In a world of many different and successful ways of playing cricket, how can we know what is good technique?

We used to know with certainty.

We looked in the MCC coaching book and read the advice of the expert coaches who had all the answers. This “one size fits all” lasted for decades while English cricket dominated thinking.

But even as far back as Don Bradman, the seeds of doubt were sowed. Bradman played differently. He averaged 99.94 in Tests (30% better than the next best). His “rotary” method was shrugged off as the idiosyncrasy of genius.

But what we learned was going to outlast Bradman: good technique for one is useless for another.

As time passed we noticed there were more unorthodox players than the technically correct. Everyone did things slightly differently. Being unorthodox was the new orthodox.

We argued back against this fact. We said great players could be even greater with better technique. But the fact remained that people did things differently and were insanely successful anyway.

The certainty had gone.

So how do you work on best technique now?

How to improve cricket technique

For most people the model for learning and honing technique is simple:

1. Someone (usually a coach) shows you how to do it.
2. You try to do it in a drill and succeed or fail.
3. Someone corrects you until you are doing it right.
4. You do it in a game and succeed or fail.

This is a time honoured, simple method that works well, especially if you approach it from a growth mindset where failure is part of the process.

But there is a problem with this.

It assumes there is a right way that works for everyone all the time.

If Bradman had trained like this he would not have developed the method that allowed stellar performances. The same is true for a host of players who have been successful and unorthodox at the highest level; Chanderpaul, Tait, Malinga, Graeme Smith, Warne…

What did they do that was different?

In one word: Played

Typically, players who have less formal coaching in the “correct” way learned the game by playing the game. They didn’t get caught up in the details and instead looked to learn through experimenting and pure enjoyment of the process itself.

This can take many forms: gully cricket, backyard cricket, a stump and a golf ball, even lying in bed playing out Test matches in your mind!

Playing allows you to fail a lot, work out what works and keep coming back to try again because theres nothing important on the result. It’s self correction based on the outcomes. It means that if you try long enough to bounce a golf ball off a wall with a stump, you will work out the best way for doing it because you instantly know when you fail (you miss the ball and the rally is over).

Playing is the best way to learn and improve.

Playing more at cricket practice

You might be thinking that this all sounds good, but the reality makes it difficult. There is a practice session with a coach who is keen to give you advice and you are keen to show you are respecting it.

How to do play at formal cricket practice?

It’s actually easy.

If you arrive at nets with the right approach.

• Go into your session with a specific aim in mind. It might be technical, technical, mental or otherwise but have something challenging you want to achieve.
• As you bat, bowl or field, try things out and see what happens. Some things will fail, some will succeed.
• Assess these things and decide if they are worth pursuing further so you get better at them.
• Repeat until it’s no longer a challenge, then make it harder or try something else.

What happens if, during this process, a respected person like a coach chips in with advice?

This is where great skill and tact is required.

The advice might be perfect for you or it might be something you would never try. It’s probably somewhere between. You need to quickly decide if it is worth trying or not. If it is, try it (you might like it). If it isn’t, you need to tactfully decline the offer of help.

According to Mark Garaway, both Alistair Cook and Graeme Smith were masters of this polite rejection of authority. They took on board things they could use, but if they decided the tip wasn’t for them they would stoically remain firm. Despite not following the traditional method of being coached, they managed a few runs between them.

Maybe there is something in this?

Is cricket instruction all over?

So, where does this leave the tradition of instruction and telling players the right way? Is it on the scrap heap?

No.

Formal coaching is still important, but it needs to be far more surgical in approach.

Research has show that “active learning” (that’s the technical term for playing) is effective alone, but is even better when some formal “passive instruction” kicks things off.

The perfect example of this is teaching beginners to drive. Here, a coach can demonstrate a drive and make a one or two key points about technique. Then the players can be asked to try and hit the ball through cones straight ahead. While the players experiment and play, the coach can chip in with ideas.

It also works in helping well-established players.

For example, the coach thinks a bowler is losing accuracy and risking injury through a lot of “falling away”. The bowler agrees. The coach assigns corrective drills to get the bowler’s back in a stronger position. The bowler’s accuracy improves.

This is classic “tell” coaching and is great when it works.

However, the bowler might also disagree. They might point to their accuracy stats and say it’s perfectly good. They might disagree that the falling away issue is the problem and all they need is more target bowling. They might say they have never been injured so the injury risk is low.

And at this point we are back to playing. The coach is offering ideas, the player is accepting or rejecting them based on their experience of themselves. The injection of drills and methods is available if needed, but there is no one fixed route with the coach as the grand master of all cricket knowledge.

In this new world, both playing and formal coaching can thrive. They just need to work together to create individual techniques these days.

There’s still plenty of technique. So, get to work.