It’s never too late: 6 comeback tips for over the hill cricketers

Posted on May 9, 2008 
Filed Under Cricket, Fitness, Nutrition, Psychology | Leave a Comment

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Creative Commons License photo credit: gingerninjah

People have started to notice. Time is catching up on you.

As you get older the ‘promising youngster’ tag has slowly vanished and your waistline is making the creep towards middle aged spread. In the past a rut of form was written off, but now you find selectors dropping you down a standard. They tell you they are giving the younger ones a chance but you suspect they think your eyes are going.

Is there a way back? Are you really past it or just out of form?

I believe that most older club cricketers are giving in to the ravages of time too early. With the right work at the right time,you can add many years to playing at the standard to which you have become accustomed. Even if the slip has begun.

Here are my 6 ways to reverse the decline in standard.

1. Use your hard learned knowledge

Experience goes a long way. Research into the difference between top level and average batsmen has proven that the top batsman have no better reactions but are better predictors of the line and length of the ball from subtle cues by the bowler. In other words, they are using their experience.

This applies to whatever you are doing on the cricket pitch.

You may not have the same zip in your bowling, but you know better than anyone else how to get batsmen out. You might not be as mobile in the field but you know your limits far more than the 17 year old who throws himself around wildly.

Also in the field you are most likely to have the trust of the captain and the respect of other players. Use this, become a student of both tactics and motivation and make yourself and indispensable part of the team’s make up.

2. Protein: the anti-aging drug that works

Protein is highly underrated in club cricket (and society in general). According to nutritionist Dr. John Berardi, most people need to eat more. Increased protein consumption from lean, natural sources (beef, chicken, eggs, turkey and the like) improves your metabolism. That means less middle age creep fat and better retention of your youthful strength and power. Read the science bit here.

3. Trust your ability

It’s a mistake to think a rut of form is the sign of inexorable decline. As we know, experience can more than compensate for physical deficiencies (something we can also slow the rate of decline in, see below).

You have had successes in your cricket career. You can’t put every single one down to blind luck which means you have a certain ability. Now you can combine that ability with experience to rack up the runs and/or wickets. You just have to start by believing you can.

Self belief is a tricky thing though. It’s a combination of setting yourself the right goals, being able to let go of mistakes and committing yourself to deliberate practice. If you do these three things you will have trust in your ability and success will follow.

4. Get intense

Weight gain and strength/power reduction with age is caused by the gradual slowing of your metabolic rate by 2-4% every 10 years. Intense exercise can hold this metabolic slip back by several decades. In other words, you can have almost exactly the same metabolism at 45 (or even 55) that you had at 25.

What kind of exercise does the job?

If you are starting out you should start slow and build up with the eventual aim of doing some kind of intense training 5-6 days a week totalling 2-4 hours a week. These methods are backed by significant research.


Creative Commons License photo credit: Lori Greig

5. Mother was right: Eat your greens

The health benefits of eating 5-10 portions of vegetables (plus some fruit) every day are well documented. For the aging cricketer, veg is critical to produce alkaline in the body. This preserves bone and muscle and again reduces the slowdown in metabolism we assume is inevitable.

Vegetables have several other benefits:

Green, leafy veg such as spinach, kale and sprouts pack a great punch but aim to get a variety of colours into the diet for maximum effect.

6. Remember you don’t know it all

You can teach an old dog new tricks. The problem is that the dog often is too proud to learn. Don’t be that dog.

Most club players stop getting coached around the age of 16 when they finish playing junior cricket. However, nobody is perfect so why not get coaching as an older player too. Most clubs have qualified coaches who would be only too happy to help with your technique. If you don’t trust your club coach to do a good job then pay up for lessons from a professional at your first class ground.

Is all this more work than when you were 25? It is. Do you have less time to do these things than when you were a teenager? Almost certainly. Does age give you an excuse to wave a white flag and drop a standard?

Not as much as most people think.

The 6 Best fitness tips for junior cricketers ever

Posted on May 8, 2008 
Filed Under Cricket, Fitness | Leave a Comment


Creative Commons License photo credit: one-11

As the Australian and South African teams have proven in recent years, strength and conditioning has become a critical element in cricket success.

