PitchVision Academy

Cricket Show 163: Line vs. Length

PitchVision — Fri, 25 May 2012 08:12:00 +0100

Everyone knows that line and length are the keys to bowling success, but if you had to choose one over the other, which would win?

The panel discuss the matter this week alongside the usual features including questions about bowling into the wind and the difference between cut and swing (for bowlers and batsmen). It’s a bleter this week so get downloading!

How to Get in Touch With the Show

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UK +44 (0) 208 816 7691
AUST: +61 (02) 8005 7925
USA: +1 347 722 1981

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Cricket MBA: A Plan for Understanding Your Own Game

PitchVision — Thu, 24 May 2012 08:47:55 +0100

It doesn’t matter how good a coach you have, because when you cross the white line it’s all down to you. No coach can play for you. You have to learn to understand your own game because you can adapt to the changes proposed by your coaches.

But in today's cricket world, a keen self-understanding is uncommon.

Meanwhile in the academic world the opposite is true. Schools and Universities specialise in teaching skills then measuring how well you have learned through exams and coursework.

Training programs in professional skills like computer science or business management are professionally devised and executed with ample opportunities to interact with prospective employers. The goal is to create self-aware professionals who can slot straight in to a business.

Despite being equally professional with large rewards for high-performers, cricket lacks this structure.

So why not take a leaf from the education book and create your own “MBA in Cricket”?

The Pinnacle Program by C Cube is setting the example in this area. C Cube aim to formalise and quantify the learning of their students; just like they are doing an academic course. The way this is done is by:

Track performance over key indicators

If you are a bowler, how often do you hit your length? How fast do you bowl or how much turn do you get? As a batsman, how often is the ball going in the air and how many times do you get out in practice?

By analysing your performance in the the indicators that you find important you will quickly see where your weakness lies, and also see improvements. This is the very nature of deliberate practice in action.

Of course you need to track results, you can’t improve if you are not measuring. C Cube use PitchVision to track every ball. You can use good old fashioned pen and paper instead, but one way or another it’s crucial.

Step 1: Decide your key performance indicators
Step 2: Track them

If you need some help deciding exactly what to track, check out the worksheets in PitchVision Academy’s courses section. Courses contain pre-defined tracking sheets to help take the pain out of deciding.

Integrate the physical and mental

The body and mind are not separate. You can’t separate your mental game from your fitness from your technical skill.

For example, if you have a good defensive technique against fast bowling, you feel more confident, meaning you spend longer at the crease so your fitness improves.

So when you are considering your own mental toughness and fitness plans, you must know how to integrate them together to become a well rounded cricketer. Mostly this means having plans in place to join the dots together:

Use BATEX to integrate physical endurance, patience and batting tactics
Use visualisation methods during net sessions to stay focused
Set controllable goals for each session, match and season
Use practice games to add pressure to practice

Improve your theory

Cricket is mostly about practical application in nets and games, but all good cricketers (like all good businessmen) know the theory behind the practice. It speeds up learning and gives you a foundation from which to build (or break if you prefer).

C Cubes Pinnacle program has exclusive theory sessions where they invite players who have faced challenges at the highest echelons to share their thoughts in very specific subjects. The last superstar to visit was Muttiah Muralitharan.

You can also access these players through PitchVision Academy. With names like Pietersen, JP Duminy and Mike Brearley offering videos just a few clicks away.

You should also watch as much cricket on TV as you can, aiming to analyse what is happening and work out how you would play in the same situation. They take that learning out to practice to put it into action immediately.

These practices are the basis of the Cricket MBA. If you can’t get to C Cube for your formal cricket education, you can still do it yourself.

Many thanks to C Cube Sports, Chennai for providing assistance with this article. I have no hesitation in highly recommending the Pinnacle programme.

Standing Up Drills for Wicketkeepers

PitchVision — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:14:03 +0100

The great thing about standing up sessions is that they should never be dull: you can create lots of distraction, different spins and bounce types with the overall aim to be to overload the keeper so that the practice is tougher than the actual match.

We still need to keep the drills relative and functional to match play, yet feel free to let that imagination run wild.

Basic Shadow Session

You can't get much better than a shadow session for a keeper. Whatever level you are working at, the shadow session recreates the match challenges for keepers better than any other drill.

