Game Notes: Scottish Cup

Positive results continue to evade the first team. On Sunday we were dumped out of the Scottish Cup by a stronger side. We scored 135-9 in 50 overs and they got them in 22 overs with four wickets down.

Despite the comprehensive loss, it was a positive day. The team dug in to put a target on the board, then stayed positive even during an onslaught by the opposition openers of 54 runs in seven overs. The atmosphere was confident and relaxed and people worked hard for each other.

As is always the case, when we batted we struggled to turn starts into scores, and build partnerships. Three of the top six scored 16 or more and you have to have at least one to go on to score 50 plus if you want a decent total. The conditions favoured batting. We also only had two partnerships of more than 20. 

That said, the intent from all but one batsman was positive. I asked guys to look for singles, be turning hard every time for another run and find ways to score easily. This was a huge step forward in the progression of the batting unit.

When we bowled, their openers looked to go hard. This was reflected in one opening bowler going for 38 in his four overs. At the other end we tried nine balls in a row of short stuff. This was effective with two bouncers causing a real problem in particular. Then one opener tried to hook and nailed it for six. After that we looked to pitch it up with the keeper up to medium pace. I was happy with the tactics and the shift when they stopped working. In hindsight, perhaps we should have abandoned the idea of a gentle medium pace bowler taking the new ball after the first over went for 15.

We brought on spinners who took some wickets later than was possible to seriously consider winning. The first wicket fell at 121. Again in hindsight, with three spinners in the side (although one was on debut) perhaps we could have turned to spin before the score was 57. But these are minor things, and creative ideas that just didn't work out. The fact is they batted us out of the game in the first 10 overs without making any risky moves. They went hard and hit it cleanly.

We fielded well, with a couple of small fielding errors late on, but no chances dropped and some wonderful throws from the boundary. The ring fielding was tight. We showed we were well drilled and athletic right until the end. This was also reflected in the atmosphere. The encouragement for the bowling kept up through the innings and I felt we were tight together as a unit with no negativity. There was a brief quiet period when they got to 100 without loss and I could feel a collective acceptance the game was gone. But we perked up and took four wickets in the last three overs.

So, in terms of my checklist we did most things right. We batted with intent, we fielded tightly and bowled to a plan. We had a good atmosphere with everyone working for each other and having fun.

We can still improve. We need the top four batsmen to focus on being a bit selfish and making a big individual total. We need to think slightly faster on a tactical note. 

We need to make sure the atmosphere is happy and friendly from here on in. Everyone must understand and respect each other's role. You cannot apportion blame or talk behind people's backs. I have heard a non-credible rumble that some people are in a "be nice, say nothing" mindset. If that is the case - and I'm not convinced it is - then we need to keep talking to each other and helping each other improve rather than quietly fuming about some unspoken issue. Conflict is fine and normal in a team, but it must be in the open.

If I'm right, we are almost there (the second team is totally there). And it will remain one of my points of focus until we nail it. This match was a step toward.

Lastly, a young batsman and leggie made his debut, batted at seven and didn't look out of his depth. He holed out going big early, which I took as a sign of confidence and lack of game sense. He will learn the latter if he has the former. I was quietly happy. He also took two wicket in his first over and took a round of applause in the dressing room. He has potential.

Game Notes: 2nd XI Fourth Round

As previously reported, I was with the seconds this week. What a difference in atmosphere, confidence and execution I saw.

Batting first we scored 198-8, then bowled our opposition out for 89. Clearly from this result we were much stronger, but there were moments in the game that reflected a fighting spirit.

First, we lost wickets regularly through the the innings and at key moments. We were 98-5 at one point and aiming for 160. Yet the lower order rallied and took us to the unassailable target. I admit this was as much down to poor bowling as good batting (32 wides tells the story) but we stayed sensible throughout the innings.

The top order will be unhappy with missing out. We had good stands of 20+ all the way down, but we also got out to some terrible balls: At least three full tosses hit to fielders for example. With better execution we could have scored 50 more runs.

It's here I really noticed how confident and relaxed atmosphere in the side. Winning is a key part of this, but it's not just winning. The conversation flowed, players watched the game but chatted over and around each other. Some were laughing and joking, others talking tactics and others serious about making sure the scorebook added up with coloured pens. Batsmen waiting to go in seemed calm and ready, those who got out sat back down and rejoined the conversation after a brief period of mourning. It was a perfect balance of serious and whimsical. 

Second, in the field we were outstanding. The captain said the first few overs were the most enjoyable 20 overs he ever had in a West shirt. We stopped everything, threw hard and accurately (including a direct hit run out) and caught all but one tough chance. It was a 9/10 effort. Things tailed a little bit in the last few overs as legs got tired and we were clearly going to win. I can handle that.

Lastly, the bowling was good. Our opener from one end was his usual accurate medium pace away swing, dropping in to cross seam wicket-to-wicket with the keeper up when the shine was off. This bowling will win you a lot of games. The rest of the bowling was somewhat rusty and less accurate, but good enough to deal with a weak batting line up. However, it's an area to improve when we come up against stronger batting sides.

