28th March 2020. It’s meant to be the eve of this year’ IPL and the reality has hit home. The streets of Mumbai should be teeming with life, jubilant Indians searching for the nearest net, a chance to emulate their heroes and worship the greats. If cricket is the religion here, then Kohli, Tendulkar and Dhoni are the Gods. Yes, this is India’s prime time, a tournament intertwined with Bollywood stars, and billion-dollar celebrities. Succeed, and global recognition awaits. Instead, cameras pan around a bare, despondent landscape fully feeling the effects of this global pandemic. We are living in a period of what-ifs, where the truth is toxic and the reality is deadly. 

Wouldn’t twitter love to be arguing about Dhoni running onto the pitch for the second year running, not watching Ian Bell play cover-drives with toilet rolls. How good would it be to actually look forward to the upcoming hundred (remember that?) not binge-watching David Warner’s 335 at the Adelaide Oval, or Marnus’s 215 in Sydney?

The Cricket Mentoring team watch on as MS Dhoni trains for the Chennai Super Kings in the 2019 IPL

Let’s face it, we’ve all got too much time at the moment, so why not get the cricket photo album out and reflect on cricket’s great turnaround, that so few saw coming. The first arose in the wake of the Cape Town scandal. Barely hard to envisage, Australia’s golden boy is here escorted from the Airport, handled like a criminal. Not Steve Smith, the Australia’s Test captain and player of the series in the last ashes. The look on the New-South-Welshmen told the story of the game at the time. Nothing spoken, everything said. In a period of, who could we point the finger at, something needed to change. Tim Paine and Justin Langer are left in charge of an exhausted side after the unfolding of events had seen the captain and vice banned for 12 months. More importantly than that, the good Australian culture had disappeared. The hard but fair lads had become hard and unfair.

Flick a few pages forward and find the twin-tons at Edgbaston, sandpaper in the background to the Hollies and boos the soundtrack of Birmingham. But with every glance through square leg, exquisite on-drive or audacious upper-cut, the English public showed regard for what they were seeing – a batsman at the peak of his game. They jeered him at Edgbaston, booed him at Lord’s. They rose to him at the Oval. With London draped in Autumnal sunshine, and a full house at the Oval, redemption was complete.

Articles are still being published about the World Cup, books still written about the pinnacle of one-day cricket. The 2019 competition was the greatest in memory, full of breathtaking battles, with champions England clinching the trophy by “the barest of margins”. The scenes were unimaginable, sounds of “who let the dogs out” echoing  off the Pavillion, where the rapturous MCC members are celebrating like schoolchildren let out for the summer term. In the foreground, hero Ben Stokes could be seen crawling around on the ground somewhere, while Joe Root and fellow Yorkshireman Jonny Bairstow showed the emotion of a sensational 4-year turnaround.

Jos Buttler had barely broken the stumps and the old enemy arrived, with a potent mix of experienced campaigners and dashing young blood. Led by Tim Paine and with a banned trio of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft returning, the feel-good factor was present but fortress Edgbaston would be waiting and the visitor’s good guy approach since Cape Town would here be put under more scrutiny than ever. Stick together lads, welcome to England.

Ricky Ponting coaches Steve Smith on the eve of the World Cup clash against England 

So when did people sit up and take notice of Marnus Labuschagne? Was it those five tons in ten games for Glamorgan? Or the gritty 41 out of a team total of 105 in an Ashes warm-up? Perhaps it was the constant examination of Steve Smith’s mannerisms, the extra hour’s shadow batting with his idle in the dressing rooms. Most would say though that it all came to light in the second Test, where, after replacing Steve Smith and becoming the first concussion substitute ever,  he was struck flush on the grill by debutant Archer but quickly bounced back up. Most at the ground that day won’t have even known the name Labuschagne, let alone given him a chance of saving the Test match. Displaying the same levels of energy that he has managed to associate himself with in his two year period wearing the baggy green, he marched on with such defiance that wore England into the ground that Test. He sweeps well and runs frantically, a kid in a hurry to make his mark on the biggest stage. Finishing with 59, he set himself up for one of the great summers in Australian cricket later that year climbing to third in the Test batting rankings. The lad who has been busy running the drinks had been thrown in under the highest pressure and passed with flying colours.

