Admit it, you have played a shot you regret.

You work hard in nets, your technique is sound, you know how to find form. Then you go out in a match and chip a ball to mid off.

You can taste the pain as you walk off.

You wasted you chance on a flat deck with easy bowling because you couldn’t stop that stupid shot.

Why?

Your brain when batting

It’s strange to think that you can not be in full control of yourself. That somehow your brain is doing its own thing against what you conscious mind wants.

But it happens.

It’s a kind of biological defense mechanism. Evolutionary need has built into your brain the ability to learn from the past and try to predict the future. It’s an automatic response and can’t be stopped. At the right moment it will help you get away from a sabre tooth tiger. At the wrong moment it will make you play across a straight one and get trapped LBW.

Really good batsmen - the ones who seem to never lose focus or concentration - have learned to manage this part of the brain and reduce the chances of the automatic response taking over.

They can’t stop the destructive thought occurring.

But they do know what to do when it pops into their brain and they know how to act in the way they want, rather than what the thought is telling them.

How can you do this too?

Surf the urge

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has the answer. CBT deals with these kinds of urges all the time for bigger issues like drug addiction and depression. We are not in such a dire situation, but we can use the same tools.

One of these tools is called “surfing the urge”.

It’s a neat trick.

When you feel the urge to play a wild shot, take a moment between balls to think about it.

Imagine the urge as a giant wave heading towards you.

You can let it hit you and succumb to its obvious power.

Or, you can imagine jumping on your surf board and riding the giant urge wave to the shore, before calmly stepping onto the beach and strolling on with your innings.

The idea is gone and you can return to sensible batting based on your game plan.

Behind the trick

The truth behind “surfing the urge” is that you are keeping yourself consciously in the moment. This is often called mindfulness, or not acting on urges that you know will be hurtful in the long run.

When you surf the urge you are taking a moment to stop, observe yourself as you are and respond in a helpful way.

The toughest part of this is recognising when you are about to lapse into the “chimp mind” (As Dr Steve Peters calls it). This takes some work and plenty of mistakes, but eventually you will get to know your triggers. You can learn to surf the urge before the wave has crashed over you.

This is the exact same process as with alcoholics who want to stay sober but find it hard to resist the urge to drink. Naturally, the consequences of you relapsing into a bad shot are not as severe, but the mind works the same way in both cases.

So, use urge surfing as a way to stay in the moment, but don’t think this will come easily. Get to the nets and work on it. Reflect on your innings and think about when you played a stupid shot (whether you got away with it or not) and start becoming more mindful to build those daddy hundreds.