Tips and Tricks from Lord Cowdrey

I believe that the technical standards of English cricket, at this time, demand that the coaches of England be more than ever 'on the ball'; because while there is more enthusiasm and a deeper interest taken by more youngsters in the game, there is less and less attention being paid to it's technique. One can be a bore about technique, overdo it; but today's player is not really giving the attention to detail that will serve him best. Here are ten headings that may be useful to you, as coaches:

KEEP IT SIMPLE - DO THE SIMPLE THINGS WELL. Keep your instructions simple, so pupils can really grab hold of them, keep them in mind in the middle. It's a complex art; and the best players and coaches are those who succeed in reducing its problems to the simplest terms.

STANCE - THE WRESTLER Try to get everything 'bent', and as loose as possible. If you were standing on the edge of a cliff, you wouldn't be taughtly upright, your knees would be slightly bent... once I was partnering Brian Huggett in a golf foursome and had nervously shaped for a 4-yard chip when he suddenly shouted 'Walk away, walk away!", then, coming up to me, said "Now go back and play it quite quickly, and whatever you do, bend your knees!" Later he explained "Once you bend your knees, you soften your hands". He was absolutely right, and it's true of batting: so much of the art of batting lies in 'feel', and in 'soft hands'. As soon as you tighten your legs and knees, everything else gets tight.

GRIP - TOP HAND TIGHT BUT ADJUSTABLE; BOTTOM HAND - FINGER TOUCH. I wish I had been told, as a 12-year-old, to relax that bottom hand - it was only when I got into my early Test Matches that I saw the great players around me and learnt from them. The important thing is to get that indefinable part of your top arm - somewhere between wrist and, elbow - working (it doesn't want to - your strong bottom hand wants to, and mustn't). It is very difficult to persuade schoolboys to relax the bottom hand and make the top one work because they don’t have much strength there. So I say to them I am not talking about the top hand I am talking about the whole top arm - that's what's got to work.

THE CRADLE - FOREARMS AND ELBOW FOR FEEL. The parallelogram whose 4 sides are

1. The line between the tips of your shoulders
2. . The more or less straight line formed both lower arms and hands
3. and 4, your upper arms - which in straight bat strokes will move rather as if you were cradling a baby THAT is the thought you must work into your pupils. That making the elbows lead and work is a fundamental of sound batting. How many left elbows are working today? When I turn in the TV that’s what I look for; I was taught from the age of 6 to make that left elbow work - make it go through.

HEAD STILL - THE KEY TO MASTERY. Perhaps the least emphasised to youngsters and so obviously essential! Whether you want to read a paper, or are a look-out for danger, you need to keep your head absolutely still and as erect as possible; so too in batting or you won't see the ball or time it properly

DEFENCE - FORWARD & BACK - ALONG THE PITCH. (I wish I could start again: I spent about 15 years not getting the grip of this!) So many youngsters, so many First Class players, play across themselves; contrast Barry Richards who stood still in front of his middle stump, playing straight forward or back. I envied him! Everyone exclaimed what a good player he looked, how broad his bat looked, giving the bowler the full face of it and being absolutely sure where he was in relation to his stumps. If forward, his front foot went on the fine of middle-&-leg, his bat on middle-&-off; if the ball deviated, he adjusted (or dropped his wrists, adjusting to miss); no danger of LBW. Contrast what happens if you indulge in a lateral movement: you lose where the stumps are, not quite certain if it's safe to leave the ball. One of the thrills of good batting against a good quickie is when, having correctly decided to play back and seen the ball lift, or leave you (or both), you just let it go! Very frustrating for the bowler, who has pounded up and put his all into a real beauty... for nothing. It's worth working incredibly hard to build this ability into your game.

OUTSIDE HALF OF THE BALL. Here's a little trick, say for the over-16s; when facing a good away-swinger of leg-breaker or left-arm spinner... the ball's leaving you and you've got to play it, with no time to adjust... play at the outside half of the ball. (1 learnt it from Hutton, who learnt it from Strudwick... and so on).

START OF THE INNINGS. The first two balls are desperate times, especially when you're under time-pressure (perhaps under psychological pressure from the fielding skipper too: "Up a bit! This fellow can't play on his leg stump..."). Talk to yourself. Freeze out the opposition. DONT GET INVOLVED! Simply look for the ball and survive! For the first two balls, I recommend no bat-lift at all. Wally Hammond used to grab the bat and shove his bottom hand &h t down, onto the wood for his first two or three - no bat lift He told me: "It's extraordinary how every new background takes about an over to pick up. Give your eyes time to focus".) Survive! That's all that matters, the middle of those first two deliveries, if you don’t need to play them, don’t. If either is an off stump full toss lean on it for two - it may even go for four, but don’t be tempted annoyed excited into playing some ambitious shot or you wil be regretting it for the next two hours in the pavilion. Please get this over to your pupils.

CARVE OUT THE SINGLE Next, having survived, it may be you are finding runs hard to come by. The attack is a good one - no need to feel desperate or take risks. Look around the field, pick a gap or a slow fielder and build - better a series of singles than a flashy drive that gets you out. Remember, the longer you are in the easier the game will get

BAT IN PAIRS. The greatest fun that I've had out of cricket has come from the mutual trust and achievement of batting partnerships. You can and must help each other. One may say: "I don't fancy this bowler - can you take him for a bit?", and the other may reply: "If you place one a bit wide of mid-on, I'll be looking for the single for you - he doesn't throw too well...".