A player starting his career in any team sport be it an international or club or school level, always needs a good captain and seniors who mold his right skills not ruin it.
Sports: Youngster needs to keep their attitude
There is an interesting incident happened during one of my club match sometime ago that I really like to share. Second over of the new ball, first over for a bowler who has reputation of being fast at just 19yrs and I was fielding at mid-off. First ball comes streaming in and bowls a superb bouncer for which batsmen ducked. Second ball, wide half volley which was left alone and third one, another sharp bouncer to which batsmen just about managed to keep it down. I went straight to the bowler, patted him on the back and told him to ask for close fielder for which captain rejected after bowler requested him. Next ball, bowler tried to bowl a yorker but ends as full toss which batsmen hits for four and out comes more noise from slip cordon to bowl up. Last ball, he again produced a sharp bouncer and had the batsmen caught & bowled. Read the over closely, all six balls he tried to bowl fast and didn’t tried to swing the new ball.
After the end of the match, this is what captain said to him in team meeting “What are you trying to do? You can’t able to swing the new ball, bowling full toss, half volley’s and short balls. Running in like horse and hitting the ball like coconut on the pitch, yes! You got three wickets but how many beat the bat? If you don’t bowl up, outside off-stump and make batsmen play in front foot, you won’t be playing in higher level. Do you think you are Dale Steyn? See I want you to work hard in nets hereafter, bowl more balls up and try to swing otherwise its waste of energy”.
Swing is very important in new ball but he got an attitude to attack the batsmen’s. He runs in hard, bowls fast and hit the deck hard, what more you need from a young bowler? Off course, In India pitches you have to bowl up and swing but that doesn’t mean pace and bouncers are invalid. Look at the stats in India, it’s the fast bowlers who hits the deck have done better than who swings it. If you keep ringing in the ears of youngsters to stop doing what resides within him, then his confidence will go down, he will struggle mentally and ultimately results in chaos about his playing method. If it is wrong, then it is good to change but when he already got it right, it is better to develop rather destroy it. That guy struggles with this bowling nowadays with so much suggestion to change, even the selectors of district team not selecting him but reality is, he could easily smack up few rips and bats atleast in club level he is doing it. You could argue this might be the reason for India’s hunt for fast bowlers and inability to play against fast bowlers.
It is very important for all the seniors and captains to suggest from the youngster vision in mind. He might want to be fast bowler, hard hitting finisher, protective defender, creative midfielder and whatever it is in his mind whether an aggressor or smart thinker, it needs to be molded for better rather than dusted out in one way theory of success. It is important for all youngster to keep their right attitude at all times, take the suggestion from seniors and try apply to better your way of playing for success rather adopting someone else. This is not only applies to cricket, but also for all team sports and even to some extent of our life.
Tags: Attitude, Captain, Cricket, Dale Steyn, Player, Sport, Sports, Youngster
