Fashions change. Difficult times put pressure on businesses to cut corners or do away with luxuries. False economies are made when specialist services are dropped. When conditions improve, the company who has genuine experts already in place is ready for recovery – they can really fly. The business that’s been pared right down may have survived the downturn, but it could easily fail in the recovering market.

Supporting existing talent, finding the new

As in business, so in sport. Never has the role of the specialist been so important. As teams re-assemble after the Coronavirus lockdowns, it’s the clubs and the teams who can maximise incremental gains who will make most progress and will get back on their feet first. And maximising these small gains means leveraging specialist skills, so we know we’ll have the edge on the competition. In turn this means helping last year’s players get better, and spotting new talent. It’s about building on existing relationships and forging new ones. To do this properly requires specialists. In cricket this means making sure your club has access to enough specialists to nurture diverse, and sometimes competing, strengths.

What’s so special about Spin?

One such specialist is the spin bowling coach. Like any specialist, they will help players perform at their best. But crucially, spin bowling is one of the specialities where the general coach, or a specialist in another discipline, will struggle to teach well. All coaches want their players to perform well, and most coaches are honest enough with themselves to know when they lack the required depth of expertise when teaching out of the own discipline. A specialist will not only be able coach players in great detail but will also be able to provide insights for the team’s other coaches. Expert advice is given and a context is created to develop technique and best practice. There is a direct and positive impact on team dynamics – and results.

This is not just about the knowledge of a niche. It’s also about the knowledge of how to impart the understanding. Knowledge of the skill is essential, of course, but coaching and mentoring is a nuanced process, requiring a perceptive grasp of how people learn and the mistakes they make. This is true of all teaching and learning – but it’s doubly important when complicated technique is interwoven with player mindset.

The specialist coach has the opportunity to build a strong relationship with the individual player and this is crucial in the long term as well as the short. For a player and coach who work together over more than a season there is a strong professional and personal connection which strengthens their understanding of shared goals. The coach understands much better what the player is capable of, while the player has an instinctive grasp of what the coach is trying to achieve.

It’s all about focus

Some specialists will claim their area of expertise is the most important, or the most complicated. Very occasionally, this might be true. What’s more important to recognise, though, is that each speciality needs specialist teaching. At art colleges there are usually different teachers for drawing, painting and photography, for example. None is inherently more valuable, but it would probably be foolish for the photographer to teach drawing. It’s the same with coaching in cricket. The fast bowler should teach fast bowling. The spinner should teach spin. The club that tries to have one coach for all is treading a difficult path.

So, in spin, there’s a need to really understand both leg spin as well as off spin and to be completely at ease in managing the mechanisms for changing pace in response to conditions as well as in reply to the batsman. The same is true for variation is spin and spin angles, not to mention how to respond to the misery of a flat wicket and still take advantage of the how the match is developing.

Specialist coaching is about the whole player

Building on this, the specialist spin coach will help the player better understand tactics, and to do this it is essential that the coach is coaching the player as a whole person, not just a spin bowling machine. For this to work the coach must establish themselves not just as an expert but someone of integrity whose judgement can be trusted. Coaching and mentoring needs to be player focused and should not fall into the trap of one-dimensional instruction. Coaching vision must be based on experience and an up to date understanding of the game. Different formats of the game – currently three plus national championships – create very different demands on players. Coaches need to respond appropriately and, crucially, they need to be able to help their players respond too.

A complex game needs a sophisticated response

Cricket was only ever a simple game in theory. In reality it’s a complex, almost organic, process with minute details that make a difference and understanding based on experience playing a large part in every successful player and team. Specialist coaches are part of this complex matrix.

The developing formats of the game are a case in point. Ranging from five-day test matches, through one day internationals to the blistering pace of Twenty20s means that the good player needs to be able to develop quite different approaches to the game and the strategies required for each version. Individual championships in each country also have their own particular characteristics. Club players have their hands full, and international players have to work hard to manage each adjustment. Their game must be optimised each and every time they play. This is further complicated by changing wicket conditions as the season progresses and, especially in the UK, by the vagaries of the weather. The player with the specialist coach will be better supported and more able to adapt over time and between formats. And this extra support means that the spinner has the opportunity to work with a coach to re-centre, focus on maintaining the appropriate mindset, and routinely evaluate the state of his or her bowling.

Be practical

Specialist coaching means more than fine tuning technical excellence. It can include working with players as they recover form – possibly a major part of coaching in the summer of 2020! – and for the players moving routinely between formats, working with them to support smooth, quick transitions.  The pace and challenges of the Twenty20 game is a good example here, as there is so much less time to use the wicket and play with opponents’ mindset. Every over, every ball, needs to be strategic and tactical. It’s mentally and physically tiring and it’s a good coach who can help keep those strategies and tactics develop rather than ossify.

Off the field a specialist coach can also help a player where perhaps the head coach may be reluctant to tread. Players under in the spotlight benefit from help dealing with the media and the implied pressure of contracts. Anything which helps the player reach peak performance, and then keep on getting better, is a benefit for them and for their team.

It’s all in the mind

Most sports fans are familiar with the idea that elite sport is as much about a state of mind as it is about physical excellence. This is well understood and, it’s where small physical improvements can be magnified by the right mindset and inner discipline. What’s less widely recognised is the extent to which this is also true in club and school cricket, even amongst young players.  Knowing this makes it much easier for the coach to build player confidence.

Support, mentoring and teaching comes in many forms, but the specialist will always have an advantage here. They are best able to provide the analysis and insight which helps improves a player’s game and prepares them for competition. They are able to provide a constant point of support and advice and, because the coach is usually more experienced, help the player put specific challenges into a wider context. All these factors feed back into a strong positive player mindset, where success is the goal but where error and failure are recognised for what they are – part of the journey of improvement.

It’s this strong mental approach which, for the spin bowler, liberates the player and empowers them with combined skill and confidence – the capacity to reach the zone where bowling is about bowling the best ball over again and again. 

Never alone

Even in busy clubs, spin bowling can be a lonely path, and this is also true at county or national level. When really famous spin bowlers are few and far between, the aspiring spinner can feel out on a limb. A good spin coach will tick all the technical boxes and will help players develop a winning mindset. But perhaps most importantly of all, a good spin coach will make sure that the spin bowler remembers they are not alone. When the spin bowler realises this, they can suddenly see opportunities where there seemed to be none. A flame is ignited and it’s a wonder to behold.

Author: Eranga Mendis ( Specialist spin bowling coach)