Instrumental in a historic Ashes win, the pace bowling attack consistently resisted the temptation to bowl too full where their opponents would sometimes go searching. We didn’t even catch a glimpse of Starc’s inswinging yorker until Old Trafford, with the sensational duo of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood never straying from the top of off. Take that ball to Joe Root, late on the fourth day in Manchester, the toppest of off, the perfect snapshot of the brilliance of the man, currently number one in the world.

Should I talk about Headingley? Allow me a paragraph, I’ll keep it brief. Go on, search deep into Youtube and you’ll find highlights of that knock, the one Geoffrey Boycott labelled as the best ever.  Throughout that third evening , skipper Root had battled hard to take England to a respectable total and it was hard to imagine the bloke with 2 off 50 balls would eventually guide England home. No longer will we have to keep referring back to Botham, there’s a new star on the block. The bad boy of cricket with a canny knack of rewriting the script where no else can had done it once more. Being in the zone is a phrase used by writers across the world, but what does it actually mean? Here Stokes provided the answer, where no-one can stop you and the time is right for you to write your name among great cricketing folklore.  At least we can put the 81 tape away now, Headingley 19 sounds great, no?

After a memorable winter and with two exciting sides ready to lock horns now more than ever was the time the rest of the batting lineup needed to stand up. A Stuart Broad free summer lay ahead and Warner took full advantage. On an idyllic summer night in Adelaide, the old bad boy of cricket brought up 300 with the signature jump then bow. After all the noise surrounding Steve Smith, Warner went away during his ban and re-invented himself into a more respected bloke. The shift became obvious here-if anything this was calculated accumulation, not the brash, free-scoring cricket he had become so known for. A year that started with Warner still banned from the game ended with him commentating on the family friendly big bash.

With two exciting sides in Pakistan and New Zealand, the summer posed two different challenges and it was here that the batting line-up came into its own. Warner’s smart running and Labuschagne’s willingness to bat for days, along with a hint of the quirks and flicks of Smith, provided a potent mix for big first-innings runs.

Once more the Big Bash’s colour saw huge crowds flock to stadiums across the country for a glimpse of the talent that was on show. Josh Phillipe got the Sixers campaign off and running in the opening game (you know the clip we’ve all seen loads where he hits Richardson out the SCG) and was set up for a huge winter with Australia before the virus came along.  The bowling attacks were clinical and, where given the chance, the top-order batters cashed in, especially towards the latter part of the tournament.

Cricket Mentoring ambassador Josh Philippe brings up his 50 for the Sydney Sixers in BBL09

Then came one of the most memorable yet crazy weeks of cricket as Australian’s women won the World T20 world cup. In front of 86,000. At the MCG. Five days later, shots emerge of Lockie Ferguson and Trent Boult looking for a ball that Aaron Finch has just hit into the stands. There are no crowds here. In fact, we were lucky to get a game. The next morning the rest of that series is called off, and the IPL, England’s tour of Sri Lanka and the County Championship are all put back. Right now though,  sport isn’t the most important thing.

So instead of reflecting on what might have been, take time and reflect on cricket’s great turnaround. We could be sitting here having never witnessed the genius of Steve Smith again, or the booming voice of Warner calling his partner through for a run. Ben Stokes may never have recovered from his Bristol brawl and no-one would ever known about Headingley. So yes, it would have been nice to be watching Cummins, Smith and Stokes and all the rest in the IPL, but does it really matter? So the camera does pan round the bare Mumbai – but it could be worse. Get used to it, this could be a while. There’s a lot of time for shadow batting Smithy.

About the Author

Ben Hobbs is a young lad from England who loves cricket and writing about cricket. He plays for Northumberland in England’s north and has been a member of the Cricket Mentoring community for the past couple of years.

