What 30 Professional Cricketers Told Us Young Players Should Do
Photo: © MCC
Over the past two years we've sat down with World Cup winners, Test match fast bowlers, county captains, England coaches and players who've travelled the entire cricketing world.
And we've asked every single one of them the same question: what advice would you give a young cricketer?
We've now put thirty of those answers side by side. Here's the strange part.
Almost none of them talked about technique.
1. Do everything, don't specialise too early
This was the single most common answer, and it came from every corner of the game.
Chris Jordan grew up playing tape-ball and softball at Spartan Cricket Club in Barbados, and in the street, on the beach, and in the classroom using desks as wickets.
"When I was a kid, I did everything: batting, bowling and fielding. That's the best way to learn about cricket and raise your Cricket IQ. It makes you understand the game from every angle."
Kemar Roach, 250-plus Test wickets for the West Indies, started as a batter who ran athletics at school:
"Try everything: bat, bowl, keep wicket. Don't just stick to one thing too soon."
And England captain Heather Knight puts the sharpest edge on it:
"Put yourself in loads of different situations. Play with different people, bat in different positions, face loads of different bowlers. Cricket is hard. Allow yourself to fail at times, because you'll get better by failing."
Sam Billings was spotted as a pace bowler. He only ended up behind the stumps because his under-12 team needed a keeper one day and he volunteered. Leah Dobson was a wicketkeeper who bowled spin before she became a batter. Dane Vilas was a batter who tried the gloves "one day" and never gave them back.
Nobody arrives knowing what they are.
2. Don't chase pace. It'll come.
Two England fast bowlers, two identical answers.
Mark Wood was a top-order batter who bowled "little away swingers" until he was sixteen. Then came a growth spurt, and eventually a 96mph spell in an Ashes series. Liam Plunkett, a 2019 World Cup winner who now coaches in the United States, is blunt:
"Don't rush to bowl fast. Enjoy the game, and the speed will come." "Learning control and consistency first; pace will come later. Focus on your action, seam position, and accuracy."
If you're eleven and trying to bowl at 80mph, you're working on the wrong thing.
3. Find your super strength
Tymal Mills didn't pick up a cricket ball until he was fourteen. He was a football and basketball kid. He went on to win a T20 World Cup with England.
"Develop a super strength. Something you're the best at and stick with it."
You don't need to be good at everything. You need to be the best in your team at one thing. That's what gets you picked.
4. Master the basics before the fancy stuff
Sam Billings has played in the IPL and made his Test debut in an Ashes series, and this is his hill:
"Everyone loves the scoops and reverse sweeps. But if you can't play a straight drive, it's very hard to do anything else. If you can hit straight, you can play any shot."
Warwickshire's Adam Hose agrees: "Stick to the basics: balance, footwork and head position."
Alyssa Healy (six T20 World Cups, two ODI World Cups) was asked for the secret to wicketkeeping and gave the least glamorous answer imaginable:
"Make sure you watch the ball. That is the secret to wicketkeeping. Sometimes we get caught up in technique, how our feet are moving, and where our gloves are, but ultimately if you watch the ball and you catch it, you've done your job."
Billings' advice for young keepers is two words long: "Just catch balls!" He spent hours in the garden with his dad after school. "We made it into a game. Three drops and you're out!"
5. Failure is part of the job
This came up more than anything except "enjoy it."
Saif Zaib says the biggest lesson of his career has been "understanding that failure is part of the game and not getting too down when times get tough."
Ben Brown, fifteen years behind the stumps for Sussex and Hampshire:
"Cricket gives you more tough days than good ones, so learn to enjoy your team-mates' success as well as your own. Then when you have a good day, they'll be happy for you too."
Sussex quick Henry Crocombe:
"Not everyone can do well the whole time. You've got to accept that it happens. It's part of cricket, part of any sport, part of life. Embrace it and move on. Don't dwell on the past."
Sam Billings trialled for Kent Under-10s at six years old and didn't get in. "I remember crying my eyes out!" He went back the next year and made it.
"I was never the best player in my age group. But I worked hard, and I loved it."
6. It's cool to be nervous
Ben Brown's best piece of received advice, which he now gives to every young player he meets:
"That it's cool to be nervous. Everyone feels the same. A lot of young cricketers think something is wrong with them if they feel anxious about batting or bowling, but you need those feelings to perform well. Once you know that, you enjoy your cricket so much more."
7. Run your own race
Shadley van Schalkwyk didn't make a provincial team until he was eighteen. He now plays in Major League Cricket.
"Enjoy the journey, keep learning and don't compare yourself to others. Run your own race and focus on improving your own game."
South Africa's Nadine de Klerk was, in her own words, "really bad at it" for her first few years. Her parents joked about driving for hours to watch her score zero. Then one day she batted up the order and made a hundred.
"Sometimes you only need one decent knock to give you a little bit of confidence."
Her advice now she's a world-class all-rounder?
"I look a bit funny when I bat and I hit the ball in weird areas, but it works for me. It doesn't matter how it looks, as long as it's effective and you're confident in your skill."
8. Control what you can control
Corey Anderson, who once scored a 36-ball ODI century:
"You can't control selection, conditions or decisions, but you can control your preparation, attitude and effort."
Former England quick Saj Mahmood found his pace not through a technical change but a mental one, after watching Shoaib Akhtar bowl one evening on television:
"Sometimes it's not about changing your action. It's about changing what you believe you can do."
9. Be curious. Be a sponge.
Jason Gillespie, who bowled alongside Warne and McGrath:
"Be open, be curious and, most of all, enjoy it. Cricket should always be fun."
Matthew Fisher, who became the youngest player ever to appear in a competitive county match at fifteen:
"Take everything in. Listen to all the different advice, listen to the commentators. Then try it, and work out what's right for you and how your body works."
Anisha Patel: "Always want to learn and try new things."
10. Enjoy it
Every single one of them said this. All thirty.
Kemar Roach: "Sometimes parents put pressure on kids, but at that age it's about enjoying yourself."
Georgia Adams: "Don't give up and enjoy it!"
Grace Harris: "Just have fun, watch the ball, hit it. That's about it. It's real easy!"
Henry Crocombe: "It sounds a bit cliché, but really enjoy the game. As long as you enjoy it, you're going to be improving."
Seren Smale: "Have as much fun as you can for as long as possible. If you can keep the fun going, you'll play for as long as you want."
Dane Vilas: "Cricket's hard enough already. Don't make it harder. Remember why you started and enjoy every moment."
Liam Plunkett: "It's a game which is played best with a smile."
And the best version of it, from Katie George, which is really a message to every adult reading over a child's shoulder:
"Have fun, have more fun, find ways to have fun. If I'd known when I was younger that I had so much time to get better at cricket, I would have concentrated on having fun way more."
So what's the actual lesson?
Thirty professionals. Hundreds of international caps between them. Not one said "work on your cover drive."
They talked about curiosity, patience, friendship, handling bad days, and having fun. The technique came later, and it came because they loved the game enough to keep turning up.
Which is good news. Because every single one of those things is available to you right now, in your back garden, this afternoon.
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