For me the role of the 2nd XI is to be the squad 1st XI, that means playing to a standard that is close to the firsts. We did this as well as we could given the weak opposition; with one minor exception of bowling more bad balls.

As I keep saying, this game is about getting the process right and the outcomes take care of themselves. The win was great, but the process was what really pleased me.

Session Notes: Sharpening Up

After the recent losses, we have worked on a few things to sharpen up both in the field and with the bat. In this session, I continued that theme. We had fewer players than usual but we used the session well.

We started with an underarm warm up drill that challenged the players by forcing them to do two things: feed and move, and execute the skill and move a different direction. It's surprisingly taxing to think and move, but exactly what you need to do in a match.

Then we had middle practice with the focus on scoring by working the ball around. We used cones to set the field; red cones were boundary men, yellow cones were in the ring. I challenged the batting pair to score by hitting the ball into gaps with real running.

As I wanted the guys to experiment with different methods of scoring, so we batted for time instead of having a short end for getting out. 

Another way to add pressure is to keep score and put a consequence on the losing pair. I didn't do that on this occasion, but perhaps I will with more evenly matched teams.

However, no one needed this extra motivation as all the players took the session seriously and stuck to the task. When the game is a bit contrived it's easy to default to having a hit. We didn't do that and when it seemed like we might, a little cajoling from me got everyone back on track right away. That was good mental application and grit from all in attendance. As a club, we need this approach to filter through every level.

I was most impressed by a young bowler who considers himself a dreadful batsman. However, he got stuck in and despite getting out several times initially, he found a way to score and was starting to rotate the strike in a realistic scenario for him (batting 11 but having to get through to 50 overs to set a target).

• The good: positive attitude from players, drills did as intended.
• Needs work: better attendance, especially from 1st XI squad players. Playing midweek games is fine but isn't the place to prepare from Saturday if you want to improve. I also feel I need to get the balance of player- and coach-led work tuned up.

One to one

I had a further chance to work with our new first team keeper one to one. We did a range of drills from basic glove work to advanced challenging drills. He has good hands but needs better posture and there is no doubt he's making progress.

We also learned that a standing up drill using the katchet is extremely challenging if you throw into the board from a distance. 

Game Notes: Twenty20 Game Three

It's becoming increasingly frustrating to me that the 1st XI can't win a game. We lost this week's midweek T20 by a large margin against a side we beat easily in preseason.

We lost the toss and bowled on a very low, slow track. We bowled and fielded to a decent standard. We were missing one front line bowler and the two fill-in guys let it slip enough for them to score 120.  Our front line bowlers conceded 73 in 16 overs. The other two 41 in four. This was probably 20-30 more than they should have got.

We set a target of 35 in the first five overs, but it soon became apparent that this was enormously optimistic. Yet again we lost wickets early and regularly. It certainly wasn't exceptional bowling, but the wickets tumbled in all manner of ways from missing straight ones to the ball trickling onto the stumps from a defensive shot! You could partially blame the light, it's becoming more evident that batting first is a massive advantage, and that going round the overs without urgency when you bowl first costs you.

We were out of the game by the 13th over. Eight down and over 10 an over required. The last couple of players took the game to the 19th. That showed some lower order fight, but we were not going for the runs in any serious way. 

In review,

• Start: Bat first (it's a huge advantage), step up the pace to get through the overs faster, have a better option for the fifth bowler. Look to score off more balls, especially against spin.
• Stop: Finding ways to get out, setting improbable targets and trying to force the pace of batting beyond what is possible.
• Continue: Raising fielding standards, bowling well, batting to 11. Putting in work in training.

Training Notes: Intensity!

I had a request for a more intense session to overload the players and make training closer to game pressure, so we put together some drills.

I looked to push the players in both fatigue and mental stress with three stations. Two areas were devoted to different races where ball skills were needed, and one was a throwing drill where the players had to hit a target after performing an excercise to drive up heart rate.

All these drills had cricket elements but were really about dealing with physical and mental pressure. As a group, we are good at this, but it was good to mix it up and encourage the guys to reflect on developing a system for handling pressure to take to the middle.

We then split into four groups. Some went indoors to hit balls. Some did a batting drill where the aim was to hit the ball into a gap based on a call from the feeder. Some did target bowling. The rest worked on some fielding skills, specifically slip catching with some great feeds from our resident hard hitting, big arm throwing batsman. I wore a helmet to do the nicks, just in case. He has a good arm!

Gap hitting drill

Fast bowler nicking drill

A session like this is great for activity, and the challenge becomes linking this busywork into stuff you can use on the field. That's where a review is all important to think how you reacted in that situation, and what you need to do to get the best result in the middle. I need to further stress this process to players as they can do this work between sessions.

I finished the session but had time to do some one to one work with the new first team keeper. We are working on his posture, both staying low and keeping his head and hands in line. He is coming along.

