you get.

Sadly, fate is a bit more powerful than we give credit.

There are some moments of pure luck - good or bad - that are in the story of of every cricket success. If you are dropped on nought in your final chance for a team and go on to make a hundred, can you say it was pure hard work that sealed your place in the side?

Your very talent itself (whatever that is) is defined by the luck of having the right parents. Who met at the right time to have you. When you start to think about the odds, your head starts to spin: Pure luck that no one had control over.

Accept your fate

Despite this influence of luck on your cricket, you still have a say. It’s not all pre-destined.

With the right tools, you can boost your performance to take you as far as you can go. You just need to accept the hand that fate deals you before you start your journey.

Honestly, the chances of you being the next Steyn, Tendulkar or other great are thin. Heck, the chances you will become a professional cricketer are small enough. You need to be aware of this all the way through your cricket.

Now, you can still have ambitions. They can still be great. It’s just you need to know that every goal is an exercise in hope; not execution of a perfectly planned series of events. Fate will not let that happen.

Enjoy the journey

Whatever your dream as a cricketer, the key to overcoming bad luck along the way is to enjoy the process of playing and practicing.

It barely matters if you succeed or fail. It doesn’t matter why you succeeded or failed. All that really matters is what you are doing right now. I know that sounds a bit wish-washy but it’s true. If you are working towards a goal and doing everything you can in the face of every hurdle then you are in the moment. When you are in the moment you are enjoying your cricket for the sake of it, not for some imagined IPL contract.

Sometimes you fail, but that’s good because you learn. Sometimes you succeed and that’s good because you can move up the cricket ladder. Sometimes these things happen because you worked hard. Sometimes they happen through sheer luck. If you are focused on the process, the reasons are unimportant. You just head back to the nets or you next game, ready to try again.

Boost your chances

Tools like PV/VIDEO, PV/ONE and PV/MATCH are all ways you can use a feedback loop to boost this process. They all allow you to review your performance and plan to make it better next time.

While no tool can remove the vagaries of fate from your game, taking a “process-based” approach will take the edge of it and allow you to improve your game, which improves you chances of success.

And that is really what it is all about.

Giving yourself the best chance of success is the best anyone can do. Accept that, enjoy the journey and get back to work. There is a joy to the hope of uncertainty.