Round here, Christmas is a time for families and presents rather than fours and wickets. The festive period gave me more time to do some things I wouldn't normally try.

And I got slightly obsessed with a game called Crossy Road. The game is simple: You try and get your character across an endless road and get a point for every move forward. Being the badger that I am, I realised it's teaching something about cricket.

Crossy Road is a lot like batting. You the longer you play the more you score but if you make just one mistake your game is over and you go back to zero next time. So, how you respond to the frustrations of this game will tell you a lot about your mental make up with the bat.

For example, my girlfriend - who is much better than me at the game - has a very different emotional response than me. The longer she plays the more her heart rate raises. Literally. She has a physical response to the pressure of playing. She plays for a lot longer than me. My response is a less physical and more reactive. I tend to play more quietly and don't see a significant raise in heart rate. Yet, when I lose I give up playing more quickly and say things like "Maybe I'm just not getting any better".

Replace "playing Crossy Road" with "batting" and you can see the parallels.

You will have your own way of responding, and I am willing to bet that your response is consistent between arcade games and cricket. That is to say, you either react negatively (like me) or have increased physical response (like my girlfriend). One will often lead to the other.

The key is to understand the start point.

And by playing a little Crossy Road you can establish that start point quickly. Play the game for a while and note your response. Do you build up a sweat or do you find yourself making excuses and worrying about your ability? You might feel silly because the game is silly, but it is revealing a deep truth.

When you know what is your trigger response, you can carry that into your cricket and learn techniques for dealing with pressure when batting. Here are some ideas. Not bad.

There is also a chance it will help with your concentration skills. It takes total focus to get good at the game and the rewards are often later in the game, like they are in the innings. We already know suduko helps batsmen focus, so why not Crossy Road too? Yep, that's an untested theory but what have you got to lose?

It's really about understanding yourself, and anyone playing with a greater self-awareness will be a better player. If you use a daft game like Crossy Road to help, then more power to you. Even if it doesn't work, at least you have played a fun, free game.

My top score is 272. I wish it was in runs rather than points.