Batting - it's all in the mind...... almost

By A.C. De Silva

A lot of cricketers have it in their minds as to what sort of way they are going to fare in the game at hand. I reckon fifty per cent of good batting is about confidence, the rest consists of natural ability and mental strength. Too many batsmen at all levels of the game allow their minds to be cluttered up with theories and forget that batting is basically very simple.

There are many people who usually say that the gospel of self-discipline, much more difficult to apply it. It is easy to look at a juicy half-volley outside the off-stump and try to give it a thump more times than I should - but just one mistake can mean you don't get a second chance. Boycott's ability to aim for a century after he's reached fifty is something always to be admired. Gavaskar has this talent as well, he's ll take a fresh guard at a hundred and capitalise on his dominance of the bowlers.

There is West Indian Viv Richards who will always try to dominate the bowling.

The ability to concentrate comes with maturity, so the young hopefuls should not get over excited and throw their wicket away to rash shots too often, as long as you know why you're getting out and try to eliminate the rash strokes and be make sure that you are on the right road.

Several times a century has been there for the taking and the batsmen have blown it away through a concentration lapse and a bad shot. There was the time at Sydney when Gower and Gooch were taking Yallop's team apart. Gooch says that he had got into the seventies and was playing better than at any stage when he played lazily forward and didn't really play a shot - terrible. Gooch the England batsman usually gave his wicket away on occasions and just like any other player with a club, school or country side. He says that a batsman got to keep working at his game.

There is Geoff Boycott whose ability to aim for a century after reaching 50 is something to admire.

Size them up

According to Gooch most players sit watching the game before going bat, but one man took the casual attitude to an amazing degree, he was Keith Boyce, who used to play for Essex, Gooch says that at the start of his professional career, they were playing at Illford and there was Keith outside in the sunshine, snoring his head off with his pads on - and he was next man in!

Gooch's advice to any batsman is to sit, outside of it if is a sunny day, to get used to the bright light while batting to lot. If possible watch the bowlers to see what they're doing with the ball - that's something even more important to club or school level, because you probably haven't seen the bowlers before, whereas country circuit, they all more or less know each other's strengths and weaknesses.

His advice - don't get too premeditated in your stroke selection before you take guard, but keep thinking about the possibilities.

Keep thinking all the time but try not to be too mentally tired before going into bat. It can be a long haul, sitting there, watching the tactical battle, working out what shots to eliminate or use.

Get it right

The time has now arrived when you're on your way to bat. The old butterflies will be working overtime and the heart's beating a little, so what do you do to calm your nerves?

Gooch says that he usually used to tell himself three things when he starts an innings - concentrate, play straight and if it's wide, let it go. Easier said that done! Talk to yourself at the wicket, tell yourself you'll be sick if you have to spend the rest of the innings in the pavilion because of one silly moment. Nag yourself into doing the basic correctly, try to forget everything else but the job in hand tell yourself. "This bloke can't bowl, he's not getting me out, he'll get tired before I do."

Try not to crouch too low - that's fault of concentrating too much and it affects one's batting technique. If you're too low, your head will be on the move when you're adjusting to play the stroke - and in case you think the Test players don't suffer from this fault, you're mistaken.

Gooch says that he was crouching so low until he saw a video recording of his batting in the first Test at Brisbane in 1978. He says it was no wonder that he was batting badly - he says he was far too low.

He says that he was on the move before the ball was delivered and getting very square-on making him vulnerable to the outswinger.