by Richard Pybus
(Saeed from South Africa)
A’B. de Villiers: Master Of His Game Plan
Hi Coach,
I usually bat between 4 and 6, I sometimes have trouble focusing and find it hard to cope with the bowling, so it takes some time for me to build my confidence and get off strike. I also realise that I must hit the ball harder in order to get runs and boundaries and build a better innings. If there is any tips I can get it will be a pleasure. Thanks.
Hi Saeed, lets deal with these issues one at a time, firstly focus, here’s the plan. To manage your focus, quieten your mind and have a Relaxed, confident mindset you need to know what you want to make happen in your innings and how you are going to do it.
1. You need to write out your Game Plan for each format. The only difference between formats is that you have less time to get yourself in, in T20, but the plan is the same. You draft this to your strengths, not your weaknesses.
Every innings has three sections, the opening, the middle and the closing or end game.
You have a strategy for each section of your innings, this gives you Goals to work on
You need to think through how are you going to get off strike and what are your boundary options?
You need to have areas, where you nudge a single off a good ball to get off strike, I like players to practice the tip and run mentality in the nets and in practice so they get used to dabbing the ball into space to get off strike. Jacques Kallis and A.B.de Villiers are brilliant at this, watch them and see how they drop the ball in the box in front of them and just behind on the off and leg side.
A.B’s growth in all formats has been built on skills backed up with great game plans.
Practice. Practice. Practice this ! It will make your life much easier for you. Relative to format, be patient and stay with your game plan, that’s how you learn, if you don’t design a game plan and stick to it, you don’t give yourself a chance to learn.
The middle stages of your innings are you managing your game plan, you need to stay ahead of the run rate and pressuring the bowlers, sensibly, whilst you work to the team goals.
The end of the innings is you closing out the team goals, I like batters to take the responsibility to finish the innings, not giving it away when it matters. Be there to finish setting the total or chasing it down.
You need to practice your boundary options, your strengths so that when the bowler misses his lengths you can put it away.
Don’t worry about trying to hit the ball harder, this gets in the way of timing, work on your drive, cut and pull so that you can play around with the bowlers length and keep him under pressure.
When you’re prepared your mind is quiet, you can automatically control your focus by slowing your Breathing down, read about this here, this quietens your anxiety.
Consciously choose Positive Self Talk so that you are controlling the focus of your mind and the inner chatter. Read about the Laws of Mental Training and how you can run your mind rather than it running you.
The main thing is to do draft the game plan and go and practice it so it runs on automatic in game time.
Best wishes Coach
About Richard Pybus
I'm Richard Pybus, I've coached Pakistan, Bangladesh, Middlesex, Titans and the Cape Cobras in South Africa and the goal of this site is to help you to play winning cricket.