Taking a leaf out of Graeme Smith's book, "The Captain's diary"

Something for the young coaches and young cricketers.

Very often we learn or discover things only to realise later in our lives how important they actually are. It is like how many players will admit having never understood the amount of work that goes into a coaching session before the actual training session. Or maybe, how a lot of batters only realise the importance of throwdowns later in their careers or when they are a bit older. Sometimes we learn lessons because something bad happened and well, sometimes we simply come to the realization of things because we have grown and have matured as people and as cricketers in the current context.

I remember reading Graeme Smith’s book, “The Captain’s diary” in 2010 and a lot of things I read there only began to make sense once I started experiencing some of the things as a young cricketer, then. This was back in 2010 when I got the book, and the timing was more than perfect. At the age of 16, playing cricket in the rural areas of Mount Ayliff, I had just made the district’s U19 side as a 16-year-old. Having captained only the district’s u15 side, I was still relatively new to captaincy and still had a long way to go because being captain at U19 was nothing like being captain at U15. At U19, the game seemed to go by much faster and even the slightest mistakes would come back to haunt you at some point. I loved (still do) reading so I spent most of my time off the field reading Graeme’s Smith’s book. It helped me stay calm.

You are now, probably wondering, “Why is this guy telling us all this?” well, what is a good story without a bit of background. In the book, Graeme speaks about the side’s journey to number 1 in the world, the challenges and all that came with it. He speaks about selection going into matches, transitioning the team from one direction to another, which required certain players to be left out at some point and a few other things. He also speaks about something that formed an integral part of the team’s planning, game plan and team meetings, “The Three P’s.” The more I coach and play cricket, the concept of the three P’s makes sense more every single match.

If there is one thing about Graeme Smith’s book coaches and cricketers need to take note of, it definitely has to be the Three P’s. Graeme goes further and speaks about how they constantly reiterated the importance and or value of the Three P’s.

You are now probably wondering, “What are these three P’s?”

Worry not, 😊

The Three P’s Explained:

1.      PRESSURE

Graeme speaks about how the team had to understand the importance of being able to absorb pressure from opposition and not crack. The importance of being able to absorb the pressure then put it back on opposition. He speaks about how it was important that they knew their key moments. I.e., when to look to try and turn the tables after absorbing pressure from opposition.

I think we can all agree that in cricket, there are generally moments where you need to just look to absorb the pressure then as soon as you get a chance, look to put the pressure back on the opposition.

2.      PARTNERSHIPS

This is one of the concepts I personally like to put emphasis on. In the book, Graeme speaks about how they, as a team identified the need to put value on doing everything in partnerships. From bowling to batting, there was a need for everyone to understand what their role in the side was but also what their role in a partnership was.

I reiterate even the importance of fielding in partnerships. Working in partnerships makes everyone else’s job quite easy and this is something I think club cricketers need to learn mostly. Being able to understand your role in the team is important but as a batter, knowing your role based on the partnership is even more important. Even for a bowler, it is important to understand what role you ought to play from your end in order for your partnership with the bowler from the other end to be effective.

3.      PATIENCE

The other member of the three p’s is Patience. Graeme then speaks about how they identified Patience as something that would be key in their journey as a team. They identified that it would be key for them, as a team to be always look to be patient, especially on the field. Be patient and stick to their own plans. To be patient as a bowling and batting unit.

Patience is also one of the most important aspects of cricket in general. It is something that is required across the skills of cricket. With the bat, one is often required to be patient whether because of conditions or quality of bowling. With the ball too, sometimes you need to patiently stick to one line and length and not go searching for a wicket.

When I read the book as a 16-year-old, I never thought that one day it would make so much sense. However, with every match I play and every match I coach in, the three Ps begin to make sense more. Perhaps something even coaches can look to make part of their coaching. This is something that could benefit a lot of youngsters as they look to further grow and understand their own game.