Your Cricket Fundamentals before the basics

[GREEN]

Of late a number of coaches at the grass root level are ignoring the fundamentals of cricket which are key to the development of a successful cricketer.
I was given a job as a temporrary coach for an u/12 club team and on the first day of the job I realised that their previous coach had planted it in them to be big hitters of the ball and bowl as fast as they could. This method had them chasing huge totals and being bowled out for a less than dignifiable score. Not a single stroke player was in the team and even the two spin bowlers wanted to bowl the spin at pace. All the players had the basics worked out of batting, bowling and fielding but they all wanted to bat like Yuvraj Singh,Shahid Afridi, David Warner, Albie Morkel and bowl like Dale Steyn, Shoaib Ahktar, Brett Lee etc. The players mentioned have mastered their techniques through application of fundamentals and practicing the basics. They didin't get to where they are or do what they do by just swinging as hard as they could or bowling as fast as they could.

I believe that coaches have the responsibility to teach the fundamentals at an early age so as to develop quality cricketers and not show offs!

Green

 

[Seoken]

I agree completely. I also hate junior cricket these days in Queensland at-least.
Nobody in my u17 team really knows how to shine a ball. And when i say something about it i get "it doesn't really matter" BUT IT DOES. It lets bowlers have more of an opportunity to take wickets and only takes 20 sec between balls to shine a ball.

I think this is because they use a modified cricket ball, it's softer. It shouldn't be, it's just a cricket ball, it poses no threat in a u10 comp.

 

[GREEN]

I had a huge job on my hands because its harder to change a mind set than it is to change a technique, so I gotta get these young ones thinking in the right direction. Shot selection and ball pitching are one of the most important elements in the game.

Green

 

[darthlewis1]

Well my coaches have always been the opposite and would make sure everyone was able to play proper shots and in nets, if people would slog without even attempting to play properly, they would take them out of the nets and they wouldn't be aloud to bat in the nets the next week and those people did start to to play proper shots without slogging. But I do think I was lucky to have a good coaches as I would sometimes go to nets at another club and all the kids would just try to bowl as fast as they could and they would spray the ball all over the place.

And also on shining the ball, People in my club would do that at u/14 level, but they didn't really understand why they were shining it, they would only shine it because they saw players do it on TV. But I would've thought at u/17 level they would know how to shine a cricket ball.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

Slightly off-topic, but can I ask you UK guys if your clubs have coaches/teams for over 21's who have little to no prior experience in playing the game?

 

[Kaos110]

good question, what do you think papa smurf, get over there for a weekend and get some helpful advices first hand??

 

[darthlewis1]

Slightly off-topic, but can I ask you UK guys if your clubs have coaches/teams for over 21's who have little to no prior experience in playing the game?

There are teams for people who are relatively inexperienced/new to the game.
And there is definetely adult coaching run by county clubs and quite a few normal clubs.

 

[pcfan123]

How much of this big hitting and bowl as fast as you can strategy has resulted because of 2020? The new format is going to create droves of Pollards and Taits at the expense of Laxmans and McGraths

 

[angryangy]

Obviously it's related, but go back 30 years and I'm sure kids wanted to be like the most exciting WSC players.

In some ways it has to be accepted. Excitement and interest are what bring kids to any sport. If you want them to appreciate the full depth of the game, they must first learn about it.

The important part of the story is that they were a bad team because of the methods. Forgoing the basics doesn't teach you to play Twenty20 anyway. There was a Roebuck article not so long ago, where it was implicated that even at the top level, coaches have been taking this sort of route and learning the hard way. Batsmen still need a foundation to build upon. Even in a big T20 score, the boundaries are not most of the work, nor does the fastest delivery ensure a wicket, or even a dot ball.

 

[Seoken]

nor does the fastest delivery ensure a wicket, or even a dot ball.

Ahh but the fastest deliveries (over 100 MPH) can sure as hell scare the ████ out of you.

 

[angryangy]

Over 100? I figure even the vast majority of professional cricketers manage to get through a career without seeing one of those!

 

[Seoken]

Well... modern bowlers yes, most likely.

But the likes of Lillie, Thomson, Paso, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts and others all had the capacity to bowl over 100MPH and did.

 

[angryangy]

Quite possibly true of Thomson or Roberts and maybe Holding and Lillee on good days reached 100 mph too, but we can't know for sure. The few records we have put none of them faster than 100 mph. If guys like Garner and Pascoe were equally as quick as Thomson, I can't see what would be so special about him. Going off TV footage however, he's clearly miles quicker.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

I don't see what's wrong in encouraging a young bowler to bowl as fast as he ca/spin the ball as much as he can, and telling a young batsman to hit the ball as hard as he can.


Accuracy and a proper defensive technique can all be picked up later and learnt over time. But modifying your style of play to bowl faster or spin the ball more, or to score quicker can't.


When it comes to coaching, in my opinion the fundamentals should be teaching kids how to run ones and twos quickly, how to field well, how to bowl with a proper bowling action and how to pick your shots (you don't need to slog to be hitting the ball hard).

Once they've learnt that, then yea, I'd be telling them to run in there and bowl as fast as they possibly can, or focus on spinning the ball loads, or to look at scoring as many runs as they can and hitting the ball as hard as they can.

And as they grow older, start working on consistency and accuracy.

Because a big reason a lot of youngsters can't make the step up to higher level cricket is because they legitimately can't play a lot of shots or bowl with enough pace or spin to really trouble other batsmen. Most of this might be down to talent, but it's also has to do with the way they are coached. If you are told right from the start not to worry about spinning the ball, or to focus on line and length, or to get your forward defensive right, you are limited from right then. Instead you should be told to go out there and play your shots, bowl fast, and make the most of whatever talent you have.

After all, it is quite easy to run up and land 6 balls at the same spot with little to no pace, and to just bat defensively without trying to score runs. Almost any no talent hack can do that. No point drilling that into kids. Make them try bowling fast, scoring runs, the rest will come eventually.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

There are teams for people who are relatively inexperienced/new to the game.
And there is definetely adult coaching run by county clubs and quite a few normal clubs.

That's brilliant, especially the part where there are teams and matches for people with my ability - thanks Darth Mind me asking how much it is normally to join and play for a local club during the summer?

good question, what do you think papa smurf, get over there for a weekend and get some helpful advices first hand??

Haha, if I had the time and money to fly over there just for that, I would have done