The Player-Coach Challenge

After a poor personal start to the season with the bat, the captain has decided to replace me with our up-and-coming keeper in the first team.

I have mixed feelings about this. 

One one hand, I am delighted for the youngster. He is not 100% ready for the level, but he will learn as he has a lot of talent. You have to get these guys in early.

On the other hand, I'm sad I couldn't make a contribution on the field. I like the guys and felt part of the first team. I would have like to be playing well at the highest level and be a useful player. Yet that was always going to be tough.

Ever since I started, I have pushed to stop playing to focus on coaching. I have not practiced to allow others to get their practice in. It's no great surprise I have been below par (and par is not that high for me anyway).

Now I'm caught in the tricky situation of playing second team cricket on Saturday. The seconds are strong and although they need a keeper I'm not sure they should have only coach at the club. I will be out of touch with the first team. That's bad.

Ideally, we will have enough bodies every week that I can drop out totally and coach the firsts on Saturday. Until that happens, I'm going to have to come up with some creative ways to analyse first team performance and mentality while I'm not there. A fun challenge, and one I hope I can meet!

Game Notes: Third Round

In short, the game on Saturday saw us compete for 20-30 overs, collapse and get saved by rain.

After losing the toss and being inserted after overnight rain, we knew it would be a tough ask to set a target. So, this week we decided to set clearer targets for the batsmen by doing it in 5 over blocks.

This certainly seemed to focus minds but it didn't stop the wickets from falling at regular intervals. Still, after 30 overs we were reasonably placed to hit 160.

After that it fell apart. We have to bat as a team as we can't rely on stars, but we need people to build partnerships. We can't seem to do it yet. I feel we are close to it: Tactically we are solid, the batters are good enough, the atmosphere during the innings remains positive and if there is a lack of confidence it's not showing outwardly. We just need to crack it. We were bowled out for 101.

With rain the highlight of the second innings, we abandoned the game after 16 overs. The opposition were moving slowly to DL victory between frustrating breaks for rain. We bowled to our plan but fielded poorly, dropping several tough but possible catches in dark and wet. 

The one small tactical point I would make was we again looked to our main opening bowler a little too long. His natural spell seems to be three or four overs, but never bowls less than six. I will challenge the captain to consider an alternative plan.

But this is a small point: The issue is still the batting and we will again look to address this in training and conversations with players over the coming week.

Filming Cricket Coaching Kit

As you might know, I spend time working with top cricketers and coaches producing coaching videos for PitchVision Academy. What has amazed me in the years since we started doing it, is how professional productions you can have without the need for professional level gear.

So, as I get ready for a shoot today at a top secret location, I thought I would share what I do to make a multi-camera HD video with just two people and no more than 20kg of kit (to get it on the plane).

Cameras

We can use up to four cameras.

The main one is a Nikon D3300 DSLR with a 18-55mm lens. The image quality is incredible. It's adaptable enough to be used while running around and also locked off with a small depth of field that makes interview look really good.

The other three cameras are an iPhone 6 Plus (not shown because I took the picture with it), and HTC One M7 android phone and an iPad Air. These offer great options for cutaways and establishing shots because you can keep them in your hand and run around while the main camera is locked off. The iPhone is almost as good a camera as the Nikon, and with the image stabilisation, is actually better at steadicam-style shots.

We can also mount any of the cameras on two large tripods, or one small one using the attachments shown.

This gives enough flexibility to cope with any situation a cricket coach might want us to shoot. Short of drones that is.

We also shoot everything from two angles to make sure we have backups of everything in case something goes wrong.

Audio

Most audio is recorded using as high quality digital audio recorder and lavalier microphone worn by the coach. This is easily the best quality audio solution we have found below professional level radio mics. We sync the audio to the video in post-production.

To make sure we get the audio, we also triple record everything. First through the boom mic show attached to the DSLR via the hot shoe. Secondly through the built-in mics on the secondary cameras.

Lighting

We always take a couple of basic lighting softboxes and a reflector (not shown), but I find we rarely use them because we are either outdoors in very good light or in an indoor school that also has excellent lighting. For me it's there as a backup.

Direction

We keep the shooting schedule on hand (on the iPad) throughout the day, and let the coach guide the way based on this. Some coaches are naturally more talkative than others, but all are excellent with their knowledge and so I tend to focus on getting a good shot and letting the coach do their coaching. It's more natural that way.

We usual have a practical element in an outdoor setting (unless it's raining)  and a close up interview with a nice backdrop.

The next shoot is happening today, so keep your eyes on PitchVision Academy for who it is when we have edited it together!

Playing Mind Games

After some of the clear mental blocks of the last three games, I decided to draw up a check list for senior players that is designed to get them and keep them in the frame of mind to succeed.

This method is a it hit and miss with players, as they know themselves better than I can know them. However, when it clicks with a player it really helps focus the mind on the process more than the outcome. And that's the key point.

I'll see how many of the guys take it on board compared to haw many have their own method and how many don't think about at at all.

