[Arnab]

Recognizing The Past In Order to Enhance the Future
Glenn Turner
May 2004

I often hear it said in New Zealand we have a lot of cricket in a short space of time and there are insufficient breaks between matches. Workloads, particularly on bowlers, are often considered to be unreasonable and unsustainable. There will always be debate and varying opinion as to what is, or is not reasonable, but what I can say with certainty is that much more is physically possible than is currently seen as too tough. Historical evidence proves it.

Currently, in New Zealand 1st class cricketers play 42 days of cricket over a period of 13 weeks. In England they are playing 91 days cricket over 22 weeks. As a matter of interest, in the 1970’s in England they played 93 days cricket within 17 weeks.

In comparing current player workloads in both countries, NZ’s 1st class programme represents 46% of England’s. In England their professionals play cricket on 59% of the days in the course of their 22 week season, whereas in NZ our players play on 46% of the days set aside.

It is interesting to look at the workloads of some of the better-known international bowlers down the years. In the 1920’s Maurice Tait bowled around 1500 overs in an English county season and another 600 if he toured with England during their winter. In the early 60’s, Fred Trueman bowled around 1100 overs per county season alone. The South African Mike Proctor, when playing for Gloucestershire in the late 1970’s, bowled 800-900 overs in county cricket and batted at number 4 in the order. In 1981-82 Richard Hadlee bowled 1131 overs. In the 1998-99 season the England Seamers generally had higher workloads than other international players. For example, Andrew Caddick bowled 910 overs and Dean Headley 792. Compare them with Sean Pollock (515); Glen McGrath (740), Courtney Walsh 437 overs for the West Indies and another 600 overs for Gloucestershire. During this period, 1998-99, the most overs by NZ seamers were bowled by Shayne O’Connor (533) and Chris Cairns (497).

Nowadays, with bowlers, it is alleged by many, that their workloads are too high and that more of them are breaking down as a consequence. But is it true?
What evidence is there to say that some of the newly-adopted training methods are reducing injuries and improving performance? Has any research been done to tell us if bowlers of the past spent less, or more time injured, than many of their counterparts today? Moreover, did they have what is now considered to be safer bowling actions? One thing is for certain, training and preparation methods are markedly different today. How well researched and proven are these methods, and how do they compare with past practices?


As for batsmen, who knows what suggestions may come forward soon about their workloads? Although the physical dangers are considered to be less for batsmen than for bowlers, what about psychological damage? Perhaps, expecting a batsman to concentrate for longer than, say, 3hrs is harmful to his psychological well-being? Am I being a smart-arse? Probably, but I think the point of comparison is at a similar level of preciousness.

When preparing cricketers today, there is a much greater emphasis on gym-based work for strength and conditioning with less cardiovascular work. Practice sessions have become less skill specific ( meaning less % of time is devoted to batting, bowling, catching and throwing ), with more time than previously spent on warm-ups, warm-downs and unrelated group games. And time is given over to briefings, debriefings and sports science information.

There are full-time coaches at the elite level who feel it is part of their job description to change bowling actions well formed or otherwise. What research or evidence has been produced on the risks involved in changing well formed bowling actions? Does a bowler bowl with a particular action because it naturally follows a path of least resistance? To make a significant change, what should the timelines be and what are safe workloads in getting back to match fitness? Are egos well in advance of current knowledge and capabilities? What is fact is that bigger and better indoor facilities are available and more extensively used than previously. These surfaces are generally much harder under foot than turf and may well add to wear and tear on the body.

Perceptions that over-use is the root cause of injuries must be causing anxiety amongst bowlers. Perhaps this has created a psychological environment fraught with Hypochondria, which brings an expectation of injury and an over- cautious approach to preparation. Anxieties affect behaviour which, in turn, can seriously affect the nature of players’ performance.

