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[HallamKeeper]

I suppose this might be an unanswerable question but here goes anyway. Has anyone got any advice for a team prone to the occasional batting collapse?

Is there anything you can do in the pavilion to get batsmen yet to bat to go out and feel under less pressure. We frequently collapse if we don't get a good start. I think maybe one reason is we either don't know what score we want, so assume it is very high and just give up or when batting second we don't have the confidence to put our hands up and say this game is still winnable.

Any advice is welcome. It certainly will be better than the negativity or silence we currently use.

[Calzehbhoy]

I think sometimes doing the opposite of what you think you should do works. Normally if you lose quick wickets you'd chuck in a blocker to stay there for a while and help rebuild, I think often it is better to chuck somebody who'll hit a quickfire 20-30 and get the scoreboard moving again.

[Seniorplayer]

You collapse if you don't get a good start there's the anwser nothing worse than being 15 for 3 against the new ball it establishes a mindset for a collapse also you don't want your 3 4 or no 5 batsman facing the new ball to early in your teams innings  my advice would be rethink the batting order dont worry about slow scoring get the guys to open who may not be the most prolific run scorers but can hang around for 10 to 15 overs with wickets in hand you can always put a score on the board.

[HallamKeeper]

Our openers are very slow scoring and tend to hang around. The problem half the time is we might be 8-0 off 6 overs then we lose wickets.

[Seniorplayer]

It  would seem like your openers feel pressured to push on and then get out one wicket then leads to two and so on captain needs to tell them not to feel scoreboard pressure but to bat as long as they can.

[GoodLeave]

Depends on the reason why your top 3 have got out. If the ball is swinging around corners/oppo has express pace then you might want to change the line up for someone who is willing to leave. But if they've got themselves out playing poor shots then people need to hold their hands up when they get back to the pavilion and tell the captain. I've rarely seen aggressive batting bring sides back into the game, because the opposition easily set fields for them, play your natural game and find the gaps.

Oh, and remember it's amateur cricket! Enjoy it!

[Boondougal]

i think there is a lot to be learn't from the way the England short form squad have changed their mindset. Almost irrespective of the situation bat your own game, not the game your in, or the scoreboard position. Play to your strengths.

A lot is asked of the middle order... steady the ship when the quick wickets go down, push on the run rate when the start has been slow etc etc... surely at club cricket level there are not too many players that have the breadth of game to be able to play with any other style apart from the style they have.

How much advice do you see the team / a caption giving 5/6/7 as they head out based on the match predicament... surely that just messes up the head of the bats man.

Even if you are 15 for 3 of the first 5 imagine saying to number 5 as he was heading out, ignore the score board, play your game, do what feels natural and what you do the best and i'm sure the rest will take care of its self.

We are all less likely to get out playing the shots and the style we know best - so why is that never the advice.

[ProCricketer1982]

The main reasons teams collapse is having overly aggressive top 3 batsmen which can sometimes come off but any half decent bowling or non road and they are hit and miss.. Once you lose wickets early the naturally more attacking middle order now has too much pressure and generally folds .

Your top three should be good enough not to get out biffing or trying silly shots and if they are then they aren't top order batsmen.. Don't compare amateur limited over batting orders with pro orders.p either.. Not seen a consistent team yet who attacks from ball one.. Any team like that has a good year and then mediocre to poor

Just my opinion from what I've seen. Obviously if players are playing below their level they'll score quicker but you have to discount them and just get them off strike by giving them ones.

[GoodLeave]

We are all less likely to get out playing the shots and the style we know best - so why is that never the advice.

Well said that man. Whilst I don't subscribe to the quick runs theory, captains telling naturally expansive players walking to the wicket "Plenty of overs" must do their head in.

[Seniorplayer]

 Or maybe To Many Batsman get themselves out playing shots outside what they are capable of.

[HallamKeeper]

I might be imagining it but I think sometimes a team just has a defeatist attitude, not all games, but when the chips are down you'd hope for some fight. Just wondered if there is anything you can do in the pavilion when you get that feeling or do you just look after your own game and hope others will follow. 

I know in hockey, probably football and rugby etc. a good chat from the captain/coach can get everyone switched on but cricket doesn't seem to have the same dynamic, probably because it is much longer.

[trypewriter]

Give the fielding team some credit. They've just got a wicket, they're interested again, they are in the ascendancy - they chirp one brings two for a reason you know. The skipper should be noting how many overs their danger man/men have bowled, how many left to see them off, then make the call on perhaps trying to block for a couple of overs or just play it as you see it.
I'll get me coat.

[Slyboogy]

Our team last year was shocking for this, our top order would not score runs and lose early wickets, we would get bowled out for around 25-60 runs in T20s and rarely play the allocated 20 overs.

I would come in at number 8/9 in the 12th over and finish not out on roughly 8 runs.

This happened for half of the games we played.

[sHoweller]

This is a really interesting topic.

Totally agree with the advice of just play your own game.
Nothing worse than over thinking your game, often leads to mistakes being made.

[ppccopener]

This is a really interesting topic.

Totally agree with the advice of just play your own game.
Nothing worse than over thinking your game, often leads to mistakes being made.

it is indeed an interesting thread, and a tricky one. Alright hands up...who has ever batted up top, battled and struggled a bit but hung in there, let's say you are 20-0 off 10 overs in a 50 aside over game. A wicket goes down and in comes someone who is not going to play the same game you do.He goes for his shots(it works) and you get the pressure released..

In an ideal world you(who face the new ball) and your mate(who sees it and hits it regardless) both have huge respect for each others games. He likes you because it's 10 overs he don't have to face the brand new ball, you like him because of the way he plays. So mutual respect. In an ideal world that's how a team should work

So totally agree with the above poster, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, the team doesn't function when you start to play the game that is not natural to you.
If neither works and the team loses? well there's always another game next week.

I can't remember ever saying to any incoming batting partner anything other than 'play your own game'.