Here are the questions:

1. Do I know what I am like when I am play at my best?
2. Do I know how to deal with distractions when they arrive?
3. Have I prepared in the best way possible in the time available?
4. Have I thought positively about my game?
5. Do I have a role and game plan?
6. Do I know how to relax when I need to?
7. Do I know how to fire myself up?
8. Do I have the right pre-match routine for me?
9. Do I have a way of staying committed even in adverse situations?

 

Game Notes: Twenty20 Game 2

I was running training so didn't get to the 2nd 1st XI Twenty20 game this week. Here is a summary report from the captain:

Chasing 168, we kept up with the rate until about the 11th over, eventually scoring 128-9.

Bowling was weaker that usual but the top bowlers did reasonably well. A lot of runs came from the non-1st team bowlers. It's hard to set a field to a guy whose smashing it out the ground. 

Batting was more encouraging. The top order had real skill and intent, taking advantage of the field restrictions in the first six overs, and keeping up with the rate for over half the match, running aggressively and hitting sixes.

However, when the middle order came in momentum was lost. Some players looked out of their depth in a run chase, and couldn't rotate the strike or hit boundaries. Despite a late rally, it was all over.

What do we need to start doing that we didn't do?

• We need to formulate clear plans when bowling. We need to make clear when we are going to bowl full and straight, or vary our paces and lengths to keep the batsmen guessing.
• Learn how to maintain momentum when batting. Strike rotation, hitting gaps. You can be a good T20 player without hitting boundaries.

What do we need to stop doing that was in error?

• Panicking when the game is getting away!
• Stop trying to hit boundaries when under pressure. Rotate the strike, take the runs on offer.

What do we need to continue to do that was well done?

• Positive intent. It was an absolute delight in those first ten overs to watch as we put pressure on the opposition with bat in hand for once. They were worried, they made mistakes in the field and it allowed us to bat with more freedom. We got the field spread early which allowed us to score at a decent rate without taking undue risks.
• Opening bowling and death bowling was full and straight and you could set a field.

Session Notes: Middle Practice with Low Numbers

We had a small session as most people were off playing another Twenty20. The sun was out so we had some middle practice with 5 players. (Another also had throwdowns earlier in the day.)

To make it more real, we dispensed with the net and placed markers for fielders. One guy bowled, one batted and the rest fielded.

The open situation felt much more realistic than smashing the ball into a net. Everyone got about 15 minutes with the bat and played with purpose. It was fun and useful, despite the low numbers.

The coach even got a bat!

• The good: Played with a different outlook than just having a bowl and a hit
• Needs work: Could have chased more people to come down and have a longer go. Still need to get better with the sidearm.

Game Notes: Twenty20 League Cup

It's not often I'm truly disappointed with a team effort - there's always something you can take from every game - but the insipid effort of a run chase in last night's Twenty20 competition left me reeling: We lost without a hint of a fight.

In summary, we bowled first with a strong side: Three bowlers and four batsmen from the firsts alongside several contenders and no true passengers. They scored 124-6 in 20, which was a challenging but not impossible total.

Our response was to score 86-5. Here's the obvious and heart-breaking fact; we just made no attempt at pacing the run chase. More on that in a moment.

To return to the first innings, There was some good work done. We didn't take a wicket for nine overs and the openers put on 72. This was hard work but everyone kept putting in the effort. Heads stayed up. This payed off as we bowled the next six overs for 16-3. They rallied with some big hits in the last four. 

We dropped some key catches that might have seen us take 10-20 off the score. We also plucked a couple of belters. The bowling was good and the ground fielding excellent overall. Going into the break I was positive.

We started our reply cautiously, with 27-0 from the first 36 balls. It's here the acceleration should have begun. Instead we slowed down, hitting 19 in the next six overs. You might ask if the bowling was tight and the fielding efficient, but it wasn't as exceptional as the figures suggest, we didn't look to pick up singles, work the gaps or even have a swing. We let them bowl to us. 

One five over period in the middle garnered 10 runs.

We lost one wicket in 13 overs, showing that the top three really struggled with an effective game plan. After 10 overs we needed 85 runs and I remember staying confident. You can win with wickets in hand even when the rate is quite high. If you have an over of 12 or more you are back in the game. Two overs of slow batting later and my confidence had turned to concern.

We needed 79 off 48 balls by this point. This was now getting out of hand, and we needed some lusty swinging to give ourselves a sniff of a chance. We started going for it at last, hitting 20 in the next 24 balls and trying some things.

Yet, despite only losing five wickets, we couldn't score more than 40 in the last 48 balls. We needed to double that, which was always going to be a tough job. We had not accelerated in the middle and couldn't connect when we did try the long handle.

Some more stats:

• Our biggest over was eight, theirs was 12
• They hit 11 boundaries to our one
• They bowled 22 in wides to our eight

What this last stat tells me is that they were significantly worse in the field. This matched what I saw with the wicketkeeper looking poor and lots of misfields. 

Chasing runs

Chasing runs takes experience and confidence. I was shocked by the lack of tactical nous of the need to accelerate and the inability to play aggressively against an obviously weak fielding side. We lacked both art and heart.

