3 minute read
We feel like we’ve been reading this sentence, or one very similar to it, almost every day for the past few weeks. In case you haven’t noticed, Jos Buttler hasn’t scored that many runs. He apparently tried to correct this by practicing more and more. Is this the right approach?
If you had told us that Ahmedabad would routinely host the World Cup finals when we visited the city in 2002, we would have gone out of our way to match the tone and emotion of Arrested Development. “Her?” because of the many syllables.
Ahmedabad? Her? We all know the factors that drove this development, but it is nevertheless strange that this is where the sport is now. Once again the big match will take place this weekend at The Enormodome of Rampant Egotism.
It would be very strange if India were not there, but it is possible. England could theoretically win today’s semi-final against them.
What chance of that?
If there was one thing people were sure of before this tournament, it was that England’s opening partnership would have to perform well if they were to make it to the final stages.
So productive had Salted Buttler been that it was heralded as “an unbeatable opening recipe”. one Cricinfo headlinebut since then they have delivered half a piece of a small part of the bugger all. And yet England are still in a semi-final. In any case, it is encouraging how much room for improvement there is in this area.
Jos Buttler was the closest opponent with scores of 21, 3, 3, 7, 2 and 0. Last week Fish reported that he had put in extra net hours against a combination of his own bowlers, local spinners, dogsticks and wet tennis balls. Do the results speak for themselves?
Whenever we hear of an out-of-form batsman working extra hard, we can’t help but think of David Gower’s philosophy. Whenever Gower was out of form, the one thing he absolutely wouldn’t do was go to the nets and practice.
“Why foster bad habits?” he reasoned. Gower’s approach to dealing with a rut was to start doing everything that wasn’t cricket, and do it for so long that his body forgot how to play badly.
This is brilliantly at odds with most people’s impulses – especially those of his captains and coaches – but it often worked. Conversely, if he was in shape, he would try to practice more to better consolidate that style of play.
We can’t help but admire Gower’s conviction and independence of thought, but Buttler is not a young ingenue who unconditionally does what is expected of him. He is the best limited overs batsman England has ever had; a self-made player who has devised his own way of working. Other form correction methods are available.
This week, Buttler has apparently returned to his ‘no feet’ practice, where he attempts to bat while completely rooted to the spot. This seems like an unusual move from a man whose footwork is completely messed up, but he thinks it helps his balance and encourages him to play the ball later.
Maybe that will help. Or maybe he should have avoided the nets altogether. Who knows? But you can’t do both.
Far more often than not, Buttler knows how to get the best out of himself. The question here is whether it is one of those rare cases where he is wrong, like when he philosophized himself through the socket in Test cricket.
He made it a big mistake?
#Jos #Buttler #worked #tirelessly #nets