Josh Kennedy: [00:00:00] This is the Cricket Matters podcast, and today we're talking about how to watch the ball better when batting. Uh, James, I'm obviously not a batter or a cricketer as the joke goes, so come on. Tell me, how do you watch the ball better? What are the secrets to share? 

James Breese: Well, this is, this is the interesting thing.

You hear so many pros and clubby just saying, Hey, to watch the ball. Just watch the ball. What is watching the ball, right. What does that mean exactly? What does it mean? And it's something I'm finding fascinating because I'd argue that a lot of people who get out don't remember the ball that got 'em out.

They don't remember seeing it. They lose track of lose sight of it. Right. And if you, again, listen to the pros, the key thing they always say is Watch the ball. Pros, like rookie ponting, always math to themselves. Watch the ball, watch the ball, watch the ball. Sometimes not, not to watch the ball. Let's keep other thoughts out.

But the point is, well, what is watching the ball? This is something I learned in baseball, [00:01:00] because in baseball you haven't got the same cues as in cricket. Now, cricketers bowl, fast bowlers particularly, they can, sometimes they can run in, you can see the ball the whole way and they bowl it and you can see it.

But sometimes they sling it. In baseball pitching, they've got a MIT and the ball's hiding behind this mit. You don't see it to the last second, right? So their vision has to be spot on. So as I'm a big believer in any sports, and you, you too, Josh, we like to look at other sports and learn from them and how we can apply it.

God knows how to say it. And this is why I first learn. Do you know what I mean? Well, this is where first learn the concept of soft focus and hard focus. Right now what I'm learning with a lot of cricketers, they don't watch the ball. They don't know how to watch the ball. They're nervous about many of the things.

You've got so many other thoughts that they haven't got a process about it, but not just about setting up, but about watching the ball. Right? And [00:02:00] they just kind of, it just happens, but you need to make a conscious effort on how to watch the ball. So lemme just very briefly talk about soft focus and hard focus.

Soft focus is about having a, a soft gaze around an area. Okay? Now, in baseball pitching or in batters watching a baseball pitcher, this tends to be around the head and around the chest, sometimes even down to the feet. Just watching the person as a whole not fixed on a specific spot, like a point in their baseball cap where they can read the logo, but the whole area, 'cause they're trying to get as much information about what type of picture's gonna come to them.

So that's called soft focus, but then it goes to the moment of delivery of the pitch mo. The moment of pitching to a hard focus where they go to the area, the box around the area, they creates an imaginary box around the area of release point. Okay? So where they pitch and throw, they're preempting where that ball's gonna come from.

[00:03:00] So it's going from a hard, fo soft focus from the body. To a hard focus to where the ball is gonna come out from so they can start watching the ball and get the cues from the ball so it translate to a hard focus from the ball coming out. Does that make sense? We're non cricketer, Josh. Does that make sense?

Josh Kennedy: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that it does make sense. It sounds incredibly hard to do. It's that it take a hell of a lot of practice. You know what I mean? It is. To, to switch your, so when you hear some, your, your vision that quickly, you know, 

James Breese: it is, it, it is, it's a skill. Like anything, it's a skill, but it's an important skill.

Now, again, I talk to the best batters and the pros who've played at the very highest levels. They always say the best batters are the ones who can pick up line length better than anybody else. And yes, they have great techniques. Assume everyone has great technique. If they're picking up line length better than everyone else, I'd argue that it has something to do with their vision.

So some of the top players say they can remember seeing the seam coming down with the ball. They can see the ball coming on. This other [00:04:00] players can see the minute, the minute details of, of the color of the ball as it comes down Now. What you hear is, and again, like I think again, I'm using Steve James an example.

He spoke about how he was someone who used to watch the sea. He knew he was in good nick when he could see the seam on the ball. Then people like Mike Atherton had a more of a soft focus approach to seeing where the area comes out. Like I've never spoken to Mike Atherton, but like that's what he, he suggested he spoke about.

Now it's important that we as cricketers and batters understand this concept. Because if you're trying to focus so hard on the ball for such a long period of time, particularly fast forward with a big runup, right? Your eyes get tired, you can't focus on that spot, you blink, your eyes get watery, right?

You can't focus on that spot for such a long time. Right? So it's understanding this concept of shifting softer, hard, or if you're stay hard, cool. But it's not all fast. Bowlers will show you the ball. Can he? Our good friend Michael can, an ex-pro from South Africa, played for Morgan too. [00:05:00] He used to face the great Alan Donald, and he says, yes.