Encourage the batter to pad up fully as the session needs to be as real as possible to mimic the movements that a batter will make in a match. A batter without protection shall often bat outside the normal line of the ball and therefore, create an unrealistic scenario that has little relevance to normal match play for a keeper.

If you can, use a cut down bat with a rubber sheet on the front of the bat. means that the batter can play shots with the aim to hit the ball as per normal yet the keeper will get more work due to the narrowness of the bat and also get nicks off the rubber facing. The distraction of a batter swinging wildly, the deflection off of the rubber facing and the noise of the nick is very realistic.

Upgrade Options

Ask the batter to play over the ball every now and again as these are the ones that cause keepers most problems as ball vision is impeded. The noise of the bat skimming the floor after the ball has gone past the bat is also a good distraction.
Batter moving around the crease. This challenges the keeper to adjust his/her stance so that they get good vision of the ball for as long as possible. Many keepers move their stance wider of off stump to get the view and then back their footwork to reach anything down the legside. Remember, you can't catch what you can't see!
Batter waving the bat in front of the keeper’s eyes. Many keepers will look to either lower their head position in the stance to get the eyes under the bat or get the eyes above the bat by setting yourself slightly higher. When high, the keeper needs to understand that the lower or fuller balls may be a challenge and make the necessary adjustments as they move to cover the line and length of the delivery.
Use a worn pitch that is just about to be soaked and repaired by the groundsman. A worn pitch will have footholes and follow through marks on it that provides different ball reactions and also a different visual/mental challenge. Shift the stumps left and right to effectively move the rough areas around and create both offside and legside challenges for the keeper.
Create your own rough. Place cones or even better, some doormats on the pitch to create different ball reactions and visual distractions for the keeper. If you are working indoors then this is the only option really to simulate the conditions that keepers often face when standing up on worn pitch ends.

Shot Selection in Twenty20 Cricket

PitchVision — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:55:36 +0100

Back in the good old days if you got a good length ball on off stump you dutifully played a forward defence, respected the bowler and waited patiently for a half volley to drive.

Tell that to Sehwag, McCullum or Warner; aggressive IPL superstars who are happy putting a length ball into the stands, even if it’s in the third over.

But most batters who are learning the game are still coached to play the ‘proper’ way. It makes sense because if you try a switch hit before you can play an on-drive you are going to look very silly if you get out. It’s hardly playing for the team.

So how do you bring these competing elements together and stop holding up an end when you play short format cricket?

Have an augmented look

Even in T20, you have more time than you think. There is no need to swing from the laces from the first ball. If you are a top order batsman you can take a few balls to get a feel for the bowling and the wicket.

During that time you may get a half volley or long hop to put away, and before you know it you are on 12 off 10 balls.

On the other hand, if you get 6 great balls first up because the league equivalent of Dale Steyn is steaming in, they you may be lucky just to survive. Either way, you are still out there and the longer you bat, the better the chance your team has in the death overs.

Here traditional shot selection can be augmented by using your top hand to open or close the face and let the ball fall into a gap (usually at midwicket in T20). In the picture below you can see Des Haynes demonstrating closing the face with top hand control:

Keep the basics the same

Many young cricketers think that once they have faced a few balls, it’s time to start hitting out. While you do need to score more quickly, your well grooved basics are vital to remain the same.

Your grip, stance and backlift should be set in stone. You might make a small change to your trigger move if you have one, but your basic setup is no different.

You still align your body and bat to the ball and aim first to hit with a straight bat.

Of course that doesn’t mean defensive play, as you can play orthodox and score boundaries in a region from cover all the way round to midwicket. You can score off any length from a full toss to back of a length ball. A lofted straight drive is impossible to defend because fielders are never directly behind the bowler.

Use your feet

The next step to getting the ball into a gap is to use your feet to adjust your body.

Imagine you are playing against a seamer who is at your stumps on a good length. Rather than staying in the same position you can use your feet to get into position to turn that ball into something you can drive on the up.

In the picture, Gary Palmer (part of a video on PitchVision Academy) demonstrates how he has moved across the crease but kept his position open so he can drive with the full face of the bat through the vacant midwicket area:

You can do the same to hit an offside sweeper by moving to the leg side and playing a cover drive.

However, it’s still vital to be able to play these shots with good technique to keep your risk down. And that means learning how to play them in an orthodox way first.

