What does a non playing club coach do during a game

 

Apart from the obvious of running the warms ups/pregame preparation what happens when that first ball is bowled, and you are stuck on the sidelines?

You'll have seen numerous coaches on TV scribbling away in their notebooks during games on TV. What are they writing down and is any of it relevant to club cricket?

I'll give you an idea of what I collect and how it helps with my coaching. 

I'll be watching the game, taking notes and getting messages to the captain/bowlers on things I might see, and they are missing.

I use a notebook because, with a game that potentially lasts several hours, it's very difficult to make mental notes of every incident and clearly recall everyone when you give feedback to the team post-game. 

I'll usually have jotted some KPIs down and challenged the team to attain these. These can be things like the number of runs scored/conceded in powerplay, dot balls, wickets taken/lost, boundaries scored/conceded, etc. I usually "pull" these numbers from my Season Stats sheet (see below) after thinking about the areas we need to improve/focus on for the upcoming opposition.

BATTING CHARTS

With the extensive coverage of club games now provided by Frogbox/NV Play, coaches can leverage data to gain a competitive advantage when properly aggregated. I utilize this data to create visual representations that pinpoint a batter's strengths, which can then be shared with the bowlers. The visual representation displayed above illustrates all the boundaries struck by one of the top run scorers in this season's Darwin & District Competition. The diagram is self-explanatory, with red lines denoting back foot shots, black lines representing front foot shots, 'S' indicating runs scored off-spin deliveries, and 'R' denoting a reverse sweep.

These visual aids effectively showcase the batter's strong zones and guide the positioning of boundary fielders. The strategic approach involves defending these favoured regions and compelling the batter to play riskier shots in less favourable areas, potentially inducing errors.

While these charts may overlook crucial details such as the line and length of the deliveries, they serve as a valuable initial resource for most coaches to formulate their strategies.

INDIVIDUAL BOWLING CHARTS

I'll use these if I think a particular bowling is struggling for some reason. It helps to highlight such things as is he bowling to short, too straight/wide, etc. This type of visual feedback can help a bowler see exactly where they are conceding runs and make the necessary adjustments going forward.

TEAM BOWLING CHART

Similar to the individual bowling charts I would be using these to ensure that we are executing our bowling plans. For example, we might be looking to bowl much fuller on a ground with short square boundaries (as was the case above) and the charts enable me to show the bowlers where we conceded the runs, off the front/back foot. These can used during drinks breaks to get the bowlers to refocus/adjust and ensure the plans are being followed

GROUND ANALYSIS

I also keep a record of scores at each venue and these allow me to relay information to the team such as average scores, is it easier to chase a total rather than set one. 

SEASON STATS

The above are our 50-over stats for the 2024 season where we were unbeaten and retained the 50-over flag. Again it's all pretty self-explanatory and most of you will have seen similar stats displayed on TV. i break the games down into 10 over blocks and keep a record of who wins/loses those. It is a pretty simple metric as generally the side who wins the most "sessions" wins the game.

Our KPI's that were constant for every game are pretty simple, we look to achieve a catching efficiency of above 70% and save at least 15 runs per innings with our fielding (that's minus the misfields).

We are a very batting-dominant team and always backed ourselves to get enough runs on the board when batting first to give our bowlers some breathing space (We won setting a target 5 times and chasing 3).

COMMENT

You don't have to use all of these as it can get very time-consuming and distract you from the game but the notebook, season/ground stats along with KPIs adjusted for each match/venue will go a long way to making your players perform better.