The five year old shocked me.

I was standing in front of a group of keen youngsters, many at their first cricket session. Zavvi - aged five and tiny with it - was one of those kids. I asked them "what's the most important part of bowling?"

Zavvi piped up instantly.

"Focus!"

I've got nearly 40 years of experience on this kid and he nailed it first time. What a legend. The future is bright.

Because focus is very important indeed.

You play cricket at your best when you are "in the moment". You are not concerned with anything outside your bubble of concentration. You have a single-minded flow towards your goal of runs, wickets, or fielding skills. Nothing can distract you.

The result is a better chance of success, no matter how talented you are.

This is not just wishy-washy nonsense. Even a five year old can see the benefits!

How to stay focused

Focus is easy to talk about but very difficult to gain and maintain.

Like any other skill, some are naturally better than others, but we can all improve our focus with a bit of clever practice.

How do you boost your cricket focus then?

1. At nets, practice focus switching by consciously turning your concentration up and down.
2. Increase the intensity of practice, and your opportunity to focus, so you never just go through the motions.
3. In games, learn when you are losing focus. Be able to talk yourself back onto the next ball instead of worrying about the last one.

For me, this can be summed up by the phrase, "game head on".

When you have your game head on - whether in practice or during games - you are focused on the task and not distracted. You can spot when your mind drifts (it always does at some point) and know how to get back on track.

Having a game head on means you can learn from mistakes then put them aside so as not to worry about them. It means you will improve or get back to form faster because every ball counts. A game head means you are giving yourself the best chance of success.

Well done Zavvi for reminding me how important focus is, even for a five year old!