Cricket Mental Toughness: How To Get Into The Zone

by Richard Pybus
( Oscar – Sydney)

Sachin Tendulkar: Master of the Zone

Hi,

I found your website most useful, my son is an excellent cricketer when he manages to quieten his conscious mind and get into the zone.

This is when he plays from his subconscious mind, however he can only do this occasionally.

Do you have any activities or can you suggest a website that can help him to play from the zone more often.

Many Thanks for a wonderful website, it is much appreciated.

Regards,
Oscar

Hi Oscar, thanks for the mail, it is the question that every cricketer and every athlete wants the answer to !

How to get into the zone and how to stay there?

Firstly, if your son is an excellent cricketer in his age group he must be performing reasonably consistently.

So lets use that as the foundation to work from.

Playing in the zone of optimal performance happens when the conscious mind is quiet and the cricketer can access their cricket skills, technical and mental, allowing them to play from the subconscious mind without distraction.

The biggest distraction for a cricketer and the enemy of zone performance is fear.

It comes in all shapes and sizes, but it is ultimately fear.

It makes the conscious mind busy and gets it scanning for threats, the brain is literally working from one of its least resourceful parts.

Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of getting it wrong in a ‘big’ game, fear of performing badly in front of parents, fear of a team or specific opponent (think Warne or McGrath for a generation of batters),fear of playing at a cricket ground that you have failed at before … the list goes on.

So how do we quieten the conscious mind to allow our game plan and cricket skills to perform on automatic?

We build an optimal game plan based on quality preparation and planning.

We seek solutions to the challenge that the opposition and the game will bring, we quieten the conscious mind through excellent preparation.

Just like an actor rehearses their lines over and over, we rehearse and wire in our optimal performance.

We find the answers for the ‘threat’ – this begins the process of quietening the mind.

We do our homework on the opposition – Who are their main threats?

How can I play my A game (strengths) against their B or C game (weakness).

How are we going to do it?

How can I break this process down into small achievable goals?

What cricket strategy do I need to construct to achieve these objectives?

Your son needs to build his gameplan around his key strengths. He then needs to practice his core game plan over and over and over so that it gets wired into the subconscious mind so that it will literally play on automatic.

That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t think whilst he plays, of course he does, just that the thinking is focused on managing his innings if he is batting or his spell when he is bowling.

I would suggest a discussion with his coach to identify the key areas of game plan that need to be addressed. If your son is very young I would suggest he just practices his basic game plan and focuses on that.

If he is older and he knows his game, then you or the coach can help him to prepare specific game plans for different opponents and conditions.

In constructing specific game plans focus on small goals that are achievable and build confidence as he improves.

Don’t look for big outcome goals, like 100’s or fiver’s every time he plays, these will be achieved relative to his level of development.

He focuses on managing each phase of his innings or spell.

Quality preparation allows the cricketer to relax
and it builds confidence, these quieten the mind and that is the key to the door of Zone performance.

Check out the Laws of Mental Training for more insights on this.

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.