As England’s batting coach and with a mere 8,900 Test runs under his belt, what better man to share his tips on how to wield the willow than Graham Gooch? Here, the former England captain gives Jo Harman a guide to shotmaking and shares some pearls of wisdom on how best to approach an innings.
The Cover Drive
“If you’re up against a bowler who’s swinging the ball away from you and he’s got slips in then you have to be pretty disciplined about what balls you can drive. You need to make sure the ball is right up there, under your nose and very full before you think about the drive because if he’s swinging the ball in that area outside off stump, he’s inviting the drive and obviously the shot has an element of risk.”
The Forward Defensive
“The forward defensive is a basic shot to keep out a good delivery. When you go out to bat you’re looking to score runs and that should be your first instinct, but if you can’t score runs then you’re looking to defend the ball. A good forward defensive shot would be where you’re right behind the ball with your head in position right over your front leg, with bad and pad together. That sends a good message to the bowler.”
The Sweep
“The first thing about playing the sweep is you’ve got to be able to pick the flight of the ball from the bowler. You’ve got to pick the right ball to sweep and make sure it has the right criteria in terms of length before you commit to the shot, you can’t just predetermine. You need to assess the field and the bowler, working out whether it’s good value and where you’re going to hit the shot. If you’re playing on a turning wicket then you might play it earlier in your innings, whereas if it’s a pretty good wicket you might not look to play it all. Different conditions demand different approaches. Matt Prior in the England side plays it pretty well and Sachin Tendulkar plays the little dab-sweep well so they would be two to watch.”
Approach
“Firstly, enjoy your cricket, enjoy your practice and make your practice interesting. Get your coach or whoever’s helping you to make it interesting. Whatever you do – whether you work for 10 minutes, half-an-hour or longer – make sure it’s quality, not just quantity. When you’re playing the most important thing about scoring runs is to keep your head still, move your feet backwards and forwards and play straight.”
Analysis
“Analysis can be helpful but I don’t think you want to go too heavy on it and rely on it too much because when you’re out there in the middle you’ve got to be your own best coach. You’ve got to know your game and have a checklist of things that you know make your game work. You can use analysis as an aid, to enhance your game by looking at the way you’ve played at your best in the past and compare that with how you’re playing now, but I wouldn’t over rely on it. Once you cross that white line you’ve got to look after yourself and know your game inside out.”
Talent
“Do you want to be a run-maker or do you want to be a batsman? Because they are two different things. Anyone can bat, but can you score runs? Scoring runs is all about your attitude, your technical ability, your knowledge and, above all, your concentration. There are many different parts and skills that go towards being a high level run-maker. I think you can improve a batsman as a coach, but they need an aptitude for learning. The most important thing about a youngster playing is to enjoy their sport and get a lot of satisfaction out of it. The higher you can go will depend on your natural ability, your hand-eye coordination, your ball sense – whether you’ve got a natural eye for the ball – and whether you can learn from the tips you get and put them into practice. There are a lot of different facets to doing well as a batsman.”
Development
“I think good players’ games evolve. You need to know your own game – what you’re good at and what you’re not good at – and work on your game to enhance your shotmaking ability. One of the priceless assets when you’re in the middle is knowing what you are capable of and what you’re not, and sticking to that plan. There were many moments in my career when I made fundamental changes to my game as I got older and learnt more about myself as a person. I learnt more about the way I could approach my innings mentally. That gave me self-belief and helped me change my game a little bit so I became a more consistent run-maker towards the latter stages of my career.”
