Have you ever arrived at a party late and it’s already jumping?

If you have, you know that it’s difficult to jump right in and start having fun. That’s because everyone at the party have had enough time to get into the food, music, drink and atmosphere.

Imagine that at the party you sit in the corner refusing to speak to anyone because you might say the wrong thing.

Your frame of mind is out of step with the situation when you arrive. It’s up to you to adjust it or you end up as the wallflower.

And frame of mind applies to your cricket because every situation – social, sporting or otherwise – is inextricably bound to how you feel.

If you think about failing all the time then you are more likely to fail: runs dry up because you are feeling down.

Reframing situations

You have control though; it’s not just a matter of form.

Good players are aware of their frame, and know how to change it when they start to get into a negative mindset.

Even when the music isn’t quite what they like and the company is dull.

When you find yourself thinking something negative, replace the thought. According to hypnotherapist Paul Maher there are several ways to do it. Pick one that works for you:

• If you fear an opposition bowler, picture him dressed as a clown or some other harmless comedy figure
• If the opposition bowler is doing well against you, look for weaknesses on which you can prey. Ignore the strengths.
• If you know you have a weakness against a certain type of bowling tell yourself “in the past I used to be weak against these types of bowlers.”

Nothing in the situation has changed. You still have to have a good technique to deal with good bowling. However, now you are putting mistakes out of your mind and looking forward to positive success.

And when you are able to reframe in that way, you start to become a run machine able to focus one ball at at time without letting the preceding delivery influence your mind.

Do you want to add another 80% to your game? Cricket is 80% mental so learn the trick, tactics and techniques with the coaching course How to Use Mental Training to Boost Your Game on PitchVision Academy.