"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW"

Below, guest blogger and ACI Coach, Josh Nevett gives us his top tips to identify your cricketing strengths.

In cricket, the difference between good and great players is often in the mental and strategic side of the game rather than raw skill-set or physicality. Players who have a small set of strengths that they actively utilise as often as possible generally succeed over players with a wide range of skills but no understanding of how best to use them. This article will recommend practices that can be used to identify strengths so that you are able to develop your own unique cricketing identity with complete confidence in your personal skills and strategies.

SEEK FEEDBACK FROM COACH / EXPERIENCED PLAYERS

Often we can look at our own cricketing skill-sets with a perspective that is biased and warped, preventing us from achieving honest and objective self-analysis. This can be due to a variety of reasons, but the main impact is that we either underestimate or overestimate our abilities in certain facets of cricket. You may think that you don't play the ball well off the back foot, but perhaps this is just due to a recent dismissal you’re lingering on, poor shot selection, or a lack of practice in training. So, the question remains, how do we solve this problem and gain an accurate understanding of our strengths?

One remedy is to seek the opinions of those who are less likely to be influenced by factors that may make our judgments unreliable; your coaches and the senior players around you. These individuals will be invested in making you a better cricketer and realise that honesty is the best policy in pursuit of this. As a result, they will assist you to quickly and accurately identify strength areas through observation of your performances and discussion with you. Experience is invaluable throughout this process, as coaches have likely identified your strengths in other players in the past. 

REVIEW YOUR PERFORMANCE AFTER GAMES & TRAINING TO FIND PATTERNS

As alluded to above, one well-played shot or perfect delivery may not signal an overall strength, but a pattern of successful skill execution over time is definitely a strong indicator of a personal strength. The best way to distinguish between these two things is to engage in an ongoing process of performance review, noting what skills you performed well and didn’t perform well after both matches and training matches. As a bowler, did you have success swinging the ball one way or another? Which balls did the batter struggle most to play? With the bat, where did you score the majority of your runs? Which bowlers did you feel most comfortable facing?

By addressing these questions on a regular basis and physically logging down your reflections, over time patterns will hopefully emerge that reveal to you your most strong areas. Similar to the recommendation above, feel free to engage others you trust in this process. 

FILM YOUR SESSIONS TO FIND AREAS THAT YOU DO WELL

The process of reflection and analysis is made a whole lot easier by access to video footage. Filming your sessions will allow you to support some assumptions about your strengths whilst also challenging others, providing a useful resource for future comparison and ongoing feedback. 

You may know that you flick the ball well through the legside on the front foot, but watching back video of a training session may reveal that you take balls from the off stump and wider through the legside, enhancing your knowledge of your strength. Or, on the bowling side, analysis of footage might show that you get your wrist in an excellent position to bowl inswing, but until now you hadn't considered that as a regular strategy. 

Video footage goes a long way towards accounting for the 5-10% of uncertainty you have about the conclusions that you and your coaches have come to, it provides clear evidence of the highlights and shortcomings of your game. 

MAKE A LIST OF ALL THE THINGS YOU DO WELL TO CREATE YOUR STRENGTHS

Sometimes, even after persistent analysis and reflection, the areas you perform well in may seem disjointed and not form cohesive strengths. In this situation, it is best to write down all of the individual skills that you execute well and then try to link them together into strength areas. 

For example, you might decide that you use your feet well and have strong shot selection against spin. These two skills can be joined to create the strength ‘getting to the pitch of spin bowling’. As a bowler, if you bowl both slower balls and yorkers very well, then you are likely to excel at bowling in the death overs of limited-overs matches. In the field, if you have a strong distance throwing arm and are comfortable under high catches then outfielding is likely to be a strength area.

As you can see from the examples above, it becomes a much easier process to identify strengths when all of your skills are set out in front of you. 

Article Author: Josh Nevett

ACI Academy Coach

Representative cricket is considered to be the pinnacle for young players beginning their cricketing journey. It introduces many of them to ability-based selection for the first time, and those who are picked are exposed to high calibre players, coaches and facilities. 

However, the strong competition for places in rep squads means that inevitably most children who trial will miss out. Whilst this is undoubtedly disappointing for the individuals impacted, like any setback in life it should remain just that, a setback. Disappointment provides opportunities for reflection, perspective and growth, and improved outcomes in the long-term. 

So, how can parents assist their children to maintain a positive outlook after missing rep selection? 

1. ENCOURAGE & SUPPORT THEIR EXISTING COMMITMENTS

The great thing about sport is there is always another chance just around the corner! 

If your child is on the cusp of playing rep cricket then they are already likely to be playing club cricket and performing quite well, so it is crucial that parents encourage their children in this environment. Obviously, missing out on a rep team shouldn’t directly impact upon other passions and commitments, so it is up to parents to provide their child with the encouragement they need to continue their other activities.

2. IDENTIFY THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS & HOW FAR THEY'VE COME ALREADY

The road to representative consideration shouldn’t be forgotten. Your child has clearly excelled in their club or school cricket and by prompting them to reflect upon this a sense of achievement can be born, where it was perhaps lacking after missing selection. 

Identification of achievement and progression is also crucial to your child regaining trust in the efforts and processes they have undertaken to reach this point. A quick return to a growth and opportunity focused mindset through resilience will prepare a young player for future setbacks and can only be positive for long-term development. 

3. 'DON'T GET BITTER, GET BETTER'

It is a saying that is so simple, and yet so powerful. When a young player misses out on representative selection an instinct may be to direct anger towards the coaches, or the overall process. However, this cannot change the situation. 

On the other hand, we all have the ability to influence the future and by encouraging your child to focus their energy on improving skills and training smarter, your child will put themself in the best possible position to improve their selection outcome next time. 

Through practice, this can become part of a healthy growth mindset and will be an automatic response to seemingly negative events. At the end of the day, this is the best path towards goal achievement and self-betterment. 

4. OUTLINE THE BIG PICTURE & OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD

Thankfully, in the present day, there are many developed and accessible pathways in the Australian cricket system. So, after missing out on selection it is important that you ensure your child is given this perspective. 

There will always be another opportunity, whether it's through future representative competitions, school cricket, junior club cricket or senior cricket, and young players should never feel constrained by a lack of opportunity. In fact, without an understanding of possible pathways players will often place much more pressure on themselves to perform, resulting in reduced performance. 

As mentioned previously, if your child has had the opportunity to challenge for a rep squad then they are definitely in the conversation to play at a higher level; as long as they maintain their belief and passion there will be a next chance sooner rather than later. 

5. HELP THEM ESTABLISH A PLAN OR GOALS TO GET TO WHERE THEY WANT TO BE

It’s easy to feel lost or anxious when events don’t go the way we planned, however much of this stress can be relieved if there is clarity about the future and a clear path ahead. 

Young players are far more likely to be optimistic for the future after missing a rep team if they can establish goals and methods of achieving these that are specific, realistic and achievable. It is important that these goals don't necessarily just focus on making future teams, but aim more specifically at holistic improvement. This kind of roadmap will instil confidence and reiterate to your child that there are many different ways of measuring success. 

Parents have a vital role to play in supporting their children throughout their journey in cricket, whether it be celebrating their achievements or encouraging them through more difficult periods. 

Representative cricket may be a great experience, but missing out is not the end of the world and the experience of not making a squad can ultimately have a hugely beneficial impact in the long run.

Guest Author: Josh Nevett