[00:00:00] Josh Kennedy: Welcome back to the Cricket Matters podcast. Today we're talking all about batting with a quiet mind. So batters listen in closely, probably applies to bowlers as well, but we're talking a little bit more specifically batting today. So James, could you talk me through what are some of the The mental challenges then of batting, you know, when you're walking out to that crease, feeling a bit nervous, what are, what are some of the challenges you face?
[00:00:27] James Breese: Well, batting sucks. Let me just start with that, right? Batting can suck.
[00:00:33] Josh Kennedy: Why, why does it, come on then, well as a, as a non cricketer here, why does batting suck?
[00:00:38] James Breese: Oh, it's not, batting can be one of the best things in the world ever, but you don't go out and score 100 every week. There's just so many variables.
[00:00:46] It just takes one ball. One moment, one moment of indecision, one act of randomness to get you out or whatever it is, it's, there's just so many factors. So it's a game of failure for Batsman, right? [00:01:00] You just got to accept it.
[00:01:00] Josh Kennedy: Was it in our podcast guest who said recently, basically, you just got to accept that you're always going to get out.
[00:01:05] James Breese: Yeah. Steve James spoke about it. And also Gio Colussi spoke about it at all. He does a lot of good stuff with his guys, making sure they understand that failure is a part of it. So, yeah, so batting is, it's like golf, like, you know, you've got a perfect drive down the fairway and the next seven holes, you're pulling it out of them in the rough everywhere you go and you're perfect triple bogey to
[00:01:27] Josh Kennedy: be honest.
[00:01:27] So it's, it's, it's a,
[00:01:29] James Breese: it's an interesting mixture, but this, the challenges are when you go out to bat, you've got to make a good decision. Not necessarily a great decision, but a good decision each and every ball. Cause there is going to be an element of luck, but it comes with it as well. But you make your own luck.
[00:01:48] You put yourself in better positions to play the ball better and play the ball with a full face of the bat, make good contact and score, score some runs. So it's, there's this element here. [00:02:00] So the challenges they face is not always technique. It's the pressure around you, the pressure of the game, the pressure you put on yourselves.
[00:02:08] Yeah. The pressure from coaches, the pressure from the potential of a lot of young kids who want to go to trials and want to get in there, the pressure of making the team, there's so much external pressure on there, on people that they forget the basics of going out there, watching the ball, hit the ball, score some more runs, make good decisions and just accept sometimes you will get a good ball.
[00:02:34] Sometimes there'll be a first ball. Sometimes it will be after you score 150. Whatever it is, there'll be a ball that comes and it'll have your name on it. And that's okay. The bowls are going to win too, right? They've got to win too. So there's multiple challenges, but what we're seeing time and time again, is it's not always a technique issue that batsmen have.
[00:02:55] It's the mental processes and mental cues and toolbox they have to cope with [00:03:00] all the external factors to help them think calmly, think collectively, and think about what do I need to do next? As opposed to, Oh crap. You know, the, the team, the captain is not going to pick me next game, or that I'm not going to get into the, into the Wales team if I don't perform well today, because that's all negative self talk that's going to bring you down.
[00:03:18] It's not helping you focus and be present there and there. Yeah. No, some, um,
[00:03:24] Josh Kennedy: research on mental managing mental activity effectively from Sutton, uh, in 2007 says a quiet mind doesn't equate to the absence of thought, but rather the presence of controlled focused thinking. I like that. I like that. So it's not like you're not thinking anything.
[00:03:42] It's you are able to control your thoughts and suppose if, you know, if negative thoughts do come in, you can, you can push them out and focus again.
[00:03:52] James Breese: Yeah, exactly. And that's, and that is where meditation comes in. Right. And I love how some of the, some [00:04:00] meditation coaches talk about the idea of imagine yourself at a train station and there's a train that whizzes by, you know, at the platform, you're standing facing the platform and you can see the train whizz by.
[00:04:11] That's like thoughts. It's just whizz by. And that's what you're gonna try and do with your mind. A thought will enter your mind, it'll keep coming. But you got to let it enter your mind at the same time and just be aware of that and say, yeah, it's okay. It's going, it's not stopping at the station. You're not going to worry about that train.
[00:04:23] It's just whizzing by. And it's the same thing with batting. So yeah, I'll give me some thoughts and go, Oh shit. That was a shit shot. That's I get that. And you know, I do that too, but no, forget about it. Move on. And that's why we talk about you need to have a process of dealing with all of this. You need to have a routine.
[00:04:41] And I think that's the key to, to all of this, to control your environment. What is your process? What is your routine to help you? To help put you in the best possible position to think clearly and effectively to execute your game plan, whatever that is. Do
[00:04:58] Josh Kennedy: you think you have to have a certain amount of [00:05:00] mental toughness to be a batsman?
[00:05:03] And a bowler, I guess?