I would rather see us get bowled out for 100 in 15 overs than what happened in this game. 

So, what do we need to work on? Understanding the game situation better, knowing how to score at a run a ball and knowing when to take a calculated risk by going over the top or pulling out a swipe to leg. In short, learn how to chase runs!

Midweek T20 is a strange animal: Games are rushed after-work affairs, feature weaker teams and are not treated with the same attitude as Saturday. It's clear to me now that we have to change the culture of these games if we are to take them seriously. This is not a practice match, it's a game in its own right and we need to play as if we mean it.

• The good: Fielding as a team, recovering from a bad start with the ball.
• Needs work: back to square one for the batting.

Session Notes: Making the Most of Imperfect Conditions

The challenge for this session was to deal with the many disconnections between it and the weekend: A junior game meant we could only use a small outdoor area for fielding. Indoor nets barely help with the main weekend issue of strike rotation. Finally, several senior players are away this week and turnout was down to 12.

Nevertheless, I set up the session to make the most of what we had, and I am confident it worked well.

After some simple fielding drills, we went inside.

I split indoor nets into "faster" and "slower" (we didn't have enough genuine seamers and spinners to do otherwise). Batsmen had 12 minutes each split between nets. Then I challenged the batsmen to a 10 point game:

• Out: -3
• Play and miss: -1
• Cut shot: -1
• Hit in the air back to the bowler: -1

Once you lose 10 points you are out, even if your 12 minutes are not up. 

The idea is to add some jeopardy to batting, whilst also encouraging the batsman to play as he would in the middle. "Never cut until June" is a good general maxim to have, so we factored it in.

For the batsmen who were doing well, I added another rule that they lose another point for a cover drive, as represented by a cone in the net. You had to stay one side of the cone while driving. While this was a false restriction, the point was to challenge the player to restrict himself and feel similar strain to playing in the middle where you don't often have total freedom.

Someone suggested five press ups to all the bowlers in the net if a leg side wide was bowled. I loved it, and it gave the bowlers a bit of extra pressure.

Everyone who wanted to bat got a go, and got some good work done.

• The good: made the most of what we had.
• Needs work: Tie the session in better to the weaker areas from the weekend.

One to Ones

I've also done a couple of one to one sessions this week.

The first is a keeper working on leg side takes standing up. We did some technical work and talked about the difference between good technique and effective technique. The player tends to be hard on himself if he doesn't do something "the right way" and assumes mistakes come because he is doing it wrong. I stressed that there is a lot more flexibility in technique than he thinks. At one point I said "No one cares how you took that leg side stumping, as long as you take it". 

If I can help him over that mental block he will be less hard on his errors and more likely to recover from missed chances that we all have from time to time.

Second is a batsman who wants a bit of confidence in playing shots. He feels like he only has a drive, and when that is failing he gets stuck and can't score.

We talked about developing a "get away" shot he can play with confidence at these moments, but didn't have time to work on it. So, instead I encouraged him to think about how he watches the ball to try and pick up length earlier. That way he can be in position to drive or pull much more quickly and feel better about the shots he can play. He still needs some work but we have a path for him now, whereas at the start of the session he was not clear about how to move forward.

Game Notes: Second Round

The results were a repeat of last week with the 1sts losing and the 2nds winning. Here are my thoughts on the 1sts game I was playing. (2nds to come when I get a review.)

We bowled first with a slightly changed team (two players away for personal reasons). The side still looked good, especially the bowling. The performance was a step up from the previous week. 

After the last game we looked to bowl straighter and use the conditions to tie batsmen down better. Despite a nightmare start of going for 40 in the first five overs - including starting the game with two no balls and a wide - we settled into business, slowed the rate to a crawl and took wickets at regular intervals. The real damage was done by our medium pace bowlers hitting the stumps with a good line and variable length, the keeper up and ring field to squeeze.

The fielding was exceptional all the way through: diving stops, building dots and mounting pressure that led to several wickets from batsmen trying to make a run somewhere and getting bowled, LBW or spooning one up. We dropped one very hard catch and took two very good ones. We bowled them out for 118.

However our nightmare start with the ball was also reflected in the batting. We were 4 down in a very short time, with our best batsmen out for few runs. Rightly, the batsmen in the middle looked to survive and played defensively against some very good spin bowling (a former Scottish international leg spinner led the attack). 

This plan worked and we took the game deep, but were behind the rate. We needed a touch over six an over going into the last 10. We got some tough umpiring decisions, but we also got lucky at least once so it's hard to judge the influence of the umpires on the outcome. Whatever happened there, the lower order rallied and all chipped in enough to need nine from the last over. Our number 10, who already had a couple of boundaries, went to go over long off and didn't make it, still seven short of victory.

Stepping up performance

What I like best was that we stuck with the bowling plan even when the start went to pieces. It really was only two or three overs from one end that caused the the issue and we stayed on our own game plan rather than worrying about the board. It showed good patience and confidence.

