Who the heck wouldn't want to have a batting record like Kevin Pietersen or want to bowl with Lasith Maliga's pace? I would happily take either.

The irony is, in trying to copy KP or Malinga we are going against one of the reasons they became successful in the first place: Pietersen says poo to the copybook and smashes everything through midwicket off the front foot. Malinga puts everything into the side netting as soon as he tries to bowl with an upright arm. Both men found their own way to play and neither tried to copy anyone else.

Not that either developed their style in total isolation either. Pietersen in particular is known for his constant tinkering with coaches he trusts to improve technique and become even better. I'll bet you at no point has he said to his coaches: "You know, I know I'm good, but what I really think will make me a great player is if I bat a bit more like Bradman. Make it so."

In the same way on a lower level, the challenge for us mortal cricketers trying to improve our games is not to copy our idol's techniques, but to take the best parts of what the great players do and find our own way.

The difference between copying and learning

A while back I joined up with some other local coaches and we were given some advice on how to improve our coaching of batters. One part of the course had us watching a video of a young cricketer with an average technique. We then discussed what changes we would try and make to that player.

As you can imagine, with 8 coaches in the room there were at least 9 opinions on what should be done, starting with the joke: "Tell him to take up rugby". The senior coach leading things let us discuss in great detail the technical elements before asking us what we would actually do to improve his technical weaknesses.

The conclusion we arrived at was to encourage the player with one or two simple technical points (possibly based on the ABC system) and get him to work out the right feel for himself with some target practice. As the senior coach pointed out, with a player with so many technical errors and so little time to correct them, it's important to give the player the feeling he can work it out himself.

And it's this feel that's all important. We don't have time to think about all the body parts that go into playing a shot or bowling the ball. We need to create a 'blueprint' of what feels right in our mind so we can refer back to it. Until such a time as we can scan the brain of top players and insert their blueprints into our brains in a Matrix "I know kung-fu" style, we need to work them out for ourselves.

Coaches can help player's do this by working from a blueprint of the perfect technique and comparing that technique to what you are doing. However, really good coaches know when to leave an imperfect technique that is working perfectly.

In short, if you copy you end up looking a little bit like your idol but using a method that may not work for you: Like gluing feathers on to be more like a bird. If you learn for yourself you are better grounded and more likely to succeed.

You just need to know where to draw the line. And that's something you have to work out for yourself. So get to the nets!

image credit: Gone-Walkabout