As you can see, the truth about Twenty20 batting is not about the marquee innovation shots, and more about learning how to score quickly and safely.

How do you change your game for shorter formats?

How to Become a Cricketer: The Science of Developing Skill

PitchVision — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:30:52 +0100

Karl Stevenson is a sports psychologist, who has been researching the ins and outs of anticipation and decision making skill in cricket batting. He has worked with top-flight county teams as well as teaming up with the ECB.

In a recent interview, we got some tips from the lab that can be used on the pitch:

PV: How important is innate talent in becoming a successful cricketer?

KS: That’s a very interesting and often misinterpreted question, when people generally talk about talent; they assume that it is something genetic which automatically allows a person to be able to be more skilful than a person who possesses less talent.

The problem with this assumption is how do you measure raw talent? How do you know what raw talent looks like? Most coaches will say that you can ‘just tell’, or you can see it in their performances. But how do you know that their performance is not a result of their practice, or previous experiences in a similar sport?

I was considered to be ‘talented’ when I was younger, but that was a result of spending 4 hours a day playing backyard cricket in Zimbabwe – which naturally faded away when I came to England because I was not putting in the hours of specific practice which groomed my skill, did I suddenly become less talented? No - If it’s genetic then that isn’t possible. Did I put in less hours of practice? Yes.

So in relation to cricket I would say that innate talent is not important at all. You have to ask yourself two questions: What does a successful cricketer look like? Secondly what does a successful cricketer do? When you look at it like this you begin to see that there is no mould for a successful cricketer – there is no ideal height or physiological characteristics. However when you look at the second question, you can begin to pin down lots of skills that successful cricketers have – making the skill development and practice element more important than talent itself.

PV: How much has the mentality of cricket training changed in the last few years?

KS: The mentality has changed immensely. There have been a few stepping stones in the development of cricket training – starting with the idea of physical fitness and its importance, nutrition and its importance, and now the trend has turned to the specificity of practice which in my opinion has increased the professionalism of the game tenfold.

You only have to look as far as the fielding in the modern game, and how far that has come in the last 5 years to see the trend. These days if you mess up a sliding boundary stop you are considered a weak link; 10 years ago you were given a huge pat on the back for trying.

If I look to what’s responsible for this shift, I can only site the introduction of T20 as a format. It is such a high intensity format that for players to be selected, they need to have a range of skill sets in their lockers that they did not have before. A lot of people cited it as a batsman’s game during its introduction, especially with the innovation of the switch hit and othershots, but because of those shots the bowlers had to innovate equally, now we have bowlers who have 3 different slower balls, and are able to control their line and length at will. Some traditionalists may frown, but I can only see the positives.

PV: What practical tips can you give cricketers about making the most of practice time?

KS: Be objective about your practice, know exactly what you want to get out of it, and be creative when you train. Too many times in club or academy level do I see people being fed 100’s of balls out of a bowling machine with no target to that training. When you train like that you aren’t putting any strain on your already existing skill set – so how do you expect to put in a better performance over the weekend?

I would challenge club players to train like professionals. I know the intensity may not be the same, but if you go about emulating a professional, then you engage in a different type of practice. We call it deliberate practice, and it is targeted towards improving a specific skill sets.

If you were a batsman and you were timing the ball perfectly the weekend before but not finding the gaps, try something different, try a whole session of manipulating the ball through channelled cones – Make it a challenge, measure it, and try to better it the next set of balls you do. Not only does this improve your technical skills, but more importantly you are engaging in a far more demanding mental process – the type of mentality that leads to scoring hundreds, not a quick 30.

If I were a bowler, I would set my game plan. Treat every six-ball set as an over out in the middle. Set a field in your head, and set a target of how many runs you want to go for an over. This type of exercise will get you thinking more about where to bowl, and it will also improve your focus during a game – when it really counts.

PV: How much difference does technology make in the development of cricket skill?

KS: Quite simply, it is massive – and it shows no sign of slowing down. If you look at every professional unit, they will have a performance analyst. These analysts will be using technology to get as much information on their players and opponents as humanly possible. This information is fed back to the coaches, who can then specify their training to each individual... But more importantly, they can create strategy for the next match by identifying the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. We live in an information age, the more information you’ve got, the better prepared you can be.

