Strategic Cricket means playing Smart Cricket, we will compare Smart Cricket with Mindless Cricket. You can ask yourself where you are with your game and see if there is scope for you to play better, smarter, winning cricket.
Smart cricketers understand that the game of cricket strategy begins off the field.
They understand that what they do off the field is a reflection of what they want to make happen on the field.
Smart Cricketers begin by asking the right questions, they ask what do I need to do in my ‘Pre-Match Preparation’ to give myself the best chance of success during the game.
They look at their Mental Game, cricket strategy and tactics are key parts of the mental game, so what do they need to do to maxmise the opportunity for success on the field.
Sachin Tendulkar is a Smart Cricketer, he prepares in training to roll out a specific batting plan based on what he knows about the wicket, the ground and his opponents, he will even factor in the weather.
Smart Cricketers ….
1. Know what they want to make happen during the game.
2. Know their opponent, assess their opponents game, what are their strengths and weaknesses and how can they use this knowledge back against their opponent.
3. Construct their Game Plan so that they are maximising their strengths and focusing them on their opponents weaknesses.
4. Plan their training to make sure they work through their game plan for match day.
Physical Fitness: They do their homework on what type of strength and conditioning work they will need to do to be fully prepared for competition.
Most of this work is done during the off season, but there are opportunities during the season to top up on training and peak for big games.
Here is AB de Villiers working on core strength during the season.
Check out the section on cricket fitness for ideas on how you can work on optimising your fitness to perform better. Technical Game: They make sure that their technical game is working well, they are consistently working on polishing their game, maintaining strengths and focusing on weak areas where they may be vulnerable, so that they can turn them into strengths too.
They prepare well, knowing what they need to work on during training to make sure that they are fully prepared for the next match. Whether it is for a particular bowler they are going to face or it is work on a specific delivery they want to use.
All of the above can be assessed in conjunction with your coach, if you are at school or playing for a club and your coach isn’t proficient in these areas, find out who you can speak to and get your cricket strategy, technique and fitness assessed.
You could use the Internet and your initiative and search for a good professional cricket coach to help with this.
Make sure they are certified, they should also be able to recommend a good strength and conditioning coach.
Lets contrast this with Mindless Cricket.
The Mindless cricketer plays each week without any goals.
They don’t prepare or plan, subsequently their game stays in the same place.
There is no homework on the opposition to know what they do and how they are going to do it. So they make the same mistakes each week, and when they face the same opponents they get out to the same bowlers and the same batsman score runs off them.
Engage Your Brain
The goal is to play better, score more runs, take more wickets, hold more catches, so let us engage our brains to play better, smarter, more strategic cricket.
Back to Cricket Strategy from Cricket Strategy. Part Two
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.