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[procricket]

To me form is based on ability and knowledge of your ability is key.

If Iam out of form I know what I doing wrong because I know my game my scoring areas and my mindset in doing so.
I know my game inside out through coaching and video analysis of everything I do and I know when my muscle memory is telling me something is wrong ie like when I,am moving too much.

What do I do well because I know my game If it a big thing I get it videoed than analysis then work it out of my game.

Do I go back to basics to archive this kind of I know my backlift and my body movements and I know my strengths ie square of the wicket and the on side so I know if I getting out elsewhere it because of a technical flaw I try to work on.

I net differently to most I try to increase my strengths before I work on weakness because of what uk has iluded too to many batsman just think they are what the are and do not try to improve, other do not know how to.

Me I try to maximise the ability I have and cover up the weaknesses but I do work on them also.

It for me is about knowing your game and trying to get better.

Strength of mind is a whole different thing though

[Buzz]

arh the Andy Flower way - create "super strengths" and still work on weaknesses...

[Chad]

I have only really scored runs (20+) when I am put under the pressure of not scoring runs, but of staying in. There have been situations where I have been in sooner than expected, where I have simply not managed to score at all and been extremely frustrated. This is when I normally get out. I actually think that there has only ever been one innings where I have scored more than 20 without the mindset of staying in.

I think playing within yourself is key. Knowing your role while out in the middle, and sticking to it really does help. Staying in and getting your feet moving does play a crucial role in an innings, but so does sticking to what you know you can do. I know I can't play cut shots well, but I was dismissed early in my last 2 games of the season playing the shot. I feel that the moment I start to play shots I know I am not comfortable with, my batting becomes less fluent, and if I get rewarded for such shots, a little bit of cockiness begins creeps in! I find this is the case even in nets, and it all ends up being a very unrewarding net session.

Really looking forward to this batting book Buzz! If I can't buy myself a run with bats, maybe I can read until I get some.

[procricket]

Wonder what all the bat changing going on this forum does to technique.

That a real intriguing question buzz

Technical questions are easy and anybody can be coached the mental tip is the difference between many of us

If your changing your bat every week or other week my theory is your already thinking too much

[uknsaunders]

All that says is that "form" is psychological and not physical. The question is how do you reboot your head?

Simple, forget about everything apart from playing the next ball. Over thinking creates problems. Your best cricket comes naturally when you are playing with a combination of instinct and concentration. Things like premeditation and self doubt only get you in trouble.

[procricket]

I tend to think people bat like there true personality it is a extension of who you are sounds daft but it what I believe.

I tend not to think to much at the crease in games I think in the nets but not in games.

[Bulldog Cricket]

Practice is key for me. Practice not until you get it right but practice until you can't get it wrong.

I agree with Nick. Don't over complicate things. Work on 1 or 2 things at a time.

Knowing you own game means knowing your strengths and weakness and playing within them.

[The Island Cricketer]

A good example of the psychological theme is when I was on the bowling machine facing 68mph I think and I couldn't play barely any because I thought they were fast. I came out and the coach said, if you want, I can put it down to 60, so he did and I went back in more confident and I was playing the balls fine. I was then told by the coach that he didn't turn the speed down at all! 

[mad_abt_cricket]

Simple, forget about everything apart from playing the next ball. Over thinking creates problems. Your best cricket comes naturally when you are playing with a combination of instinct and concentration. Things like premeditation and self doubt only get you in trouble.

That's where sledging comes into play.. Opposition makes sure the batsman wont be able to reboot..

[DrMartinIJones]

Part of my work (as a sport psychologist) with athletes is to understand the fallibility of human reasoning. We are hard wired to find patterns in the things that we see and experience. We are not always very good at finding patterns!

In sport this pattern seeking manifests itself in athletes seeing cause and effect relationships that do not exist. An example could be a batsman observing his own poor batting performance. He then tries to understand why his performance is bad (i.e., the cause) and then tries to change the cause of bad performance (to alter the effect).

The real problem exists when poor performance is not down to a single cause, but might just be a fluctuation in the normal physiological and psychological rhythms that we all have.

The batsman effectively begins a self self-fulfilling prophecy where he changes his batting technique, and as a result gets worse. The result is a downward spiral of changing technique because of the belief that the technique is bad and causing poor performance.

It's common for players to fall into that trap. They seek advice from lots of different coaches because the root cause of poor performance is not poor coaching, it's changing something that didn't need to be changed in the first place. The best players trust their technique implicitly, to the point where they don't need to think about it. Poorer players are poorer players because they can't play shots on automatic pilot and as such cannot think about other important things (e.g. field placement etc)

The best skills any athlete can develop is self awareness and rational thinking. If I can help an athlete so see a poor performance rationally, the athlete often gets "better" without doing anything. They only get worse when they convince themselves that poor performance is anything but the normal ups and downs of performance.

Martin I. Jones

[Buzz]

Thanks Martin!

[uknsaunders]

That's where sledging comes into play.. Opposition makes sure the batsman wont be able to reboot..

If you are over 10 years old it shouldn't have any effect on your batting. I've heard it all. If you just agree with everything they say they have nowhere too go ie. sledge - you are a crap batsman , answer - tell me something I don't know

Experience plays a big part. Played cricket for 28 years and I know what I can and cannot do. I know when I've exceeded my limitations and when I've made a mistake. People alot younger don't understand their limitations yet. That combined with an ego or immature mindset, results in other mysterious factors being blamed, rather than the individual themselves.

[tim2000s]

But Nick, it's always the bat's fault...

[mad_abt_cricket]

If you are over 10 years old it shouldn't have any effect on your batting. I've heard it all. If you just agree with everything they say they have nowhere too go ie. sledge - you are a crap batsman , answer - tell me something I don't know

Experience plays a big part. Played cricket for 28 years and I know what I can and cannot
do. I know when I've exceeded my limitations and when I've made a mistake. People alot
younger don't understand their limitations yet. That combined with an ego or immature
mindset, results in other mysterious factors being blamed, rather than the individual
themselves.

Not sure I agree fully here, in theory what you say is absolutely correct but it doesn't always work in match situations otherwise teams sledging won't be part and parcel of the game at international level.

[Manormanic]

stuck at the folks so no able to address these issues in anything like the depth that I would ideally like to, but for the time being a couple of onbservations:

1. On the question of form, I don't really imagine that any of us plaY enough, or against skillful enough bowlers and well informed enough skippers for that matter, that we can really get to the pooint where we are being routinely worked over for weeks on end.  What tends to happen is a little patch where you get one great ball, a dodgy decision and play a really stupid shot or run yourself out and all of a sudden you are standing there on the back of ten runs in four digs. At which point you start to convince yourself that smething is wrong.   My approach has always been tospot the point where that could happen and grit out an extra 15 runs before I start t play shots next time out, just to break the illusion of a run...

2.  There are some interesting questions above, but for me the most interesting couple are omitted - why do I play the way that I do? and how should that influence the wy tht I practice?  Those as have seen me bat will know that I'm pretty conservative 95% of the time, despite having the physique to hit the ball miles  and half a dozen 50-70 ball tons behind me.  I got to that point becuse I played in a side of dashers and recognised that I needed to be the guy who would stick around a chunk of the early overs to ensure a consistent total.  So when I practice I go to extremes - in a half hour net I will try and leave everyting for the first 15 minutes (that being my stock in trade) and will then spend 15 minutes trying to either murder the ball or hit t to wierd places - because I may not do this oftenin the middle, but I need to have som muscle memory of how to do it to fall bak on when the time comes.