It’s no longer enough to be a talented bowler or batsman to make enough of an impact to break into top level cricket.

You also need to be fast, powerful, and agile even after a long day in the sunshine.

But it’s tough to know how to do this if you are under 18. There is so much conflicting information for colts to take in.

You want to be as fit as you can be but you don’t want to do yourself an injury in the process. How do you find the right way?

Kieron Vorster, Strength and Conditioning Coach for In-Touch Cricket Academy, works with young cricketers from ages 8-18 and knows the good from the bad when it comes to cricket fitness.

I spoke to him and he came up with these tips for using fitness to make it to the top of your cricket game:

1. Understand the benefits.

Top players like Andrew Symonds Paul Collingwood, Michael Hussey and Kevin Pietersen are better athletes. They are stronger and faster compared to years ago. There is enough evidence to prove the fitter you are the quicker you will recover in order to play at the high standards required all year around.

If you are fit in body, you will be fit in mind and will have stronger powers of concentration when out in the middle batting as well as having less chance of your body breaking down with injuries.

2. The earlier you start the better

Good habits can be built from a very young age. The main focus is on the key LTAD stages from ages 10-18. That said, you can start teaching movement skills to the under 8’s. At that age it is all about having fun but you can still teach fundamental skills like agility, balance and coordination that will have a positive effect in later years.

As kids progress you can work on relative strength with bodyweight exercises like press ups, dips, lunges, squats and pull ups.

3. The more you do the quicker the results

All elements of fitness take time to develop. However, it’s like anything: The more you do the quicker you will improve and see the results. In an ideal world training will be a four times per week but it depends on the commitment of the individual to get the best from themselves.

4. Master technique then progress

With young players it’s important to work on the technical aspects of fitness before progressing. Adding load before a young player is ready can cause injury. Learning how to run fast, change direction quickly, control the core at speed and do movements like squatting, lunging or Olympic lifting with a broom handle can be taught to any age safely.

Once young players have mastered these techniques you can start doing some progressive work so each individual can see improvements.

5. You can do a lot with a little

If you have got a field and cones you can get a lot done. You don’t need expensive equipment. Vern Gambetta uses the phrase ‘weight room without walls‘.

If you have funds available, the benefits of Olympic lifts are well documented. Find a gym with Olympic bars or Training bars with coaches that specialise in training young people like Keiron does at In-Touch Cricket Academy. Remember to learn the lifts well before adding weight.

6. Quantity in the winter, quality in the summer

Training has a different focus at different times of the year.

The bulk of training is done in the off season which means intense loads and quantity. This is where most progress is done.

During the season, quality work should be done at high intensity. More maintenance work will be prescribed in the season so young players maintain the high levels of fitness gained in the off season. This is because players need recovery time between matches so find it harder to make physical improvements.

You can get more information from Kieron Vorster via In-Touch Cricket Academy, based in Surrey.

Fielding Drills: Back them up

Posted on May 7, 2008 
Filed Under Cricket, Drills | Leave a Comment

Purpose: Practicing backing up and throwing at a stump.

Description: 3 fielders start as pictured in figure 1. The player in the bottom right throws the ball at the stump and runs to the empty corner (bottom left). At the same time the player at the top right runs to replace the player at bottom right.

The throw is fielded by the player at the top left. He then aims at the stump himself before moving to replace the player at the top right (figure 2). The continues with the players rotating around the corners at each throw (figure 3).

1.

backthemup1.JPG

2.

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3.

backthemup3.JPG

How to make sure your club cricket team has a Shane Warne or Glen McGrath

Posted on May 6, 2008 
Filed Under Captaincy, Cricket, Tactics | Leave a Comment


Creative Commons License photo credit: thribble

Has your side ever badly needed a wicket to win turn a game back your way?

For many years Warne and McGrath the ‘turn to’ men for Australia. In times of trouble all Ricky Ponting had to do was toss the ball to one of them and let chaos ensue. Between them they took over 2000 International wickets.

Can your team emulate this albeit on a smaller scale? I think you can with the right tactics and psychology.