[00:05:05] James Breese: Yeah, well, cricket's a game. Cricket is, you know, as they all say, 90 percent mental, 10 percent technical. Yeah, absolutely. The higher up you go, the difference, I think, between players is their ability to cope mentally. Yeah, I think. Particularly, not that I have experience playing at the pro level, but you have A lot of people with equal skill set, but then it's what comes down between the two ears, I think, most of the time.
[00:05:28] I'm sure a lot of the great coaches will talk about that too, and they have done previously in passing conversation. So it's, yeah, there is lots of things going on here, but I always come back to it. If you haven't got a routine, If you haven't got a process, how do you expect to perform at your best every single time when you go out, or when things are going wrong, you don't feel great, how do you pull yourself back into it, into that flow like state?
[00:05:52] Yeah. So
[00:05:54] Josh Kennedy: then what are some techniques to achieve a quiet mind when batting? [00:06:00] Of
[00:06:00] James Breese: course, there's loads, but I'm going to start with what is your routine and what is your routine? from the night before, the day before. For me, I know I perform at my best when I've hit some balls the day before. It doesn't have to be long.
[00:06:16] It just has to be just, I need to feel like I feel, feel better on ball. I know that on the Friday nights before the game day Saturday, I have to chill out. I have, I like to go to the movies, I like to go to the cinema and watch a film. I like to do the meditation. If you haven't listened to the meditation episode, I suggest you listen to that as well, and I'll do a form of meditation.
[00:06:36] So getting this calm, cool, relaxed state. I pack my bag of kits the night before, because I don't want to be rushing around in the morning finding stuff. So if my washing hasn't been done, if I'm missing my jock strap or whatever it is, right? Yeah, not like a
[00:06:53] Josh Kennedy: small thing, but I think that's really important, isn't it?
[00:06:55] Just being prepared, having everything ready to go, as you say. Because if you're suddenly rushing [00:07:00] around for stuff in the morning, your brain is going to be all over the place, isn't it?
[00:07:03] James Breese: Absolutely. So it's, it's having this, having, it's taking control and ownership. Of your, of your process, of your mental routine, your mental cues, your mental state.
[00:07:15] So if you're rushed and pushed for time, guess what? You'll be rushed and pushed when you're out in the crease. You'll be forcing things when you shouldn't be. So it's about preparing the night before, maybe even the week before. If you know you're working against specific bowlers or playing against more spin bowlers.
[00:07:34] You need to face more spinners, whatever it is. It's your prep the week before, but just to keep it simple, start with the night before. Have you done your final practice? Are you happy with the way you did? Cool. Chill out, meditate, pack your bags. It sounds as simple as that. Which then leads into the morning, into the next morning where make sure you sleep well.
[00:07:54] Because sleep is, we'll do a whole episode on sleep at some point, but sleep is the [00:08:00] essence of life. We're not going to survive and do well if we don't sleep. All right. Now, I'm not saying you have to sleep well the night before a game because sometimes you get nervous and that's fine. And there's loads of research out there that talks about this that says sometimes people perform well when they don't have that much sleep.
[00:08:18] But we're talking about the rest of the week. Are you sleeping well the whole week leading up to it? One night's not gonna make a difference, right? Maybe it increases adrenaline to help you get through that day. That's okay. But not saying I have to have perfect sleep the night before, but try and get as much perfect sleep leading up to the game as possible, which then leads into the morning when you wake up.
[00:08:38] What is your routine then? What is your routine? Like I've said to you before, my routine is I meditate, stretch, mobilize, watch some TV, have a coffee with the boys. That's my start, my routine. It gets me into that cool, calm, relaxed phase. I'd like to get to the ground early. Why? Because I don't want to feel like I'm rushed.
[00:08:56] If I'm rushed, then I'll be rushed my grandpa. It's that sort of [00:09:00] mindset I'm seeing. So a lot of the times when I speak to the guys, cricketers, you know, adults, as well as the young kids coming through, there's always a state of rushness. So before they even get to the game, they're not cool, calm, collected.
[00:09:15] They're rushed, anxious, worried, nervous, and they haven't got a process here. So I hope that But most people are thinking, well, what are we doing out in the middle? No, no, no, no. Let's bring it back, right back to the start and think about these processes and these steps first.
[00:09:31] Josh Kennedy: Do you use any visualisation techniques or positive self talk, anything like that, personally?
[00:09:38] James Breese: I'm aware that when negative thoughts come to the mind, now, more so, and I know I need to get them out, like that train whizzing through the station, out of my mind as fast as possible, because it's not helpful. So, It's not helpful at all because I know negative thoughts impact your performance, impact your mental [00:10:00] state and impact everything.
[00:10:01] There's a great test I like to do with the guys who have negative talk, self talk all the time. Why get them to hold, stolen from Perry Nicholson, get them to hold their hands out to the side. I asked them to close their eyes and think about the best time of their life. I'll stand behind them and try and push their arms down.
[00:10:17] It's almost impossible. They're super strong. They can hold these hands up. If I switch the question to think of the worst time in your life, think of a moment that made you really feel like crap. And ask them to do it and they're trying to hold it here. They're thinking about it, the hands drop down super easy.