This mentality does not stop when it comes to training, in the next couple of years I do not think it will be un-common to see a training analyst on the support team. With products like PitchVision being able to generate as much information as match analysis systems automatically, it is a perfect tool for coaches to give effective feedback to players, and if you are able to provide this feedback in a visual way, then it is worth so much more than words. This type of equipment aids specificity of practice and allows it to be objective. It allows coaches to state the how and why, instead of just speculate about it.

However, I would put a word of caution out. Not all technology is effective, some technologies take away from the skill itself. For example, there is no doubt that the Merlin bowling machine has allowed batsman to be able to play spin more effectively, however what it has not been able to teach is for batsmen to read spin effectively – and that’s where the wheels tend to fall off.

Cricket Show 162 Competition Winner

PitchVision — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:21:22 +0100

This week’s winner of the Cricket Show podcast question competition is Naveen. He wins a free coaching course from PitchVision Academy.

The winning question was:

"While playing in Twenty20, What do you think should be role of the top order? Should they go after the bowling initially even if it requires taking chances or should they wait for the bowlers to bowl loose deliveries and give the team a steady start?"

Listen to the panel’s answer to his question here.

To enter your own question for the chance to win your choice of online coaching course send your questions in here.

Cricket Show 162: The Problems with Indian Club Cricket

PitchVision — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:28:00 +0100

Club cricket in some parts of India is almost extinct. So this week the team discuss the how to beat the system and become an Indian cricketer if you are not picked up early.

There are also questions from Indian listeners on opening tactics for Twenty20 batsmen and how to stay in form during the off-season. Listen to the show for the panel’s answers.

How to Get in Touch With the Show

Our contact email can be found here.

Use our twitter or facebook accounts.

Or you can call and leave a message (it’s an answer phone, not manned but we check it every day). If it’s a good story or question we will call you back for a chat.

UK +44 (0) 208 816 7691
AUST: +61 (02) 8005 7925
USA: +1 347 722 1981

How to Listen to the Show

You can download the show onto your computer by right clicking on the link below and choosing "Save Target as..."

You can also subscribe to the show:

Click here to subscribe in iTunes.

If you don't use iTunes You can add the feed manually.

5 Simple Steps to Become the Master of the Legside Stumping

PitchVision — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:19:46 +0100

The legside stumping is one of cricket's finest sights. I know as a former wicketkeeper I’m biased, but it’s a skill that turns games. It’s achievable by all keepers if these sound rules are followed:

1. You can't catch what you can’t see

Many keepers see the ball going down the legside and head off blindly to take the ball without gathering enough information. The result is that they get stuck behind the line of the batter and then we see a pair of gloves appear from behind the batsman grabbing blindly at thin air.

Stay on the offside of the batter for as long as possible in order to gather the information that tells you of where the ball will be at ball take. Then you aren't guessing when you move down the legside. You move across smoothly and with confidence, the ball nestles in the gloves.

2. Panther-like lateral movement

Move across to the legside of the batter using a low movement pattern (like a hunting panther) keeping your head and hands low enabling you to come up with the bounce of the ball. As we stated last week, 80% of balls that are missed go under the line of the hands and this low movement will help to ensure that you don't add to the statistic.

3. Should you use a one step or two step movement to move across?

Shorter keepers tend to use two steps to move across, this provides them with an anchor position where their inside foot is close to the Leg Stump and provides a base for movement back into the stumps to take the bails. Tall keepers have the option of using the one step movement patterns and use their leg length to slide their foot across early whilst staying off side of the batter with their head.

Rob Turner, the Ex-Somerset Keeper used this technique brilliantly when standing up to Mushtaq Ahmed

4. Create a base at ball take

If the keeper is balanced at ball take then she is able to push back into the stumps and take the bails. Balance is achieved by having a minimum of shoulder width base with your feet at ball take and having your head, hands and feet in line.

Often, when a keeper is losing balance you will note that their feet are too close together and create a narrow base that forces the keeper to topple over away from the stumps. This naturally reduces the chance of taking the bails or makes the movement back into the stumps a stretched one: widen the base to increase the control, stability and the number of stumping opportunities.

5. You have more time than you think

With a strong base and an anchor position, the keeper is in great shape to whip the bails of and complete the leg-side stumping.