It was scary. Yes, he was quick. But the one good thing about facing Alan Donald, I could see the ball the whole way. The way he presented the ball the whole way I could watch it. Whereas other bowlers who are more slingy, it became a lot, it became a lot harder because they lost sight of the ball, right?

This is why I first started having problems. From Slingers, when I first came back to start playing cricket again, I was like, well, what, what are these sling, what are these side, uh, side arms and these slingers, like, I've never used them before. It never happened back when I was playing, but it was so hard because you lose track of the ball before it comes down most of the time.

So it's, it was, I had to find a way to, to learn about this, and it was just from my time in baseball and learning all that, all that stuff there is that right? They use hard focus and soft focus, and it applies to batting too. What I'm trying to get across to players, again, I think this needs to be a video where we're demonstrating this, is that you need to understand the concept of hard focus and soft focus, which one you [00:06:00] decide which one you prefer, but you need both tools and skillset because I.

Not all bowlers will present the ball as cleanly the whole way as Aal Donald, for example, they could be more like malinger, the Sri Lankan, who's known as malinger. The slinger, right? From becoming more sidearm. You lose it, right? The more slingy type action. If you lose it, well then all your cues go out of the window.

So I, I'm a big believer in the most, one of the most important skills to teach. Players from an early age how to watch the ball. And the concept of soft and hard focus, I think is key to helping people understand this. And I'm hoping, I'm not butchering this concept by talking it through, but I think a video and showing different types of bowlers and how we do it maybe more in order here.

Josh Kennedy: Yeah. How does that sound? I, it makes sense, but, uh, yeah. Video would obviously help, uh, help people. Exactly. 

James Breese: Anyway, I'm gonna No, but one of the Go on. Go, go, go. I'll say one other thing to think about as well is, this is the other thing I realized in baseball very quickly, and [00:07:00] particularly hitters. Again, all the grates are cricket batters.

They all say keep, keep your head still, right? Mm-hmm. Keep your eyes level, keep it still. Right. What the baseball guys tell you is that if a moving head. Inadvertently increases the speed of the ball. You put your perception of the speed of the ball. So a, an 85 mile an hour pitch, if you've got a moving head towards the ball, could make it more like 95 miles an hour.

So it comes back to the stillness of your head, a point of contact. It's not just for like, keeping alignment and keeping your technique, uh, in a, in a good position, a good place. It actually helps you understand the depth and the speed of the ball at the same time. Right? Yeah. And pick it up earlier. So with all this soft and hard focus, a still head at the point of delivery is key.

So you don't misjudge the speed or the line or the length, in my opinion. So there you go. 

Josh Kennedy: Nice. I like it. Just quickly, uh, to, uh, to wrap up, I was gonna say, are there any. [00:08:00] Ways to practice this away from the pitch? 

James Breese: Great question. There's, there's loads of vision apps and drills, um, you can focus on. I think there's applied vision baseball.

They do one that specifically for baseball, though I don't, I don't know anything in cricket, they do it. You've gotta practice this in in Nets. Yeah. In a game. It's really hard. It's, it's awareness again, first. Mm-hmm. And then seeing what works for you best. And understand that concept of where you've gotta focus from.

Now I'm like, me personally, I've gone, I've gone away from a hard focus the whole way because I was struggling with a couple of bowls who sling it like, well, I'm the, I'm the slingers and the side arms, right? So I go now to a soft focus around the bowlers. They're coming in particularly, it's easy with far spinners, a bit different but far, you know, soft focus around everything here now with the ball lightly there.

So I'm seeing what's going on. Are they doing something different with the hands? 'cause there's a bowl the other week. Me and Ben O'Neill opened the batting and we both noticed that he covered the ball up a different way [00:09:00] when he is balling an in swinger compared to his or a slower change up. Right. So we saw that.

We both saw it, but we're having, I had more of a soft focus around it, but the point of delivery, I shift the area, the box around where the ball's coming out. That's what I do. Yeah. So it's practicing this in nets or maybe with a friend in slow motion like we do with some of our guys. We, it's a hard process to get right first.

Yeah. No, but it's like the eyes and muscles like any other thing. And they need to be trained, 

Josh Kennedy: don't 

James Breese: they? Yep, exactly. We should find some experts this, some baseball. I think we just need to bring 'em in. That'd be pretty cool. Wouldn't Yeah, and interview them. Yeah, let's do that, shall we? 

Josh Kennedy: Let's do that.

Absolutely. Let's definitely do that. There we go guys. So practice your hard focus and your soft focus. Uh, that is it for today. Please don't forget to re rate, review, and subscribe. And if you would like our free training plan, then go to cricket manners.com/train. And remember, our goal is to make you a better cricketer.