This also was the highlight of the batting. We got in trouble, fought hard to get out of it and took the game to the final over. 

I was impressed by the calm play of the middle order when we were reeling at 30-4. Two guys took the game through about 25 overs, hardly able to score, but hanging on knowing we could go hard with wickets in hand. 

If you play that well as a team every week, you win more than you lose.

And what I liked most was that we are starting to enjoy it more. It's a challenge to be met rather than hard work where winning is everything and losing is nothing. We are starting to love it for what it is: a great game where you focus on improving what you can improve and enjoying it no matter what.

Areas to improve

I'd like to tweak the field settings to have more confidence in having close catchers in front of the wicket. It's an underused tactic so far but much more goes in the air in front of square, and it adds to the pressure on the batsman if you are in an obvious position he can see. 

I'd also probably give out opening fast bowler a shorter first spell. He probably bowled two too many in hindsight. These are minor things.

With the batting, had we found a way to score another 20 runs in singles during the middle phase, we could have won the game easily. These guys have the skill, they just need a little more belief in the ability to do it. That's an area to work on.

And of course, the top four, who were all out cheaply, need to think about what happened and if anything needs to change or it was "one of those days". That's down to them to decide, and I'll be speaking to them individually to find out their thoughts and plans.

Post game

I reiterated to the team after the game that the result matters less than how we behave and react. If we go into every game with good preparation, robust confidence, high spirits and well-executed tactics we will win more matches than we lose. 

That said, sometimes we will lose. This game was one of those games. I feel we made very few unforced errors technically, tactically or mentally. The opponents played as well as we played, and on another day one or two LBW key decisions would have gone our way. We can't control those things, so we need to focus on building skill and self-confidence through training hard, and being mentally up for enjoying the challenge no matter what is thrown at us.

Session Notes: Under Pressure

After a wet few days, the sun was out again so we got on the outfield but not on the square. Nevertheless, the session was excellent, mainly because the guys got stuck in and came up with some drills of their own.

As usual, we had two drill areas. One was for bowling on PitchVision to work on accuracy. The second area was for fielding drills. It's this area that I deliberately just dumped some gear down and let them get on with it. 

Fortunately, one of the senior players took the lead and they got some high catches, low catches off the Katchet (and bullet arm of the opening bowler) and a very creative slip catching drill we dubbed "Captain America". I'll be stealing that idea for PitchVision Academy next week!

Meanwhile, back on PitchVision, I added some pressure to the usual target bowling by hitting a return catch to the bowler (or a short cover fielder). 

Using PitchVision to track line and length, while adding return catches.

Another group took throwdowns and, again, everyone declined to use the indoor nets. That's fine with me, it was too nice to be stuck inside in my book.

• The good: Activity, self-responsibility, tracked training, excellent turnout, I got to pump up some skiers!
• Needs work: Batter prep is a real issue. We have no practice wicket and no one wants to go indoors so we are reduced to throwdowns. I need to come up with an alternative or push the groundsman harder.

Session Notes: Keep Calm and Carry On

The weather final beat us and we were forced indoors for the first "orthodox" net session of the year. I'm still loving that we have the facility to do this. No one else in our league will be training this week!

Turnout was still good, and with two nets with no other space, the challenge was to not let the session become a random hit/overbowl session.

This largely worked as we split into a "live" net with two batsmen - swapping over by running when there was a mishit or wicket - and throwdowns.

I let the live net run itself. PitchVision was up to motivate the bowlers over both pace and accuracy and that worked nicely. As always, the challenge with setting up rules in a net is to keep the rules going when I am not watching. Inevitably, nature takes over and players stop following the rules  to make life easier.

Why train? 

What I am failing to impress on the guys is that training is not about making life easier. Training is about getting better and having fun along the way. By letting the rules slip, players are reducing how much they improve and how much fun they have. Yet it's so easy to default to "just having a net". I will work harder to change the culture.

Meanwhile, I gave throwdowns in the other net, working on specifics with about six players over the session. Everyone had different aims and I challenged them as much as I could to push up against their limitations and try new things. 

For example, I got a couple of guys to try and drive everything, then challenged them with shorter than drive length balls as well as half volleys. I fell this is a much better way to learn to play than simply hitting bowling machine balls.

With another player who said "I can't bat, I'm a bowler", we worked on very simple driving skills and changing his attitude from "can't bat" to "working on batting". As Mark Garaway says, everyone is allowed to get runs.

I still need to get my sidearm skills up to scratch, but after trying it for a few minutes it was clear the tool was creating too much bounce on the indoor surface and I went back to throwing balls.

Always be reviewing

Finally, during the session I reviewed the Saturday performance with senior guys. 

The general view from the firsts was the collapse was because players started to fear getting out and were not looking to score. The solution was to play with the same tactical approach but look to attack bad balls with more confidence. Secondly, to have a "breakout" shot for when you are tied down. We discussed how it's acceptable to get out playing your shots as long as they are practiced and planned. No one should feel restricted out of fear of playing a shot because of accusations of "silly shots". 

