By amarinder Bhinder
Cricket is a wonderful game and so many of us are passionate about it. We can be consumed
by cricket, practising, playing, watching and reading about cricket is all brilliant but you can
have too much of a good thing.
COVID-19 has forced us to take a step back, to look at things from a different perspective and it
has taught us to appreciate so many things in life that we previously took for granted. It is good
to occasionally distance yourself from the things you love. Cricket is no different. As wonderful as
practising, playing and watching cricket is, we do need to periodically take a break from it. As
COVID-19 has reminded us, a break from cricket will renew our spirit for it.
When the cricket season is over, and winter comes, it is time to have a break from the game. It is time
to refresh our bodies, our minds and our spirits so that when it is time for cricket to resume, we can
tackle new challenges with enthusiasm.
Taking a break from the game does not mean that you should be totally inactive. Six to eight weeks of
no cricket whatsoever is recommended but then thoughts and actions need to start turning towards
cricket again.
There is a lot that you can do in the off-season that
will bring you back to the regular season much
stronger and as a much better player than when
you packed your kit away after the last game.
Here are some things that you can do in the
off-season, once you have had your rest from
the game:
• Do a thorough analysis of the season that has just
gone by. Identify your strengths and weaknesses.
• Formulate a plan as to what you wish to work on
regarding your game and how you are going to
go about making improvements.
• Work on your technical faults. The off-season
is the ideal time to correct bad habits through
repetitive drills that will ingrain the correct musclememory.
A variety of drills can be used to achieve
this. Change up the drills to maintain interest.
• Add new skills to your game. Again, the offseason
is the time for this and as with ironing out
technical faults, this can be done with a variety
of drills.
• Work on conditioning. There is always room
to improve your strength, agility, speed and
endurance.
• Read about, learn and develop the mental
aspects of the game. The mental aspects of the
game are incredibly important and can go a very
long way to improving performance.
• Vision is obviously important in cricket but
developing visual skills is almost totally neglected.
The off-season gives you the opportunity to learn
about and to incorporate visual skills drills into
your routine.
• Think carefully about your reasons for playing
the game and then think about the environment
that you want to play in. What factors should most
strongly influence where you play your cricket?
Available coaching, friends, opportunities to
bat or bowl etc.
• Set your long-term goals for the forthcoming
season. Having long-term goals is important
especially if you experience a patch of poor
form. Having a long-term goal or two will keep
you going and motivated through difficult
patches. Long-term goals will also keep you
motivated you to achieve your potential.
• Get your gear ready for the forthcoming
season. Select the right size bat, chose
comfortable protective equipment.
As is evident, there is a lot that you can do in the
off-season. Once you have had your off-season
break, it is time to get working. Hopefully, by
the time that the new season comes around,
COVID-19 will have been clean-bowled and it
will be your turn to bat.