All players are reminded constantly of the need to drink plenty of fluids. It has reached the stage in cricket, whereby the fielding side has drinks brought out at the fall of every wicket, or whenever possible that is, as long as it doesn’t hold up play. Batsmen receive the same treatment. Bowlers have an on going supply of cold drinks and in some cases food, supplied to them at the edge of the boundary where they are fielding. This is all in addition to the traditional drinks break at the mid-point of each session. It had been decided by someone in higher authority, that sweets should be provided to lift the sugar levels of the players. An unforeseen difficulty arose when players argued over whether there was enough of their favourite colour ( flavour ) in the party mix bag. Is this excessive? My experience more than suggests it is.

When I toured the West Indies with NZ in 1972, I spent a lot of time at the crease in two of the hottest places, Jamaica and Guyana. In scoring four double hundreds, on each occasion I spent between nine and eleven and a half hours at the crease. In so doing, I had first hand experience of coping with a number of challenges. Apart from the opposition, I had to overcome mental and physical fatigue in trying conditions. Each innings involved the best part of two days, bringing into play the problems associated with relaxing ( switching off ) one’s mind sufficiently to get enough sleep. In those days little if any attention was paid to hydrating or to the effects of alcohol in this process. During the game, drinks were taken once per 2hr session ( after 1 hr ), although during the middle session ( the hottest part of the day ) two drinks breaks were permitted. At no other stage were drinks brought onto the field, nor did bowlers have refreshments around the edge of the boundary. I’m not suggesting that this was an ideal situation. However, looking at it in retrospect, I think it was a blessing in disguise, or at least it had some advantage. In fighting the odds it made me more determined and forced me to concentrate harder. I knew I had no props to help me and nobody to blame if I failed. I had to solve the problem, be mentally tough enough to overcome adversity in order to succeed.

With the benefit of hindsight I can see that my approach to solving the sleeping problem part way through these innings made my task even more difficult. I had been unsuccessful in relaxing my mind enough to get to sleep, hence, on the second occasion I resorted to drinking alcohol. Although I still got to bed quite early ( around 9.30--10.00pm ), I had consumed enough to be in a state of unconsciousness, rather than sleep. Waking up at 3am, with the dry horrors, did nothing towards improving my physical condition come start-time.

In addition, I proved conclusively that the human body and mind could perform well for a lot longer than many of the spin doctors would have us believe today. It reminds me of what happened during the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur when the NZ race walker Craig Barrett collapsed within sight of a gold medal. It was initially assumed that he had suffered from dehydration, but in fact it was hydration intoxication. He had taken on board too much fluid!

One could argue that players have been given too many things to think about these days, and that some of them distract players from focusing upon what really counts. They have become too dependent, have developed an attitude that someone else will solve their problems for them. If advice doesn’t appear to work for them, it’s not their fault, it’s someone else’s. A blame mentality takes the place of personal responsibility.

My thesis is that there are far more distractions today. Players are apt to be too concerned about, for example: labels (clothing, shoes, sun glasses, cell-phones, watches etc); hair-style (colour ); body piercing, and so on. On match days, drinks (their availability and variety), food (choice and availability ), playing uniform, how much time is allowed for warm-ups when starts are delayed, numbers of complementary tickets, Physio (availability). Others matters might be, food allowance (how much and timing of payments), accommodation (standard and size of rooms ), travel (cars or mini vans and length of journey). It goes on and on. Individually, these examples may appear to be trivial, unimportant. But put them all together and they can have a negative collective effect on the positive attitude needed to be successful. Compare the travel with the English County Cricket scene, where it was not considered a problem to travel all around the country by car during a county season. In fact, it was the accepted norm to make a return journey (a couple of hours away) for a Sunday limited overs game, between days 2 and 3 of a county match.

The difficulty arises convincing players with limited previous experience, from which to form comparisons, to accept that there might be a better way. One hears comments such as, these things haven’t been a problem for me in the past, so isn’t bringing it to my attention creating a problem? Those who played in previous eras can face difficulties in convincing players that some of what is on offer today may be excessive, unhelpful and, at times, counterproductive. One hopes that open minds will accept the logic that the greater the number of distractions the more difficult it is to focus on what makes a good player.

