The cricket season is only weeks away, which means that these are crucial days for coaches and players. Coaches need to be focusing on improving the technical and tactical aspects of their players’ game, but they must make training exciting so that players will want to learn.

Looking at the average Bermudian cricketer, both domestically and internationally, there are obvious weaknesses.

The following are three significant aspects of the game that players and coaches should focus on improving.

1, Bermudian batsmen are known as front-foot players. This means that before the ball has left the bowler’s hand, they are out on their front foot, which restricts them tremendously.

2, Rotating strike: the ability to manoeuvre the ball so that singles can be acquired. Bermudian batsmen have this “hit a boundary or get out trying” mentality, but when you face decent opposition on bigger fields, that will not work.

3, Building partnerships when batting, especially when your team are in trouble.

The reputation of being front-foot players explains partially why so many of our batsmen failed in the Caribbean. The West Indian players used to say, “They are left-foot players. Don’t give him anything to drive; there’s no BMW around here.” Because we are front-foot players, it makes us very susceptible to the short-pitched ball and it also hinders us tremendously against spin.

How can we correct it? Simple drill: throw tennis balls specifically working on footwork, front and back, but sometimes instead of throwing the ball, feint and see if you can catch the player moving forward. The batsman will often get caught moving forward because we are front-foot players, but this drill will teach him to wait a little longer to see where the ball is pitched.

As front-foot players, it also hinders our ability to rotate strike and accumulate singles. Batsmen need to identify where the gaps are and learn in practice how to adjust their body/feet to be able to work the ball into these respective gaps. Part of the problem is that we play with hard hands, or better still, we bat at one pace. We need to teach our players to have softer hands when trying to rotate strike. When we block the ball, we block with firm hands so that the ball races to the infielder. Instead, batsmen must learn to block with soft hands so the ball can fall short of the infielder and give themselves a chance of getting a single.

Coaches must also teach our batsmen to use the angle of their bat, which will enhance the chance of attaining a single. Simple drill: place four cones, two on the off 15 yards apart and two on the leg the same distance. Throw the ball in relatively the same spot four times and each time the batsmen has to try and hit a different cone.

When a team can score 250 runs and have 190 dot balls, that’s a problem. It means in a 50-over game where 300 balls have been bowled, the team scored runs off only 110 balls. If they could pick up singles off at least 20 more balls, they could get 270 runs instead. We must learn to rotate strike better.

Building partnerships when batting is a massive problem, especially when the team are under pressure. Bermudian teams are known to crumble to low scores because we panic under pressure. Example: the team have 25 runs for four wickets. How do we tackle this situation? Most Bermudian batsmen’s mindset is “I can’t get out, therefore I will not play any attacking shots”. But that brings even more pressure on to you as a batsman.

When under pressure, coaches have to teach their batsmen to build partnerships in tens. Sometimes even tens maybe too big and they have to set smaller goals and build in fives. So from 25 for four, the focus should now be, “Let’s get to 30 without losing another wicket”. The next target is 35 and the next 40 and so on. Before you know it, you have put on a 50-run partnership. However, the key to this is having one dominant batsman in the middle taking charge and constantly talking to his partner.

One of the biggest problems, though, as coaches is we pass on this information, but we do not practise it in real-game situation during training. Some training sessions have to be set up to bat in the middle and actually work specifically on these aspects of the game.

Practice makes perfect, but intense practice is different than going through the motions. I encourage players and coaches to work hard and work on specific skills. If you do not push yourself, who will?

Quote of the week: “When you are not practising, remember, someone somewhere is practising, and when you meet him he will win.”

— Ed Macauley