One of the golden rules of cricket advice is to only comment on what you see. Never comment on what you imagine to be happening.

It’s a simple rule, but easy to forget.

That’s why it’s one of the most common errors I see in young players who are keen to help each other. I even see it in experienced coaches.

You see it appear in self-made videos when a players says “I’ve been told my back lift is wrong” and the shot is a perfectly middled drive.

You see it at nets, when a coach tells a player they are “playing round the front pad” when they are batting like Graeme Smith.

In all these moments, and many more, the advice comes from a good place: You see an issue and you try to correct it, safe in the knowledge it will make a better cricketer at the end of it.

But do you really know it will?

There is no guarantee.

There are very few one hundred percent effective techniques, tactics and methods in cricket. However, there are a lot of people with one hundred percent certain opinions. That’s a clash and it needs to be approached with caution.

So, how do you avoid the problem?

Wait before you speak

Silence is confidence. Always wait to gather the facts before speaking.

Observation is a great skill. You might see something the first time you ever see a player bat, bowl or field. It might be a classic error. You might know exactly how to fix it.

Keep quiet.

Wait until you see what is happening first. If a bowler has a horrible action but hits the spot every time at a good pace there is no need to make a change.

On the other hand, if you see the guy has terrible hip drive and talcs the ball out as a loopy half volley every time, you might want to have a word.

Either way, it’s vital to see what is happening before you try and intervene with how it happens. Outcome wins over process every time.

Of course, it takes restraint and confidence to say nothing. Especially if you are a coach.

Watch games as well as nets

How many players do you know who are different in nets to games? I would say it’s almost every single person.

Nets are false cricket: They recreate the basics of game without any of the pressure or fatigue. No matter how well run they are. So, people play differently.

That means to really see how someone plays cricket, you have to watch their technique and tactics in the context of matches and match pressure.

That’s where their true cricket personality comes out.

Something you spot in nets might also be true in the middle, but you can’t be sure until you see it. We all know the brilliant stroke-making net batsman who looks terrified to hit the ball in a match.

It comes back to the golden rule: help with what you see, not what you think might happen. You can’t build a fully accurate picture of a player in one net session, or even a hundred sessions. You need to see game performance too.

Sometimes this will take a while, especially if a batsman is having a poor run of form. One player I coach scored 47 runs in six innings when he hit a bad run of form. If I had not seen him score almost 300 runs earlier in the year, I would have very little idea how he batted in games, and no idea at all how he played longer innings!

Keep your advice golden

So, follow the golden rule: Only advise on what you see and not what you imagine.

This rule is true if you are a player looking at your own game, a helpful teammate advising a pal, or a coach who has the sole job of improving players.

It takes time, guts and experience.

But the end result is so much more satisfying.