Everyone fancies a bowl: Role setting with bowlers

As a club captain you are unlikely to have a bowler or two who can produce magic on demand. You are more likely to have a couple of decent bowlers and several who fancy their chances at turning their arm over (to various degrees of success).

Most club cricketers consider themselves all-rounders.

This is your first problem. You have to balance the reality of taking 10 wickets with:

  1. The desire of everyone to have a bowl (’I think I can nip this one out skipper‘)
  2. The difference between how good a bowler is and how good they think they are (both in under and over estimation).

Both of which can be nipped in the bud by a captain who sets his players expectations with his own theories. Just like you did with your batters, you have to play the diplomat and tell your bowlers what roles you expect them to play.

How to choose who will bowl when

Before you can let others know your thinking, you need to outline what you think yourself. The best way to do this is to sit down with your bowler list and see who is best in which situation:

Have a plan and get your bowlers in on it

Once you roughly know what each of your bowlers will be doing in each game you can talk them through what you will be doing on the field before you go out to play. Then they know what to expect in any given situation.

It’s also important to inform those who are likely to miss out because they don’t fit your plan. For most this will be obvious, but one or two players who think they can bowl may get miffed.

That said, never discount any bowler completely. You never know what will happen if you throw the ball to the occasional leg spinner in the side. Even if they get hit all over the park, at least they can’t complain in the bar afterward that you failed to give them their chance. Everyone is a match winner after the match!

Bowling changes are a lot more fluid than a batting order and you need to let all your bowlers know this too. However, if you prepare right there should be very few surprises for your potential bowlers.

(A quick note about ‘limited over’ formats (evening 20 over games for example) where there are no declarations or draws. Stay tuned as I will be doing a special post very soon on the tactics of bowling, batting and captaincy at that level.)

Create your own Warne

Now all your bowlers know exactly what you want them to do (and what you don’t want them to do) they are far more likely to go and do it. Before you know it you have a core of ‘go to’ bowlers to get you out of almost any scrape.

Boost your cricket stamina by balancing your diet

Posted on May 5, 2008 
Filed Under Cricket, Nutrition | 2 Comments


Creative Commons License photo credit: karimian

What’s the secret to eating for maximum stamina on the cricket pitch?

It all boils down to balance.

If you eat a diet that balances out fat, protein and carbohydrate from whole, natural sources you are eating consistently. There is nothing the body likes more than a consistent stream of energy that it can use while you are batting, bowling or fielding.

This balanced approach is slightly different from the advice we used to hear.

In the past cricketers were told to emphasise starchy foods like bread, potatoes, pasta and rice ahead of proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals.

Sugary foods were often recommended for a quick stamina boost just before play.

The theory is that you are getting as much blood sugar (glycogen) into your system as possible to use as energy. Sugar and starch are the quickest ways to do this.

All that carbohydrate is unbalancing your diet.

While we do need a steady supply of glycogen, especially during matches, there is no need to get all this from starchy and sugary sources. In fact, it’s better to maintain a balance of all nutrients. Everything is too closely linked to emphasise one element over another.

For example, getting 50-60% of your food from starches and sugars can lead to low grade acidosis: symptoms of which include reduced bone density and increased muscle wastage.

What this means is that cricketers need to include an equal amount of other nutrients to act as a balance:

Now we know the theory, let’s look at what foods are best for keeping your energy levels up on weekend afternoons of cricket:

Match Day and Post Workout/Training Foods

These foods are usually best saved for match day or for directly after a training session. Some people can eat more but they should make up 30-40% of your diet at a maximum.

Protein and Vegetables

Eat some protein with every meal, making up 30-40% of your overall diet.

Also have 1-2 portions of vegetable with every meal or snack. These will supply you with vital carbs, vitamins and minerals and are vital to endurance levels.

Healthy Fats

Fat is found in almost all food, so you will be getting some through eating the food above. However, you should make sure you get a balance of fats. Use the sources like below to get your fat intake up to around 30% of your diet:

If you balance these foods at the right time all week you will ensure your stamina is at maximum levels on match day.

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