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One Comment

  1. Kate letty August 21, 2021 at 7:48 pm - Reply

    Normally I never remark on websites yet your article is persuading to the point that I never stop myself to say something regarding it. You’re working really hard Man, Keep it up.
    Cricket World Cup 2021s

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Chris 'Bucky' Rogers batting for Somerset in one of his 554 First-class innings

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I once spoke to a former professional player who became a coach in the professional ranks and asked him whether he would change his technique during the season during his playing career. He responded in the negative.

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About the writer: Chris 'Bucky' Rogers isn't your typical cricketer. Having toiled away in First-class cricket for over 15 years, he was finally rewarded for years of dominance opening the batting in both Australia & England with selection in the Australian Test team for the 2013 Ashes in England. He went on to play 25 Test matches for Australia where he scored 2,015 runs @ 42.87 including 5 x 100s. With the amazing First-class record of 25,470 runs & 76 centuries, he has now retired from playing and transitioned into coaching, where he currently is the batting coach for Somerset CCC. 

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He said working on technique is for preseason and once he started playing, all that mattered was watching the ball.

That, I’ve discovered, is a very traditional response, handed down from father to son.

I had to stop myself from groaning out loud. “How short-sighted” I wanted to reply. I’m sure he’s not alone and these days, coaches are reluctant to challenge technical issues in young players, preferring the students to figure it out themselves. Perhaps they fear intervention will only create more problems.

NO PRE-SEASON?

What if a player never has a pre-season as, like me, he plays continuously on both sides of the world, where the seasons overlap?

Just once did I have a pre-season in Australia – and that I remember mostly for the agony of running the sand-hills at City Beach in Perth, rather than any working on technique.

Instead I was chasing an endless summer by playing 12 months of the year in England as well as home. “What is a pre-season?” was my standard jibe at teammates.

That meant technical experimentation had to be done on the job – so the standard answer to not work on your game for six months of the year seems like a waste of time and opportunity to me.

Often as a young batsman, you’ll have days when you pick up a bat and it feels like it is a natural extension of your body and other days when it feels like you’re hefting around a railway sleeper.

DAYS WHEN THINGS WEREN'T WORKING

Numerous days in grade cricket and even opening the batting for Western Australia, my swing would feel so awkward I would be trying to adjust almost every ball. I might try picking the bat up higher in my swing, other times move my hands forward in my stance and even change the width of my stance. These were just a very few of many.

In fact what would really confuse me is, somehow I’d last until the lunch break feeling like I couldn’t hit one off the square and then come out after a 40 minute sit down and feel like I was Brian Lara … well not quite but you get the drift.

What it taught me though was to keep trying to get better. I would often think to myself, and now sprout this to every kid possible, one step back to go two steps forward. Working with my dad who was my coach, I’d try all sorts of technical changes and usually, after a while, something would click and it would all fall into place. It would be like hitting at a brick wall and then all of a sudden one thing works and the rest fall over like dominoes.

PROBLEM SOLVING - DON'T GET OUT THE SAME WAY

One of the great advantages of playing in four innings matches is the chance to problem solve as a batsman between the first and second innings. I disliked … no, I hated getting out the same way or to the same bowler in the second innings as I did in the first.

After getting out I would sit down and figure out a way to combat the bowler who dismissed me first time around. It might not have just been a mental change but quite possibly a technical one.

Stuart Clark once dismissed me for a duck with a perfect ball that pitched on off stump line and nipped away but instead of just accepting he’d bowled me a jaffa, I checked out the footage and saw my hands were not coming down straight in my swing pattern and caused everything - my hands and bat - to go towards mid on. So my bat actually was inside the line, hence the ball found my outside edge.

Second innings, my focus was trying to get my hands to go towards mid-off while playing with the inside half of my bat to counter the away movement. Yes I know this is a bit more than ‘Batting 101’ but I only started to understand my own batting by constantly tinkering – even to the extent of working out what doesn’t work, to find out what does.

PLAYING TO COACHING

As I moved from player to become a coach, a surprise first-up piece of advice from other coaches was to be careful about the level of input you try to pass on. Yes, that makes sense and it would be ignorant to not listen to advice from people who have spent a long time coaching. However, it will need to be balanced against my long-held belief that the best players in the world never stop seeking improvement.

