Greg Chappell: The "Mantra"
Cricketislife!
When facing someone who can bowl as fast as Shoaib Ahktar or Brett
Lee, or can make the ball talk like Shane Warne, the batsman's state
of mind is more important than the ability to play a cut shot.
Fear, the fear of failure or the perception that you are at the edge
of your capability, or beyond it, can render the playing of the cut,
or any other shot, impossible. We have all seen batsman who are
capable players against most bowlers appear as novices against good
pace bowling or clever spin.
The human brain is a complex organism that has to cope with a million
and one things at any given moment but its main function is for the
physical survival of its host body. If the brain perceives that the
host is in danger it will aim to get it out of harms way as quickly as
possible.
In these circumstances the individual may have the strongest will in
the world but because all the resources of the brain are concentrated
on survival, to all intents and purposes, the individual in question
can look as though they have never played the game of cricket before.
At some stage or other most players have had this sort of experience
as they endure a form slump. The immediate response is to start
looking for technical faults when a quick stock-take of the mental
state will probably get to the root cause.
The best players have found ways of coping with these testing moments
better than those whose careers have not been as illustrious. They are
the best players because they have developed much greater mental
resources to compliment their physical attributes.
The state of the players mind as the bowler runs in to bowl is more
important to their chance of consistent success than their ability to
play a wide range of attacking strokes. If the mind is calm and
focussed the ability to respond to the delivery is much greater than
if the mind is racing like an out of tune engine.
Scratchy and ill-defined footwork is the first indication that a
player does not have control of his most important asset. The player
in control of his mental faculties will present with well-ordered
footwork, smooth movements and the ability to put pressure back on the
bowler by scoring runs freely.
What is it that the better players focus on?
Every one of them will have a slightly different method but you can be
assured that the good ones will have a method that they work on as
much as they do any of the physical aspects of their play.
I once saw concentration described as the ability to focus on what was
important when it counted.
This pretty well sums up what a batsman must be able to do at any time
and is especially true of when the bowler is running in to bowl. If
the mind is wandering or racing out of control as the bowler runs in
it will be impossible to focus on what counts.
In my own case I found the method which worked best for me was to
watch the bowlers face as he ran to the wicket then switch to the
point of delivery as the bowler landed at the delivery stride. Allied
to this I kept a constant "mantra" going in my mind as he ran to the
wicket.
The "mantra" was a repetition of watch the ball, pick the ball up
early and play straight. I learnt early in my career that it was
impossible to have an empty mind so I had to put something "neutral
into my mind to prevent the negative thoughts from floating up from
the sub-conscious to my conscious mind.
I found this method worked well for me on two levels. Firstly, it was
a signpost to me that I was focussed and prepared for each delivery.
Secondly, it provided me with some important early warning signs from
the bowler's body language, as did how the ball left his hand, of what
each delivery might be.
My "neutral" thinking kept me from pre-empting the delivery, probably
the most common cause of a batsman self-immolating.
Once the ball left the bowler's hand and I had computed the line and
length of the delivery I trusted my brain to do the rest. There was no
time to consciously order the movements so I relied on the brain to
recruit the correct muscle groups and time the stride and bat-swing to
meet the ball at the optimal position.
When I played my better innings my only conscious thoughts were of my
pre-shot routine, of watching the ball and playing straight. Once the
ball was bowled I had the brain on autopilot, which, along with my
years of training, decided whether I played an attacking or defensive
shot, or no shot at all.
Greg Chappell
http://www.chappellway.com/Images/Uploads/Mantra.doc