What is your cricket philosophy?
photo credit: dannysullivanHe plays cricket at a high level and wants to improve further. His mates are more in it for the fun element and constantly put him off going to the gym, eating healthy and training hard. Often he gives in to the pressure.
Luke is in conflict. He is trying to please two opposite philosophies.
This would not have happened if Luke had his philosophy sorted ahead of time. He would know his aims and ignore his mates. All would be well in Luke's world. Like a company mission statement, Luke's cricket philosophy is the guide to everything he does in the game. If you have not thought about the reasons that you play cricket you could be struggling like Luke too.
There is nothing more important to your game than your cricket philosophy.
Reasons for playing cricket
There are 4 reasons to play cricket
- To win
- To perform well
- To have fun/socialise
- To be healthy
I would hazard a guess that most club players in the UK subscribe to all those reasons with the social element being the most important. If you were to write the three down in order of importance then compare them to your behaviour how do you match up?
It's a simple task, but for many people it could reveal something.
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Comments
For me it would probably be:
To perform well
To have fun/socialise
To win
To be healthy
Although obviously there's some overlap - it's a lot easier to have fun if you perform well or if you win!
And with point 4 - I'm trying to be healthy to enjoy my cricket and perform better, rather than playing cricket to be healthy.
I think it's tricky to have one overall cricketing philosophy as it depends on the match. I go on a club tour every year where, as a 1st XI player, I am one of the better players and my role is dictated by the standard of the opposition (i.e. if we're losing I get a bowl to try to even it up). That's very sociable cricket and is primarily for social reasons - I go every year without fail as I really enjoy it and I get to play with players who I don't get to play with on a Saturday.
In Saturday league cricket it's more about winning but the social side is also still important. And there is a Sunday competition that I play that is taken seriously and is all about winning.
A nice balance of these different styles of matches ensures that you don't get stale. Too many very friendly games and you lose the desire to compete and win - you may as well just meet your friends in the pub! Too many games that are only about winning and a bad run sees players starting to lose interest.
If I had to give an overall philisophy rather than a game-by-game one, it would be:
- to have fun/socialise
- to win
- to perform well
- to be healthy
Well said Ed. Nice to find a balance.
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David hi,
This is not a philosophy, but always wondered why us junior coaches just mimick adult cricket and send the bowler down to third man after an over, years ago the bowlers were not very agile but in kids today we see all the attributes that make a good athlete and it seems they'll never get good inside the ring unless we give them time there, Jimmy Anderson has proven that, I know they are suppose to get a rest down there but young energetic kids don't want to be out of the action, do they ?