It’s time to stop over-thinking and enjoy yourself

What a great time of year. The days are longer. The sun is warmer. And the sound of leather on willow can be heard again down at the local cricket club.

If there’s one thing that I’ve realised about living in the Emerald Isle over the last four and a half years, it’s that we really earn our spring and summer. She’s a long, cold and dark winter, that’s for sure.

For all those young and old who have been working away in indoor nets over the winter, the time to compete again is near.

I’ve spent more time coaching this winter than any of the previous four. I love the art of batting and have been fortunate to work with and watch a number of passionate, determined and skilful players over the last five months.

I’m impressed by the number of these players who are clear on their areas for improvement. Each session, when they’re asked what it is they’re working on, they’re more clued in now than I can ever recall.

Whether it’s transferring their weight into their strokes, head position and balance, where their hands finish in their back-lift or a pre-delivery movement, they’ve all shown a real eagerness to go outside their comfort zone and work hard.

It’s invigorating.

One of the challenges in spending hours honing these technical changes or improvements is that the player can become focused solely on their body positioning. When you’re constantly hitting the ball into netting just a few metres away from you, it’s difficult to gain certainty as to just how good the outcome was.

It’s easy to slip into the habit of focusing on how you look rather than how many runs you’re scoring.

The best example of this I can recall is Ian Bell during the early years of his test career, particularly during the Ashes. He looked a million bucks. Has there been a more technically correct cover driver in the game?

But it didn’t always translate into runs in the book. In the early days anyway. Therein lies the challenge for all batsmen. It’s now time to shift our focus towards practicing our mental routines and executing our batting plans against each bowler.

Training provides a good opportunity to begin this shift. Instead of being overly self-critical in your final nets before your first game, start focusing on where the ball went, whether it’s in the gap based on the field the bowler has set you, and how many runs you are accumulating.

Get back into that pure contest between bat and ball, rather than the contest between your mind and your body. Honing technique is crucial to ensure long term success against the best bowlers in the game, and there’s a time and a place for it, but it’s runs that win matches.

Be grateful for those plays and misses, enjoy the French-cut fours that race past the keeper, and, most importantly remember why you first picked up a bat.

It’s time to trust all that work you’ve put in over the winter, find that optimal state of arousal, watch the ball and allow your instinct to take over.

Switch off that critical voice in your head, go out there and enjoy competing in the middle.