question
Q: Ian Chappell tells a story about Garry Sobers and Geoff Boycott
They were playing in England and Geoff Boycott went to Garry Sobers and said, "Garry, you seem to get me out lbw a lot. I don't understand it."
Garry was quite good psychologically as well. He said to Boycott, "Unlike a lot of people, Geoffrey, I don't think your technique is that good."
That would have cut Boycott to the core because he prided himself on his technique. "Your front foot is too far across. You can't get your bat around your pad and my inswinger gets you lbw. That's what is happening."
They go out on the field next day and Boycott is batting. Sobers runs up, bowls the first ball, and angles it across Boycott and he edges it to slip.
As he is walking off, Sobey says to him, "Geoffrey, you didn't ask me about the other one."... šš
answered
Q: The very best batters are fearless in their intent and confident in their mindset, talent, and training to score runs.
Even so, Iām sure at some stage of their careers they had their doubts and found runs hard to come by. They might also have experienced some level of FOGO (fear of getting out).
As a conversation starter and to assist others, if you have experienced FOGO, I'd like to know what strategies or plans you've implemented to help you overcome it.
A: I have some experience with this question as my son has just turned 18 and after the 2022-23 season, we had a chat about his cricket, and said he got anxious and was worried about getting out. He would always defend well early in his innings but would get stuck between scoring runs and not losing his wicket.
During the off season he said he wanted coaching, so we arranged for a batting coach. We spoke to the coach and one of the first things he said about getting over the fear of getting out was to score singles and run hard between wickets.
They worked on a plan to identify what shots to play and how he could get singles. It worked for him as he was more focused in how he could score runs and had a good season.