What do I want in a player? Someone who is
* open, honest, principled, dedicated and hard working;
* someone with the mental strength to reproduce their skills in the hotbed of competition. The ability to make decisions, judgments and act on them;
* someone able to deal with adversity and believe that problems are solvable;
* someone who is resilient disciplined and well organized;
* one willing to be personally responsible for their actions;
* one with the courage to express an opinion and argue the case. Having done so, to accept that others or another may be charged with responsibility to make a decision that is contrary to their view;
* one willing to put the team’s good ahead of their personal wishes or ambitions.
* One who understands that their demeanour can infect the whole team in a negative or a positive way.

Many improvements for players that have occurred in recent times are largely comfort rather than performance related. Some of the latter, when used intelligently, are very helpful, particularly the improvements to Video Camera equipment and the development of the computer programme called E-cricket. More money in the game in NZ and better payment to players has also been very helpful, in increasing the amount of cricket played and the paid time for practice. Indoor and outdoor practice facilities have improved; so have the outfields and, to a lesser extent, the pitches. The involvement of the Turf Culture Institute, better covering and modern equipment has made a difference. Other more comfort-related improvements are to changing rooms, hotel/motel accommodation, transport (vehicles, aircraft ), and to a lesser degree, cricket equipment. There was a time in the sixties and earlier, when most 1st class players shared a team kit (i.e bats, pads, gloves, boxes, thigh pads etc., ) and had all their evening meals at the hotel where they were staying. Today a meal allowance is provided for flexibility and lunches at the ground are of a far higher standard.

To look deeper is to realize that not much of this has a lot to do with higher levels of performance. So much more can be done to truly take advantage of advances if procedures for solid research and analysis were established. The money needed to provide more and more material comforts is gobbling up much of what it takes to be a better cricketer. The degree of inconsistency in team performances appears to be greater than ever.

If I may make some comparisons, in general terms, with the past, there is a lack of patience and a bubbling desire to play the brilliant shot, bowl the magic ball, or take the spectacular catch. Attemps at extravagant spontaneous streaks of genius, more often than not, result in erratic and a less effective performance. There is a developing recognition of the need to bat for longer periods of time and to bowl maidens. However, the approach often taken shows itself in an exaggerated form. Batsmen become excessively defensive, almost strokeless, looking to let the ball go as much as possible and bowlers bowl wide of off stump to a packed off-side field to contain their opponent. On the other hand, batsmen, when looking to be aggressive, attack to the point of recklessness, playing high risk shots, and bowlers cut loose with a variety of deliveries that look as if they’ve been plucked out of cricket’s equivalent of a bag of liquorice all sorts.

The ability of batsmen to play boundary shots has certainly improved over the years, but their ability to defend and collect runs has deteriorated. It is as though the art of batting through mastering the basic skills is too boring, not cool and too time consuming. A similar comment can be made about bowlers when it comes to following the fundamental strategy of mastering line and length, and being excited about the challenges that presents. Having achieved that, developing the art of swing and seam can be compared to a batsman being able to manouvre the ball into gaps or space and learning how to precisely weight the ball in order to collect ones and twos with regularity. Ground fielding and throwing have improved considerably, and there is an expectation, that everyone has to work on their fielding skills, irrespective of their status in the team.

In recent years a lot of time money and effort has gone into trying to produce fast bowlers and the pitch conditions to assist. This macho approach has largely failed and is likely to continue to do so unless selective breeding becomes a fashion. Hurting a batsman does not necessarily result in getting him out. One only needs to look at our annual 1st class bowling statistics to realize that.

In conclusion, we may have gone from a famine to a feast, but has more food meant better food? Might our bellies be getting bigger, making us less efficient? To draw on another analogy, our heads may be filled with more information, but is it clogging our minds? Can we filter out what is really important and do it quickly enough to be more effective? The most rapid improvement an individual and a team can make, is to get their attitude right. Overcoming distractions and adversity can result in a significant psychological edge. It is so important to keep on top of things like poor umpiring decisions, bad pitches and an unsavoury opposition. It pays to remember that an eye for an eye blinds everyone. It is also very helpful for us all to learn from the mistakes of the past, retain what is good and add it to today’s advantages.

Edited on, May 23, 2005, 3:26 AM GMT, by Arnab.