I feel I need to reiterate how it's everyone's job to chip in something. Maybe only four guys can consistently get you a few 50s a season, but if the next six can chip in an average of 15+ over a season you are quids in. Batting is a team job, and 150, I'm told, is often a winning total.

Lastly, the bowling plan was good but hard to implement defending a low score, and to persevere with improving accuracy to hit the stumps more often.

The seconds, after a thumping victory, were happy to continue with the same tactical approach. A couple of tweaks discussed were to set better leg side cover for weaker bowlers to give them confidence to bowl at the stumps more, and to develop a team culture that stays calmer when things are not going 100%.

Game Notes: First Round

First round of league games: The first XI lost, the second XI won. 

I played for the firsts away, so have a better view of what happened. Let's start with that.

1st XI

The strength of the side was good. We have no superstars, which means everyone needs to chip in as much as possible. We also don't really have a weak area. We bat down to 10, have solid seamers and a wildcard spinner.

We batted first on a difficult, slow wicket. After making an excellent start, there was a monumental collapse in the last 20 overs. When collapses happen there is often a team psyche that "it's all going wrong" and the batsmen feel the pressure. In this case, perhaps there was some. There was good bowling, especially from the spinners. This built some pressure and there were individual errors. This was mainly tactical shot selection, but also a couple of issues with execution that could have come from the match pressure. 

The bottom line was, we didn't get enough runs with 109 on the board. We could have gone past 200 in the right circumstances, and 160 was really the minimum to make a game of it.

That said, we may have had enough if we had bowled well. Pressure is everything in this game. The pitch conditions required stump to stump bowling, hitting the wickets and squeeze fielding with a touch of brilliance or luck. Early wickets always cause squeaky bums.

We used all five bowlers and all but one got the line right consistently. We set the right fields and fielded well. However, we didn't take wickets. So, as the batsmen got set they stayed patient and we gave enough bad balls to let them wait, knowing they could knock it off as slowly as they wanted. 

There was only one tough catch missed, a run out chance we should have taken, and  - as is usual in these lost games - all shots in the air never quite found a fielder.

In short, we were competent, determined and enthusiastic but didn't bowl with the discipline or luck needed to defend a low score.

In hindsight, perhaps we could have been more aggressive with field placings in front of the wicket where the ball was popping up occasionally. Perhaps we could also have done with a "Plan B" when the stump to stump tactic wasn't panning out. However these are minor thoughts with some 20/20 hindsight and certainly not clanging errors. What we really needed in the second half was the rub of the green or a flash of genius. Solid as these guys are, we can't play for the latter, but we can give ourselves the best chance of the former.

After the game I told the guys to look at their individual performances and pick up on both the weaker areas and what went well. They need to bring this review to the next training session with a clear idea of what to work on.

From a team point of view:

• The good: Determined effort, great start with the bat, tactically sound.
• Needs work: Dealing with the pressure of wickets falling, shot selection, bowling tighter lengths. Relax a bit more!

I plan to bring in some of this at the next couple of sessions, based around handling pressure and enjoying the challenge of getting knocked down and getting up again stronger. It's as much fun getting out of trouble as it is sailing through games easily. 

2nd XI

The seconds were a little weak but had enough good players to do well. I got my notes second hand, but the general view was positive.

The pitch was not good for batting and it sounds like the opposition tried to smash it early on, lost wickets and shut up shop to get through the overs. However, this failed too and they were bowled out for considerably under a hundred.

This meant that our batsmen could do what their firsts did: Play the bad bad and be patient. The fact we did it three down tells you the top order did the job well.

I'm going to try and eke out the overall team areas to improve from the seconds skipper at training this week, but when you win that well, the trick  is to keep training hard and look to keep yourself on that roll for when things don't go quite go according to plan.

Session Notes: Breaking the Shackles

My focus in this session was to make sure the activity was high, yet allow space for personal development and, naturally, have some fun in the sunshine so close to the start of "serious cricket". 

In previous sessions I have been overcome by the amount of people with varying standards of ability and felt like I have not been doing justice to everyone, especially those who are more recreational. This time I think I nailed it.

After a basic skills warm up (underarm throws, low catches and a high catch with lots of running about and shoulder warming), I spilt the group of 12 into three sections:

• Fielding, various drills working on low catches and ground work running from left to right and right to left.
• Target bowling
• Power hitting

I gave the guys the option of indoor nets for more orthodox batting but no one took it.

The power hitting game was on the edge of the square (too wet for a practice wicket) and I set target areas for the players to try and hit underarm feeds to the off side and leg side over the infield.

The idea was to help players understand the positions they need to get into to hit upwards, and the power they need to get to go over the infield without going for a massive six and trying to hit too hard.

It was good activity, fun to watch and I feel the main objective was reached. As always, I couldn't control the activity as close as a I wanted and the drill details broke down a little when the feeds became unrealistic lobs and the target became hitting sixes. Despite these flaws, the basic idea worked well.

