This is a guest article from Jordan Finney, cricket coach and sport psychology degree student.

Left out of the team. Opposition counteracting your batting. A new player who can take your role in the squad: The list of cricket setbacks is endless.

Whether you feel they are right or wrong, the only way you can overcome setbacks is to accept them and deal with them in correct way.

Accept setbacks

Human nature dictates that the first emotions during a setback cycle are anger, frustration, disbelief and a general feeling of being upset.

The most important skill of all is to be able to separate emotion from the situation. Take some time to think. Rationalise the reasoning behind the setbacks. Taking emotion from all decision making situations in this context is the key to overcoming the setback.

Once emotion is removed, you can begin to act.

Acting in a positive manner is a sign of acceptance. This can happen in various ways. Simple examples are; putting your all into twelfth man duties, thanking representative coaches for their feedback and informing them you will go away and work on them and come back a stronger player, or embracing a new player to a side and fighting hard for your place by upping your training by 10%.

The only way you can move forward is to accept the circumstances.

The dangers of non-acceptance

If you do not accept setbacks you will create a slope for yourself leading you straight out of the game.

If you are rude, act irrationally or unresponsive to feedback you will lose respect of teammates, coaches and supporters alike. This will not only have an immediate effect as you begin to work yourself out of the cricket club, but also effects your future reputation.

Understand the bigger picture.

Every decision ever made in cricket has the team at heart. It wont be made and acted upon if it isn’t perceived to benefit the team. Someone will always be unfortunate and upset. That is the harsh realities of team sport.

If you do not accept the decision and allow your negative emotions to show, your negative energy will rub off on your teammates. Eventually you will get to a stage whereby you are not wanted around the dressing room, and you actually have made a worse situation for yourself.

The setback opportunity

No player alive knows it all. We are continually learning, which means continually improving. The greatest improvements and the greatest lessons can be learnt from a setback.

See each setback - no matter how big or small - as an opportunity to learn, improve, develop and come back stronger.

For example, if you are left out of a representative squad, use the feedback you are given, return to your cricket club coaches, communicate with them and work out a way to improve. Create a simple goal-based plan to get you back to where you need to be.

When the coaches next see you at the trial you have a real “wow” factor about your performance. You will also have shown proof of your mental toughness, resilience and self-belief for not giving in. You have battled and fought to give yourself the best opportunities to deal with former glories.

What if your side has brought in someone with greater experience who has the same skill sets as you?

The easiest thing to do would be to get frustrated, down tools and look to move elsewhere for opportunity. But why not see this as a wonderful opportunity? The new player clearly has a great record and has an abundance of knowledge that can be tapped. Talk to this player at training, ask to do some extra work with them, pick their brains post-game and use their presence as a chance to improve your own skills.

After all the more you improve the closer you will get to re-selection. If you become that good there will always be space for two of you in a side.

Summary

• Act professionally. Always accept decisions whether you agree with them or not. Thank people for their time, and go away and think about how you are going to bounce back without any negative emotion. Think clearly with a rational mind.
• Confide in someone. It is always better to discuss negative situations with people not directly affected. Often you can answer your own questions without them saying anything! Speaking about things to unbiased people allows for rational thoughts and views.
• See setbacks as opportunity. Work out how that setback can improve you as a person and your game. If you do this you will be sure to come back a better and stronger player and more importantly a better and stronger person.