hi mate appreciate your work this summer definitely think your course has helped my game, still got a lot to understand and work on but the foundation is there and seeing it come off in certain games has been really positive and you’ve helped me massively and hopefully help other people in this group can have the same feeling ,

I shared my weekend wins in the recent post “How to mentally prepare for an inngings” But as the English summer has ended for myself, I’d like to say a big thanks to Alf for putting a lot of time into helping improve our games this summer! I know myself, I have seen a big improvement in my cricket- in the nets with my technicals but most importantly, improvement in my runs. That’s why we play the game, not to look good in the nets or for a few balls in the middle, to score runs. I’ve had no coaching this summer just soley worked on my mental muscle and I’ve found a spark, a considerable amount of more runs scored than last year. next year with more work on the inner game and incorporating some coaching back into my game, im going to properly kick on and achieve a lot more. Phase 1 complete.

4* off around 15 at the weekend. Even in a rain affected game, where Alf and I went off there was still plenty to learn. Wins: I got up for the contest! Dealt with outside noise well by sticking my chest out and standing tall (this tells my brain I am safe). Learnings: tricky wicket for sure with loads of that wet stuff in the air again. Stayed neutral with my mindset (the rain and noise was not good or bad, it just was). I think despite them bowling well I could’ve been more aware of dropping and running / keeping strike rotating.

Opening the batting against top of the league chasing a large total of 224 was quite intimidating, but I took it as an opportunity to focus on being more aware of self 1, where in a high pressured situation there was more opportunity for self 1 to influence my batting. A slow start personally to good bowling had me having to really focus on nailing my routine and persevering through plenty of chat and doubts from self 1 which a couple of weeks previously would have caused me to force a shot that wasn’t there and give it away. So very happy from that point as my strike rate has always been one of my largest negative distractions when batting and pushing through a tough time was great. After I felt more comfortable at the crease I started nailing the ball at fielders, which on a different day could have caused my 31 off 59 to be a run-a-ball 60. Still I was happy I reset and stuck to routine rather than getting frustrated. Got out by not resetting for my first ball after drinks and slightly forcing a shot to a good ball and getting out in a slightly unlucky way. Felt pretty frustrated afterwords after getting out in an innings that could have taken my side into a position to win the game, leaving the pitch with far fewer runs than I thought I could have been on at that point and a scorecard that didn’t reflect how good I felt in the middle. However so many positives and increased awareness of more subtle self 1 distractions which I have ignored or pretended weren’t there in previous innings. Overall happy with my takeaways from the game and improving my trust in self 2 to bat, after anchoring to my routine more because of being more aware of self 1.

Quack quack 🦆 Duck for me aswell Alf, inner game felt good - not 100%. I don’t think I was 100% present and I ended up playing a bad shot. I think I was still in a good enough place to let self 2 play but I didn’t give self 2 all the required inputs.