Clarke played in 105 tests, scored over 8000 runs at an average of over 51with 27 centuries, and captained his country with a style of his own.
I feel that our team in defeat should grow tougher, hungrier and more united, there should not be any room for“aging unfit underperforming stars of yesteryear.”
Clarke as a captain stamped his authority from the word go.
He states that he always had confidence in the boys, and the boys had confidence in each other. They knew that thissomething about themselves that probably was not apparent to the outside world.
O n their tour of England, they built and refined their plans. For some batsmen like Alistair Cook they settled on their bowling plans early and pursued them throughout, for other batsmen like Bell they had to revise their plans because he was successful in counteracting their earlier plans. It was a matter of having the discipline and control to execute the lines and lengths they wanted to bowl. From batsmen from one to eleven theytalked about their plans, to each of them and took feedback from the bowlers and the fielders, and got themselves to the point where the bowlers knew precisely what they wanted to do, when they got the ball into their hands.
Putting the ball on to the right place is not the only part of the puzzle but having the field setting that will complement the bowling.
Clarke never adhered to the text book in his field setting, for a batsman like Kevin Peterson who always went on the front foot, on slow wickets, Clarke would place his field so that catchers were placed on unorthodox positions between the arch of square leg and mid on, when the wickets were bouncier, he tried leg slips in a number of positions and a short leg behind rather than in front of square. He was pragmatic and results focussed and did not particularly cared how he got there.
Clarke also implies that a captain should strike a balance between planning and letting go of a plan, there must be a proper plan in the first place with an option of changing.
In my opinion, in batting a batsman should treat every ball according to its merit, when the going gets tough, he should concentrate even harder and his defensive skills should come into operation.
In Test cricket, a lot of leaving the ball, defending good balls and remaining water tight in defence are essential.
THE SUPPORT STAFF
In the modern day cricket, support staff plays a role in the team’s performance otherwise it can be a waste of money.
If the team is losing to weaker sides in tandem, the way of solving the problem could be a headache; one begins to wonder what the support staff’s capabilities are. My personal feeling is that the support staff has a problem in communication. Communication through a third party could be the biggest problem.When this happens the effectiveness of the support staff is blunted.
Indian International cricketers Virat Kohli downwards can understand the Queen’s language good enough to absorb the points given to them by the support staff.
One wonders what would happen if we get a different set of support staff, who could communicate in our language where the instruction given will be fully absorbed by one another without any confusion.
Bangladesh for instances who have become giant killers in the International cricketing arena, have many Lankans in their support staff plus their Chief Coach. If only we can bring them back to our fold!!
My point is that we have ample cricketing talent at home, we are discovering new talent by the day, when it comes to harnessing it is a different ball game altogether.We lost the one day series to the minnows of World Cricket, one can only hope that the local fan base will not deplete because of our poor show. People upstairs must all pull their socks up and bring Sri Lanka cricket back to their pristine glory of the past.
Getting back to Michael Clarke, he states that there brand of cricket, is that they would play as if they are not afraid to lose. That is easier said than done. Of course one does not want to lose, but if one lets it become a fear, it can paralyse one.One must find a way to conquer fear.
In the field, he says they never let up on their mantra “every run counts’ and fielded in a way that showed they enjoyed every minute of it. As a result their misfields were few and catching almost faultless.
Clarke states that the verbal side of cricket is part of the aggression of the game.The Australian team sometimes cops a bit of flack for its verbal aggression,but they make no apologies when they stay within the code of conduct, and he further adds that there is not much of difference on the verbal side, between international teams. The verbal part of the game is not to hurt the opponent. It’s about getting themselves up for the battle.
Clarke used to carry an inspirational message taped to the lining of his bag:
“A professional is One who competes against the challenges brought before him by others and is willing to test himself each and every day to be the best he can possibly be and not the best others feel he should be!”
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