One of the great coaching questions is "What does success look like?"

Millfield Under 15 managed to get themselves bowled out on Sunday for 75 against Gloucestershire CCC U15s. We had a shocker: 2 silly run outs, 2 players cutting balls on the stumps when the ball was keeping low and seemingly no clue of how to compile an innings on what was a early season slow and low pitch.

At 40-5, one of the Gloucestershire visiting parents told me "I'm supporting your batters today because if they don't buck their ideas up then this will be a complete waste of time for everyone!".

As much as this wound me up inside, he was right.

Assistant coach Josh and I went out and prepared the bowlers as well as we could in a 10 minute break. I then had one minute to speak with the team ahead of them starting the 2nd innings.

I told them word for word what the visiting parent had said in the hope that it would spark some form of competitive motivation within the squad.

This was then followed by asking the question of

"What would success look like in the second innings?"

It was obvious that the chances of a win were remote with only 75 to defend against County Under 15 batting line up, so it was a test to see if the players could set some markers to aim for during the innings.

The response was brilliant:

• We are going to bowl dead straight at the stumps to predominantly 5/4 offside fields with most of our catchers in front of the wicket.
• We are going to buzz around in the field, get the ball into the keeper every ball and get through our overs at 17 per hour (remembered from a previous review).
• We are going to get the ball to Toby so he can keep it in pristine condition for our bowlers.

I then suggested that "success" - in terms of outcome - would be to get Gloucestershire 6 wickets down by the time they knock off the runs. I felt the glare of 11 sets of eyes. Then was told in no uncertain terms that their measure of success in terms of wickets was 10.

Coaching success

I listened to one of our coaches, Dan, work with a left arm spinner today who was struggling with his action and bowling poorly.

Dan asked the bowler the great coaching question and the bowler replied,

"It would be great if we placed a target on top of the off stump and I can then see how many times I can knock that target clean off the top of the stump. I think I can do it 3 times in the next 18 balls. That would be success."

This approach shifted the bowlers focus from his action to an intention. His body self organised, his action improved without any conscious self-coaching and he knocked the small target clean from the top of off stump on 6 separate occasions.

Hang on a minute.

So what did success look like in the game?

• 74% of the deliveries we bowled would have hit the stumps.
• We created 6 catching chances, of which 4 were taken.
• We only bowled 1 wide in 23 overs.
• The ball was in brilliant condition at the end of the innings.
• The energy, buzz and support was constant.
• People had fun trying to meet the targets that they set themselves.
• It wasn't a wasted day at all in the end.

Oh and yes, Millfield School won by 8 runs!

What do I know about cricket, eh?