I never missed a stumping because I was too slow at getting the bails off. However, I missed plenty because I didn't have the ball in my hands! Many keepers are so keen to take the bails off that they leave the ball behind. Enjoy the take and move smoothly to take the bails; you always have more time than you think.

Follow these 5 leg-side take points and consistency, control and success will quickly follow. Let me know when that leg-side stumping count starts to rise.

How to Play Fast Bowling as Effectively as Mandeep Singh

PitchVision — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:43 +0100

Imagine opening the batting for Kings XI Punjab in Mohali. The opposition is Deccan Chargers and standing at the end of his run is no less that Dale Steyn; one of the world’s most destructive pacemen.

It’s fair to say your heart would be racing. That’s a situation experienced by 20 year old Punjab opener Mandeep Singh. Yet despite the pressure, the pace and fear he is flourishing. Many critics have him on the fast-track to becoming India’s next big thing.

How does he stay calm under pressure and play fast bowling so well? There are some simple training techniques you can use:

Groove your technique

There is no point starting your quest to playing pace by facing the bowling machine at 145kph. You need to have faith in your technique and that means:

Underarm feeds

Bowling machine/throwdown at a slow pace

Here you can work on getting properly aligned and balanced to defend, drive or play a cross bat shot.

Many players skip this part, thinking their technique is good enough that they don’t need to do any simple grooving. But every session that you do that hones your positioning is locking in muscle memory for more advanced drills.

Challenge your reactions

While you work on your basic positioning, you can also challenge your eyes, reactions and technique at pace.

You can do this by having a coach or batting buddy underarm a series of 4-6 balls in quick succession. This forces you to quickly decide to play or leave.

You can step up the pace of this again by facing tennis balls hit with a racquet. For demonstrations of these drills have a look at Gary Palmer’s Build Confidence with Solid Defensive Technique and Tactics online coaching course.

Know what makes you confident

Mandeep Singh’s success is not just down to technique. He feels confident about his ability too. He knows he can play very fast bowling and so plays with excitement rather than fear.

You will have your own methods for building confidence (outside of practice). Learn what your best routine is, and stick with it, get your self-talk right and be sound in your role in the side.

You may not be facing Steyn anytime soon, but when you do come up against a bowler who is fast enough to challenge you, you will be confident that you will succeed because you have put in the work, just like Mandeep Singh.

Lessons from IPL: Do Bad Boys Prosper?

PitchVision — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:50:13 +0100

From Harbhajan Singh to Dale Steyn, IPL 2012 has been littered with examples of cricketers pushing the Spirit of Cricket to its limits. The offenders will say it’s just passion over-spilling, but do you need a bad boy to succeed at your level?

The example of Harbhajan Singh is a good one to examine. The Mumbai Indian’s skipper argued for several minutes with the umpire, eventually forcing him to review his decision.

In this situation, the review found out that the batsman was out and the decision was reversed. The bad boys were vindicated because the correct decision was eventually made. They didn’t escape censure after the match, but by then the work had been done anyway.

We have all seen similar behaviour at club, school and academy level too. Some personalities are fired up so much by the heat of battle that they can forget what is acceptable.

Playing with passion is an important part of cricketing success. Bowlers especially need to get “fired up”. It’s a well known sport psychology phenomenon called the Inverted U Theory:

Here you can see there is an optimum point of arousal (or how fired up you are) that leads to maximum performance.

But you can also see that if you get too motivated – too passionate – you lose performance. So there is certainly a strong case for making the opposition tut at your naughty acts.

Making the most of bad boys

What this graph doesn’t show is exactly how much arousal each individual needs. Someone with that “bad boy” personality will be pushing the boundaries of acceptable behaviour before they are at their best performance.

Different personalities have no need to go as far.

It’s up to you to identify how fired up you need to get to perform. If you are of the bad boy personality you will find yourself getting into trouble to get to your best game. For me this is better than accepting the alternative of behaving perfectly and playing poorly.

Of course, this doesn’t excuse bad behaviour. Most people don’t need to see off the batsman by pointing to the dug out. We all know where the line is and you can be a world-class player without ever being ill-mannered.

So be mindful of your actions. Get your arousal to the right level and avoid bad behaviour as much as you can.

But if you or one of your team-mates is a bad boy that gets results then perhaps you can cut him some slack. He may just keep the whole side playing with passion.