I also had a spinner who wanted to bowl to a batsman, and a batsmen who wanted to work on playing spin. After a quick collaboration with me, they went and did exactly that for about half an hour. That was perfect. 

• The good: Lots of activity, personal goals met, a fun session.
• Needs work: More specific prep for the weekend, better control of drills by players to make sure goals are met, better tracking of performance (although the this might be better restricted to Tuesday sessions). 

One to ones

I also did a couple of one to one sessions this week that all went very well.

One session was aimed at freeing up a player and developing a new shot. Great progress was made thanks to Mark Garaway's decision making drill.

One session was about getting some throw down volume for a player to help him feel confident. He has no major flaws but we did establish some tactical things that fit his technique and he is going into the first game confident of how to play to give himself the best chance of success.

The last session was helping a spinner who "falls away". We have identified the problem starts in his run up as he bounds with is weight going to the batsman's leg side, and so he falls to the off side to compensate. We are working on some chaining drills to correct this, but it may take some time as his body is so used to that movement now. 

Target bowling practice at West of Scotland CC in Glasgow

Session Notes: Warm Up Games

Frustratingly, I have somehow lost my detailed write up of the weekend's preseason games. So instead, here are some dragged up thoughts from two days of good weather:

• The first game was inter-club, yet everyone took it like a proper match all the way through. That showed a positive attitude.
• All the batsmen had a bat, all the bowlers bowled.
• There were very few wides bowled, an early season error that is frustrating was avoided. I like to think it's down to the amount of middle practice and target bowling we have done.
• Only one bowler was a little off his length. We have since discussed this and he realised he was bowling a little short for various reason, none of which he thinks he will take into the first league game.
• Fielding was focused and aggressive throughout the games. The "throw every ball back to the keeper" principle is in place here.
• The second game was a 40 over friendly that we won easily against a relatively weak side.
• I took some video footage of a couple of batsmen in game. I am not sure of the use of this, or how well I can keep it up, but it's handy to have and the players like to see it. It may become either a "highlights reel" for guys in form, or a way to review when something happens that needs work.
• Your author needs several days recovery after playing two games!

Session Notes: Ready for the Weekend

The first league game of the season looms, so that was my focus in this practice. The session looked like it was going to be wet, and it was guaranteed to be cold. So the challenge was to deal with rain and still get a good session going.

Despite the poor conditions, the turnout was still about 15 guys. I'm still amazed by this motivated turn out and want to do everything to make the sessions worthwhile for everyone.

The first section of the session was about doing work we could continue if it rained. So, we had a long game of "hand hockey", splitting the players into two teams and scoring goals. I much prefer this to playing football to warm up. First, no accidental sliding tackles and second it adds ball skill work to a simple warm up.

We then moved onto a sliding race. The ground was slippery enough that we could make it fun and still work on an important, yet overlooked skill. I wish I had footage of some of the diving, both good and bad!

The drill was two races between the hand hockey teams. The first race was a three metre crab crawl dash: Hands and feet on the floor (no knees) and crawling sideways back and forth tagging in the next player.

The second race was a sprint to the boundary rope and back. The catch was, halfway out you had to dive under a pole, get up and leg it back to tag the next player. It was fantastic fun, the players seemed to love it.

I was still concerned with the wet, so we split into groups to train fielding outdoors and batting and bowling indoors. I didn't set up any specific games for the nets, but I did ask the players to focus on their objective for the net. We spit into spin and seam, with the seamers bowling on PitchVision.

In hindsight, I am not sure how useful it is having quicker bowlers in fast indoor nets bowling short to batsmen who can't get out. This would not happen in the middle in the first game, and noone is learning much going into the match. I'll have to think how we can better use the indoor nets as early-season game prep.

I wanted one net to be technical work and throwdowns, but the players voted me down. I'm OK with players leading the session, as long as they get wheat they want from it. I'm not convinced they did, but I was happy to discuss it with individuals to see how they felt it went.

Some players chose to stay out of indoor nets because conditions are too different from early season batting, either getting outfield throwdowns or doing some throwing and catching practice. The latter is not fun or easy in the cold, but they got stuck in. I would have liked more time with this group, but I can't split my attention well enough.

I tried to have a good chat with every top order batsman and first team bowler before and after the session. As always, I was spread thin but I got to speak with four senior batsmen and a senior bowler about plans for the weekend and how to get practice suitable for a slow, low, bowler-friendly track in cold conditions. They guys seem very confident of their game plans, and my aim was to make sure preparation allowed for this to be practised as realistically as possible.

Overall, I think this was my least productive session, especially in the second half in the nets with seamers. We didn't measure much, although we did get some good footage on PitchVision that I am still to analyse. I virtually ignored the fielding group, although I did ask our overseas player to help with some drills. We got plenty of thinking time and focused work done, even though rain loomed the whole time. My lesson learned from this session is to keep pushing players to take responsibility for their development by having clearer plans. If I trust the guys to do what they need to do to get what they want I will feel a lot more comfortable. Right now, I'm not sure everyone is there, but we are all making progress.