I'll be joining a club hopefully this year, and I haven't batted in years. I do remember however that as an opening batsman I had two of the worst flaws imaginable for an opener:
1) As the bowler ran up to the crease, I would say to myself - "concentrate, concentrate" but as soon as I tried to get myself to concentrate, I began thinking of the least appropriate thing imaginable! A "what if I had an afro?" or "I wonder how the bowler takes his tea?" Seriously, at the point of release, I wasn't even thinking about the ball, but thinking about NOT thinking about things I shouldn't be thinking about!
2) Temptation! I nudged and nurdled a fair bit, and as long as I could get a single I was happy. HOWEVER, (and I don't exaggerate here) if a mere TWO balls flew past the edge, my blood would begin to boil. I would start to shake! I would try to heave the next ball for a six (yes, a six, not even a four) because the two dot balls before were a slight to my honour and an insult to my skill!
Of course, the two traits mentioned above meant that I was rarely there by the time the 10th over came about.
How good are you at concentrating? How good are you at accepting that there will be slow patches during the innings? And after how many dot balls does the pressure begin to build for you?
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Topic: Concentration whilst batting (Read 2595 times)