Wrighty
Contributor
In my cricket career I have had a few times where I had to be clutch and it is very difficult.
Your arms go to jelly and you have to really give yourself a talking to to get your body to hold its shape and shape is everything in a cricket shot execution.
Two examples -
1) The other batter was hot and scored three off the first ball in an over where we needed 14 off the last over, I should have gotten a single to put him back on strike but I couldn't calm down enough to think clearly and decided to try score a glorious six instead and wasted a delivery swinging and missing and then skied one and got out and I had lost it for us.
2) A few years later on a horrible wicket I opened the batting and soon we we were 25 for 8 chasing only 26 to win. I was the only batsman left and had a tailender at the other end. One of our senior bowlers called out to me from the sidelines "Get it done Wrighty". And I knew they were all counting on me and that the wicket was so horrible that number 11 was bound to get a duck.
Because I had been yelled at by my team mate it snapped my head into place. I realised we didn't nee d boundary to win this and I needed to hit the ball really hard all along the ground for a single to tie he game. In the end it went for two and we won.
That is my story about clutching up. It is quite hard to do and my previous experience where I had failed helped me later when I came through.
Your arms go to jelly and you have to really give yourself a talking to to get your body to hold its shape and shape is everything in a cricket shot execution.
Two examples -
1) The other batter was hot and scored three off the first ball in an over where we needed 14 off the last over, I should have gotten a single to put him back on strike but I couldn't calm down enough to think clearly and decided to try score a glorious six instead and wasted a delivery swinging and missing and then skied one and got out and I had lost it for us.
2) A few years later on a horrible wicket I opened the batting and soon we we were 25 for 8 chasing only 26 to win. I was the only batsman left and had a tailender at the other end. One of our senior bowlers called out to me from the sidelines "Get it done Wrighty". And I knew they were all counting on me and that the wicket was so horrible that number 11 was bound to get a duck.
Because I had been yelled at by my team mate it snapped my head into place. I realised we didn't nee d boundary to win this and I needed to hit the ball really hard all along the ground for a single to tie he game. In the end it went for two and we won.
That is my story about clutching up. It is quite hard to do and my previous experience where I had failed helped me later when I came through.