Ever thought about the focus and mental preparation of the elite player as he faces or is about to deliver a ball at test level? Here are insights on this from our two most illustrious Willowers:
“Equally crucial are the mind games I play as a bowler. I rarely stand at the top of my mark and think: “What will it be this time ... Maybe the slower ball?” No, I have a definite plan ... I have a picture in my mind of any batsman as he walks out to face me. The ones I know nothing about, I do research on ... I’m giving myself a mental printout on what he’s all about ... But sometimes my mental preparation hasn’t been as sharp as it could have been, or I haven’t had the foresight to alter my strategy when Plan A hasn’t worked. There’s a message there about staying cool ... if you are upset with what’s going on (or not going on), you can lose sight of the real objective. It’s all about controlling yourself, ensuring that your temperament is right for the occasion.”
John Wright
“The great skill, one I haven’t mastered completely, is to focus completely on the present. It’s the only thing a batsman can control. It’s amazing how complicated batting can become if you start thinking about the shot you’ve just played, the ball that nearly knocked your block off, the guy who’s warming up at fine leg who’s a bit quicker than the one you’ve been facing, how many runs you’ve got, how your hands don’t feel right, how you’re not moving your feet. When the bowler comes into bowl, you’ve got to narrow the focus right down, eliminating the peripheral things, and really zero in on the ball he’s about to deliver. Focusing on the moment is really all it’s about. Bob Simpson (Australian cricket coach) says ... that you can’t maintain absolute concentration for more than three or four seconds so you shouldn’t switch on until the bowler is a few yards from the wicket. I concentrate on two key thoughts: keeping a still head and focusing on the ball I’m about to receive. Obviously there are technical things you have to remember but they just happen if you’re concentrating on the moment. Then you try to do it over and over again. If you’re not relaxed, you take risks and wrong options and start to focus on other things. Negative thoughts are a problem. Greg Chappell said he tried not to think about failure because that creates pressure.”
— From a book on training your mind for peak performances, titled “Sport Motivation”, written by Ken Hodge (Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd, 1994). It is well worth trying to track a copy down.
Ed: Coincidentally Hadlee and Wright both feature in the February 2017 edition of “The Cricketer” magazine.
In an article on the great West Indian opening pair of Greenidge and Haynes when asked which opposition bowler did they respect the most, both replied Hadlee. The reason? “He was always at you ... he would make you play”, unlike others who bowled wide or short and could be left alone – but not Hadlee.
A few pages further on, in a feature on the county side of Derbyshire, the new Director of Coaching was high on praise for their standout T20 coach, Wright, saying “John’s so well regarded that he’s got people asking to play for him”.