My first club-coaching role came via former Australian player and teammate Bob Quiney to help out at his beloved St Kilda Cricket Club, where the players have an average age younger than ever and a thirst for learning.

I was wary of saying too much early, but when one player said, “I’ll do whatever you tell me to do Buck”, my tinkering instincts took over.

“One step back to go two steps forward”, I reasoned.

The first player asked me how to play slow medium pace bowlers as he had nicked off to one the previous Saturday. I told him to be positive and proactive. Walk at the bowler or walk into his line … a la Steve Smith … and whip him through the leg side if the bowler went for the stumps. The next Saturday he was in the same position and ended up, he said, with too much going through his mind and being neither proactive nor defensive. He nicked off again. But he had learnt from his mistake and knew what he’d do the next time and since has had some success.

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 Bucky passing on some knowledge during a batting masterclass for Cricket Mentoring in Perth

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INDOOR NETS SYNDROME

Another had what I call ‘indoor nets syndrome’ and had developed a swing where he just jabbed at balls that would race off his bat on the true synthetic surface, but had difficulty with the natural variation of turf wickets. His hands would go towards the leg side in his swing but the ball would slice to cover or more likely the slips. I was wary of trying to reshape his whole swing but then thought “Why not?” I’ll show him what I think works and he can figure the end result out for himself”. He was quite difficult to adjust and we even experimented with grip changes, not something I’d usually recommend.

After an hour’s work he was starting to get the basic principles and enjoying it. He had a far better understanding of a swing after trying something new and that can only benefit him. He can always go back to what he was doing but at least he’d tinkered and thought about it. Afterwards he seemed genuinely excited at the change and the understanding.

Yet there have been plenty of times where my coaching hasn’t worked. I tried to help Peter Siddle with his batting but made it worse. Eventually he figured a few things out himself and is still getting better – so maybe my “one-step-backwards” theory helped!

CHANGE TAKES TIME

With most things, change takes time to feel natural and this principle needs to be stressed and I’m wary of trying to change players into playing like me but sometimes certain things need to be tried.  I’m amazed when I see any tall player stand with his feet close together in his stance when Kevin Pietersen is ‘Example A’ of how to succeed as a tall batsman.

I firmly believe all the best players in the world are tinkerers and never stop trying to improve. Just ask Marcus Trescothick, who at age 41 was still telling everyone how he’s trying to fix things. That and his saying that ‘form hides in mysterious places’ were my two favourite things I got from him.

At the moment the county season has just started and he’s still working on his game plan against different kind of bowling. You’d think he’d have it all sorted by now but no, he’s using every opportunity to improve as we all should.

SUCCEEDING AT THE AGE OF 38

When asking me to write this article, Scolls (Tom Scollay) asked that I write a little about my own journey and how I managed to play well in the 2015 Ashes at age 38.

Like Trescothick, I had a thirst for perfection. Grit and determination was only a part of it. So many years of 12-months-playing of four-day cricket meant I had a very good understanding of my own game, with all its strengths and weaknesses, and to have some success against James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood and Steve Finn in bowler-friendly conditions was only possible with an in depth, intimate knowledge of my swing and my game.

For different bowlers and conditions, I would have different triggers. On the wickets that provided more bounce and seam I would have a back and across trigger while at other times, particularly against Anderson’s swing, I would push forward to try and cover the movement.

This skill only comes from trial and error and experimentation and willingness to learn. If every time I tried something, had initial failure and not persevered, my game would have been very one dimensional and limited.

Growing up I often watched in awe some of the bigger kids who seemed to make batting look easy but then fell away when they had to play against adults who matched them in size and strength. I believe it was because these kids had got it so easy early on, that they hadn’t learned to work at their game to try to understand it better.

ALL THE BEST ARE ALWAYS CHASING IMPROVEMENT

Of course, there are plenty of examples to disprove the mould but of all the best batsmen I have seen, the one consistent attribute they possess is a desire to never be satisfied and to chase improvement.

They tinker to learn … and then comes improvement.

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