Everyone including the Manager were staring at me like i was the most deplorable human being on earth.
"The fuck?"
"Wait, What do you mean?"
The coach asked me.
"Yet, all of your game play is Immeasurable."
Their bloodshot eyes eased up the moment they heard that.
"I think, What ya'll need to really focus is timing and placement, as in gap finding."
"But... it's impossible to pierce gaps without Power... What exactly are you trying to imply here Ji-yeong"
"I'll be getting there soon, As much as i Don't wanna sound full of myself, I've watched more than a 1000 odi matches and atleast a 100 Test matches. Yes i am that jobless."
"Pfft."
Someone laughed as i cracked that joke at the end.
I felt like things were getting a bit light until i realised the person who laughed was the manager.
Which made me happy, imagining i made someone laugh.
Noice.
"I'm sorry, Pfft* pleade continue. Pfft*"
she said as she still couldn't hold her laughter.
"Ahm... anyway, what you people lack is Patience, Timing and Placement. You have ample amount of Power you can generate but without The other 3 factors, Power can't really help you much."
"so, what do you suggest we do? It's not like we can balance all those 3 and still concentrate on the ball."
"That's where form and reflexes and muscle memory comes in."
"What you first need is A form or rather a position That's easier for you to time the ball well. And to time the ball well, you need reflexes and muscle memory."
"Once you have good form you Don't have to worry about all the unnecessary things and only care about the ball and reflexes are very much needed to play each ball based on merit. It's split second decision making."
"For all of this. You need to face atleast a 200 balls a day."
the moment i said that everyone's eyes shot up in surprise.
So, you Don't practice 200 balls a day?
"Well, that's all the Limited advice i can give you. There are many things that are required to become a good batsman. But the most important are Timing, Power, Placement, decision making, reflexes and most of all Game awareness. You can't miss a single one of these and if you do... You can't become great batsman if you don't focus on even one of these things."
"That's a good explanation there Ji Yeong, It feels like you understand the game at a deeper level than the others. I'll explain the other parts so, you can sit down."
...
"I as the coach of this team vouch for his words. Everything he said is absolutely true. Don't base cricket and baseball on the same stage. They are completely different."
Thanks coach, it means alot.
"What The korean society does is focus more on smashing the ball rather than timing it into gaps. Most of our wickets have also fallen there. In the middle overs from 10-40. 90% of the international Korean cricket has fallen in that particular sitiuation."
"Why? Because we focus either too much on defencive play or offencive play. What we need is a balance of both. Hitting boundaries when bad balls come and taking singles and doubles of good ones."
"That's why i said that, this is not like baseball where if you Don't hit it it's out. You can hit along the ground and take singles. and if it goes straight to fielders than you won't even get out. So than why do they still do it? I always wonder."
"That's because they do not have game awareness. This particular phase is where the maximum amount of runs are to be scored with the least amount of risk."
"The first 10 & Last 10 are supposed to be for tonking because of the innate advantages of field restrictions and The old ball being softer and easier to hit for boundaries."
"None of our players understand how pitches work nor do they know how to play properly in them and that's the reason why they fail."
"I did not intend to give you a lecture but as this man raised an important Topic 'game awareness' I had to explain it to everyone. If you want to get into the finals worry about game awareness rather than power only."
"Watch matches, Play necessary balls eveeryday to create that reflexive response. That is all, you are dispersed. You can do whatever you want with the remaining time but Report back by 1:00 PM."
That's good, Looks like I'll be able to practice a bit until the game starts afterall.
...
The practice time ended and it was toss time.
The captain won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Our gameplan was simple, start by hitting the good lengths in the power play consistantly.
Than make the spinners take over in the middle overs and bowl yorkers and bouncers in the back end.
The classic Gameplan, that everyone uses.
...
They had a mix of aggressors and defendors.
We just had to set the bait and send fielders in the right areas and while some went for boundaries and sixes.
Some went straight to the fielders.
For the ones defending, We set fields where taking singles was very hard, while still avoiding boundaries.
They got impatient and while they hit some boundaries they did get out.
There was one person who stuck thick and thin until the very end.
He took the team to the final over and got them a score of 243.
If everyone had batted sensably and waited for bad balls, this pitch was a good one to bat on.
With that good of an anchor, they'd have easily gone past 270-280 runs.
But they didn't have that balance of aggression and defencive play.
It was either someone just trying to take singles and getting impatient or someone being ultra aggressive, trying to hit sixes and getting out.
That was the first innings in a nutshell.
The score 243, what we needed to chase was 244 in 50 overs.
Will our players be able to outplay them with the correct amount of aggression and defencive play?
I Don't know.