[00:10:32] And it's just a simple technique to understand that how negative self talk can impact everything that you do. So I don't say what look at visualization or think about great performances or how I've done in the past. I just make sure I eliminate those, those negative self talk as fast as I can by going through my process, going through my routine, which comes back to Be turning up the ground early, hitting the ball early.
[00:10:57] And then when I'm out in the middle, following my process out into [00:11:00] the middle, which involves breathing techniques, it involves various different things, but it helps me think and switch on in between each ball. Fantastic.
[00:11:08] Josh Kennedy: It's just to wrap up then to summarize, maintaining a quiet mind while batting is all about what?
[00:11:17] James Breese: Routine and process, routine and process. And I think I haven't really touched on what to do out in the middle. So. We've talked about routine and process before the game and leading into the game and then having a few throwdowns. But what's your process and routine leading out to the crease? So a lot of people don't have this or know this.
[00:11:37] So this is, let's take the kids for example. They're nervous before they go out to bat. They haven't got the skill set and tool set yet to manage this. So I think the first step for a lot of people they need to do is, next time they perform well, next time they take five wickets, next time they score a hundred, Write down in a book everything [00:12:00] they did well that day.
[00:12:02] How were they feeling? What was going through their mind? What did it feel like? And then keep doing this every time you perform because success leaves clues. It gets you thinking about what you're doing. So that helps you build a routine and a process for you because everyone's going to be different.
[00:12:21] Everyone is going to be different. They can't be the same routine for everybody. So for me, I'll run to the field, stretch a little bit, do some shadow batting. Look at it, look around, look where the gaps are, look where I need to play, have a look at the pitch. Sounds crazy, but again, shout out to Kevin Lyons, old school Kevin Lyons here now for those who know him in South Wales.
[00:12:43] Whenever we used to have a net with him, he'd always say, what's the pitch like today? What's it doing? He'd make us, he'd make us ask what this pitch is doing. Is it going to stay low? Is it going to rebound? Is it going to spin? Is it going to seam? Is it a green top? Is it a wet one? So I'd look down at the pitch and go, right, it is a, [00:13:00] it's a pitch now that is, needs to be, you know, we need to be mindful of in a sense of like, we can't do flashing strokes straight away.
[00:13:11] It's a wet damp wicket, which you get in South Wales all the time. That's the first thing. And I'd go to the crease, mark. My God, right, I take centre, I'll scratch it, tap my bat a few times, look around, look around, and then I'll get into the process of, watch the ball, you know, head and straight, I'll say, head and straight, head and straight, head and straight, and I'll go watch the ball, watch the ball, positive, as my first shot, be positive when I'm playing, right, that's the first, and then I'll switch off, shake off, look around, come back, I'll do a number of deep breathing exercises, I'll breathe in for four, through the nose, hold for four, and breathe out for four.
[00:13:46] Right? And that's not only a way to calm down, but it's also a way to, uh, lower your resting heart rate. Think about all the cross country skiers, who are like, and shooting, all those, those guys, right? That's breathing techniques from military snipers to [00:14:00] cross country skiers to lower the heart rate, but it also helps you stay calm and focused.
[00:14:04] Josh Kennedy: Hey, did you know that Sashin Tendulkar uses deep breathing or used deep breathing? I've heard he did. I've forgotten now for the purpose, but he had, yeah. It's in the notes. See, I didn't know that. It's just in the notes. Yeah. There's my cricket knowledge.
[00:14:19] James Breese: But it's that process. It's like, what's your school set to let the negative thoughts go?
[00:14:23] Use calming breathing techniques. Um, another one, in between balls. I remember this from Glenn McGraw, he spoke about this. He'd have a song of the day, and he'd sing a song as he came into the ball sometimes. And like, sometimes now, if I'm listening to a song, you know, in the car in the morning, like in between balls and I'm playing well, one of those songs will stick.
[00:14:43] I remember, shout out to Ollie Hughes. It's one of the most fun batting times I've ever had. Was, I think a few seasons ago when we played in the, no, two seasons ago. Well, we played in the third team to help out because they had no players. The second team, you know, and the game was called off at Cardiff.
[00:14:58] So therefore we had to go and help out in [00:15:00] the third team. We'd both been to watch Barbie in the cinema the night before. So we had the bar, both of us were singing and dancing to the Barbie soundtrack in between balls. It was hellish fun, right? It was ridiculous. We won the game, we both scored runs. I had a big smile on my face.
[00:15:12] So just random stuff like that, that helps you calm, stay calm, focused and relaxed too. So. Lots of different things, but I hope that gives an idea of where I'm going to go. But when we're working with athletes and we're helping develop their mental prep, it's different for everybody, right? I'm, just giving you ideas and something to think about to start thinking.
[00:15:30] What is your own technique? What is your own focus going forward? Well, exactly.
[00:15:35] Josh Kennedy: What is your own routine? Make sure you, uh, develop it so that it's batting with a quiet mind and that's it for today. Please don't forget to rate review and subscribe and if you would like our free training plan then go to cricketmatters.
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