Fitness for Cricket - Part Two

Are you mentally fit for cricket?

How do you deal with anxiety and lack of confidence? How do you maintain your motivation levels? How do you manage to focus your attention, and then learn to relax?

Being mentally fit for cricket is as important as being physically fit. You must be able to deal with nerves, with the tension of the game situation, while being confident in your own capabilities. You must not fear failure. You must be able to concentrate on the task at hand, yet be able to relax when the pressure is less intense.

Mental preparation training can be practised for any cricketing activity. Before you score your first fifty or your first century, you must believe that you have the skills to achieve these. Before facing the opposition’s demon fast bowler you must have developed a mental plan to enable you to deal with each of his types of deliveries.

You should develop the habit of regularly rehearsing in your mind the processes involved in being successful at the task at hand. As you rehearse these movements in your mind, imagine how your body will feel when performing these skills.

Confidence

Confidence is a personal thing and varies from individual to individual. Nobody is fully confident all the time and the unknown or negative past experiences can always constitute a potential problem to your confidence. This can lead to fear of failure and a wish to avoid responsibility. For example, if you believe you have a problem playing leg spin and you know that your next opponent has two top-quality leg spinners, what should you do? You could try and avoid the problem by asking to bat in a position in the batting order where you are less likely to have to face these bowlers. Or you could regard this as a challenge to be faced head-on, and rehearse for a successful performance. By succeeding in this personal challenge your self-confidence will continue to grow.

Motivation

Cricket is not an easy game to master. In fact there is truth in the belief that no-one ever totally masters the game. Many enthusiastic young cricketers become over-whelmed by a run of disappointing performances and give up the game to go and pursue something less demanding. I hope that you will not be one of these, and that you will be a young cricketer prepared to pursue a search for excellence over a longer period of time.

Some cricketers are motivated by fear of failure, others by the need to achieve and be the best they can be. To maximize your level of motivation, you must develop a plan about what you want to achieve in the game. You should then set about achieving those planned goals, realizing that there will be unexpected set-backs along the way and that you will need to regularly revise your plan in order to overcome them. In this way your motivation levels will continue to grow as you achieve positive rewards in the coming months and years.

Concentration

This is a special mental skill which needs to be developed to a high level if you are to succeed as a young cricketer. If you are facing a demanding fast bowler, you need to be able to focus exclusively on the task at hand and not allow factors outside your control such as comments made by the fielding team or the disagreement you had with your brother at the breakfast table to lessen your concentration on the ball that is about to be bowled.

Concentration is all about having what is called an “uncluttered” mind, where your attention is solely on the brief moment of the task at hand. The mention of the briefness of the task at hand is important as you must learn to “switch off” between deliveries and relax your intense level of concentration until it is next required – when the bowler begins running in for his next delivery. Failing to do so will lead to mental exhaustion and a significant lessening of your ability to focus on the next delivery. This switching off is important for all actively involved in the game, bowlers, fielders and umpires included.

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Fitness for Cricket - Part One

How good is your endurance?

If you are a pace bowler you will need a high level of aerobic and muscular endurance in order to perform to your best. If you are a top-order batter keen to bat for long periods, you too will need to have high levels of endurance.

Are you strong enough?

If you are a pace bowler, do you have the necessary strength in your shoulders and arms to deliver the ball at top speed for four to seven over spells? Do you have the necessary strength in your hands, wrists and arms to swing your bat consistently in the right zones for long periods?

Are you flexible enough?

In cricket, your body will have to move in all directions in all aspects of the game. If your flexibility is poor, you will have difficulty in getting into the correct position to perform the tasks demanded of you. This is especially important if you are the team’s wicket-keeper. Lack of flexibility often results in poor performance and inefficient or faulty technique. It will lessen your speed and power and may contribute to injuries as your muscles will have to work harder to overcome resistance. Poor flexibility will make you tire more easily.

Are you fast enough?

In cricket the necessity for speed is most evident in fast bowlers, in batsmen when running between the wickets, and in out-fielders when chasing the ball that is heading towards the boundary.

How to improve your fitness

1. Go for a long run of at least 30 minutes once or twice a week.
2. Ask your coach to establish a circuit-training routine for you at your school or local gym. A basic circuit will target the development of your arms, shoulders, trunk and legs.
3. Have your coach design a weight training routine for you. Try to perform it at least twice a week. Use light weights and high repetitions to lessen the possibility of injury.
4. Make flexibility training a regular part of your practice and pregame routines. An increase in strength will not be of much benefit without an accompanying increase in mobility. Your coach will design a program for all team members to perform before practice and matches begin.
5. Practise to improve your reaction times. This can be done solo by bouncing a tennis ball off a wall or with devices such as Crazycatch, in groups with the traditional slip-catching cradle and organised training games that focus on speed of reaction.
6. Make sure you are an efficient runner. Cricket is primarily an endurance event interspersed with short bursts of speed. Eliminate sloppy habits from your running style such as head wobble and flapping arms which will reduce your speed and tire you more quickly.
7. Batsmen need to concentrate on developing flexibility and strength in the wrists and forearms. A strong neck is needed to support the weight of the batting helmet and powerful leg muscles are required for carrying the pads while running between the wickets.
8. Bowlers need good wrist flexibility and control. They need a strong and flexible lower back, groin and hamstrings.
9. Fielders need endurance for repeated chases, power for long throws, quick reactions for close catching, and flexibility for the bending and crouching that is required when stopping the ball in the outfield.
10. Wicket-keepers need the agility and speed of a trained gymnast. They need strong neck and shoulder muscles, power in their thigh and calf muscles and plenty of courage. They need to be especially careful to avoid muscle shortening due to constant crouching by regular stretching exercises during the game.
    
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