Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Super sports psychology piece (Cricinfo) on Brendon McCullum: Let's Delve!
Go read the piece embedded at the end of the post- an article by ex-Hampshire captain Mark Nicholas on Brendon McCullum. I pick out excerpts from the article and embellish with some commentary:
"His
captaincy does much the same: "We are all over you and don't forget
it." His tactics challenge prosaic thinking. His bowlers are empowered to
take wickets. His fieldsmen are inspired by his own startling fielding
performances. This style is more All Black than Black Cap. But for Richie McCaw
read Brendon McCullum"
"...the
Black Caps must, and surely will, continue to play McCullum's game. This means
sticking to the flow, not overthinking or overanalysing. The minute you change
approach, or even marginalise, you screw up. If you focus too much on the
outcome, it becomes difficult to play so freely. An attacking mindset can all
too easily become a defensive mindset. The outcome needs to be a given. Concern
for the consequences diverts attention from what must be done."
As I said in a tweet- clear
strategic differences: McC ready to give Boult 10, ABD brings Duminy early. NZ
berserk at the start of batting, SA steady.
"McCullum's assault against England
was a real f*** you of a performance. It said to his men: "They are not
worthy"
The same can be said of McCullum's massive over vs Dale Steyn- the world's premium fast bowler- is just not worthy. Carting him for 24 off 5 balls, with the most authoritative being the dance down the wicket, massive straight six.
McCullum
seems to be creating a "reality distortion field", a la Steve Jobs -
telling everyone to trust him on his "All or nothing" style. Under this reality distortion, reputations of bowlers like Steyn don't matter, and neither does the superior batting and bowling averages of the Australians (before the Australia game). He
coaxed Daniel Vettori out of retirement, and result: Vettori bowled a super
spell against Australia, and pulled off the catch of the tournament in that one
handed pluck-out-of-thin-air at the boundary.
His forceful style has the entire nation enthralled. Here's the letter he wrote to the public, published on the Herald cover page, urging them to support the black caps, thus enveloping them in his reality distortion field:
Paeans will be written out of McCullum if the Black Caps go on to win the world cup. I hope they do, and in which case this post will join the long such list.
His forceful style has the entire nation enthralled. Here's the letter he wrote to the public, published on the Herald cover page, urging them to support the black caps, thus enveloping them in his reality distortion field:
Paeans will be written out of McCullum if the Black Caps go on to win the world cup. I hope they do, and in which case this post will join the long such list.
Side notes
1. New
Zealand and Netherlands are fascinating sporting nations. Despite sparse
populations, they seem to produce some champion teams, pioneering fascinating
new ways of playing existing games. The Kiwis with their All Blacks team in
rugby, and the Dutch with their Total Football in Football.
2. Did not know that Martin Nicholas (the author
of the piece) was an ex-Hampshire captain. I imagined he was a Harsha
Bhogle.
3. Both the Australia and the South Africa matches were narrow wins, and there is the randomness factor of course- if Duminy had not tumbled into Behradin, had ABD not muffed the run out, and so on. Well, two answers:
a) In the course of 50 overs, there are equal random events in favour of and against. This aint T20.
b) His captaincy was of this kind despite the results. The results only create a stage for the style, for more people to see and appreciate.
Mike Nicholas' piece: http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/838569.html
3. Both the Australia and the South Africa matches were narrow wins, and there is the randomness factor of course- if Duminy had not tumbled into Behradin, had ABD not muffed the run out, and so on. Well, two answers:
a) In the course of 50 overs, there are equal random events in favour of and against. This aint T20.
b) His captaincy was of this kind despite the results. The results only create a stage for the style, for more people to see and appreciate.
Mike Nicholas' piece: http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/838569.html
Labels: Esprit de sports
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