If asked a question. "What is the key in building a team?" What would your answer be. Lets think !!!!!!! We often take up courses, read management books to understand the nuances of building a team.These are good ways of learning ,understanding or getting perspective about things. In today's world, sport is growing faster than ever. It would not be a bad idea to learn about BUILDING A TEAM from any particular sport. After all the word "Team" is the key aspect of any sport. Take cricket for instance.
Building a cricket team
The game of cricket is played between 2 sides having 11 players in each. It involves different aspects with batting, bowling and fielding being the main ones. Each one very different from other. We cannot have all 11 best batsmen in the country in one team. Neither can we have all 11 best bowlers available at that point in time to play in the same team. It does not work that way.It is never the best 11 players, rather it is the best combination of 11.The team needs to have appropriate number of players for each department of the game. Cannot have all members with similar skill in the team. The most often selected combination is 7 Batsmen and 4 Bowlers. In Cricket, batsmen can get out which means he cannot bat again in the innings but bowler can bowl as many overs as you wish(Nowadays, there is a limit on number of overs in certain formats of the game) and hence more batsmen than bowlers. 7::4. i.e. 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers. Striking the right balance is key.
Wicket-keeping is most specialized role in cricket. Wicket keeper will have to stand behind the stumps for the entire game when his team is on the field. It is a tough task, physically draining and requires very high level of skill and concentration. Wicket keeper being important, finding a place for him in the 11 is essential .Identifying roles which need specialized skills is important.It means that you will need to alter you earlier selected combination of 7::4 until and unless you expect the wicket keeper to be an ALL ROUNDER i.e to also play as a front line batsmen in the team. But if the wicket keeper cannot bat, it is safer to go in for 6:1:4 combination.i.e. 6 Batsmen , 1 wicket keeper and 4 bowlers.If the keeper can also bat its an advantage, but sacrificing a keeper for an extra batsmen is always dangerous. Never compromise on key Roles. Also identify other specialized roles if any. The roles which are fairly important but not mandatory. Facing the new ball and bowling with a new ball in Cricket requires fair amount of skill than others .They need to master the art of dealing with the new ball. Now the question is how many such skilled players will you have in the team. Generally it is 2 openers and 2 new bowl bowlers. Neither all 6 batsmen need to be openers nor all 4 bowlers need to be new ball ballers. 2 each should be sufficient. All members need not possess the skills.
All teams generally have a designated number 3 batsmen who would come into play on fall of a wicket. The role of this batsmen becomes critical, if one of the or both the openers get out early in the innings.This is one of the most demanding roles in batting as you need to don multiple hats depending on the situation of the game. Historically openers job has to "See off the new ball" i.e to be there until the ball has lost its shine. Not always can they do it. Hence it is also important that the number 3 batsmen to possess the skills required to deal with new ball. It is also important to have a backup.
Cricket is generally played at different times in a year in different part of the world where in conditions are different. The pitch, the weather and the ground conditions are all different across the world. Some conditions will be batsmen friendly and some of them would assist the bowlers. You generally require an extra batsmen or that extra bowler in the team depending on the situation . The team think-tank is often in the state of ambiguity with this position.Who do we drop to fit in this extra player? A bowler or a batsmen? In such a case, it is always helpful if we can have an all rounder. Who can bat as well as bowl. He need not possess the specialized skills but be fairly good with both batting and bowling. He would provide the right balance to the team. It is good to have a member having multiple skills.
Cricket matches, especially test matches goes on and on. Most of the times you have long innings played. May be because of the track being flat or may be because the batsmen are showing no signs of getting out. As a opposition, what best you could do is to keep bowling in right areas. "Keep it there, thereabout!" is what the captain the would tell the bowler. No fancy stuff, keep it simple, stick to basics. Keep bowling, Keep bowling, Keep bowling... Generally spinner or a first change bowler is nominated to do this. Need to have a marathon player in the armoury.The key here is to go on and on without much thinking about the situation of the match.
With evolution of cricket, fielding is slowly but steadily becoming a key aspect of the game. Finding a place for such roles is tricky because fielding has an impact on the game but alone cannot help you win matches or help you put up a fight. Hence very rarely do we see a player being part of the 11 only because of his fielding abilities. It is donned by some one whose primary skill would be batting or bowling. Its is not possible to have dedicated player for each role. Need to find one from within the team to do it for you. It is interesting to know that there is a lot of thought put in identifying roles and then selecting a player to fit the role. We have almost covered all the positions in the 11 member team. If there is any position we have not touched upon, those are the ones which are generally kept open for youngsters.Keeping in mind the future, having a young talent in the team is important, they generally have fresh ideas and always bubbling with energy. Its important to have youngsters in the team who can learn from the seniors.
We can talk about different roles in the team, skills of different players , having people with lot of energy, having people with different ideas, having mentors. But the job is not complete until its finished.Its always easy to start but hard to complete. Moliere, famous french playwright once told "Long is the road from conception to completion". It is key to have a person in the team who can takes things to completion . Need to have a finisher.
If you search for words like "Key", "Important" or "Vital" in this article, you would find a plenty of them. Which is direction reflection of each role being key or important. All roles in the team are Necessary but not sufficient . Its only when each member in the team contributes , the goal can be achieved. Each and every member in the team plays a crucial role in the success of the team. After all what captain expects from everyone is to be totally passionate about the game. "Give your best. Give 100% leave the rest to me", he would generally say.
When you have a team, there is always a player who leads and motivates the players, gets the best out of them, makes plans and strategies and is nominated as the Captain of the team. It is important to believe in your captain and follow him.
There is lot of hard work done in achieving the success. Players spend dedicated time on practising,learning, exploring and various other things as part of the preparation for the match. But once every thing is done. It is equally important to celebrate . Everyone should take time out for celebration.It adds an excitement and a lot of fun to life.It allows us to remember the things in life that truly matter. If not for anything it lets us talk to others with whom we had little conflicts due to difference of opinions during the course of the match. After all it all ends with sharing a laugh together.
Building a cricket team
The game of cricket is played between 2 sides having 11 players in each. It involves different aspects with batting, bowling and fielding being the main ones. Each one very different from other. We cannot have all 11 best batsmen in the country in one team. Neither can we have all 11 best bowlers available at that point in time to play in the same team. It does not work that way.It is never the best 11 players, rather it is the best combination of 11.The team needs to have appropriate number of players for each department of the game. Cannot have all members with similar skill in the team. The most often selected combination is 7 Batsmen and 4 Bowlers. In Cricket, batsmen can get out which means he cannot bat again in the innings but bowler can bowl as many overs as you wish(Nowadays, there is a limit on number of overs in certain formats of the game) and hence more batsmen than bowlers. 7::4. i.e. 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers. Striking the right balance is key.
Wicket-keeping is most specialized role in cricket. Wicket keeper will have to stand behind the stumps for the entire game when his team is on the field. It is a tough task, physically draining and requires very high level of skill and concentration. Wicket keeper being important, finding a place for him in the 11 is essential .Identifying roles which need specialized skills is important.It means that you will need to alter you earlier selected combination of 7::4 until and unless you expect the wicket keeper to be an ALL ROUNDER i.e to also play as a front line batsmen in the team. But if the wicket keeper cannot bat, it is safer to go in for 6:1:4 combination.i.e. 6 Batsmen , 1 wicket keeper and 4 bowlers.If the keeper can also bat its an advantage, but sacrificing a keeper for an extra batsmen is always dangerous. Never compromise on key Roles. Also identify other specialized roles if any. The roles which are fairly important but not mandatory. Facing the new ball and bowling with a new ball in Cricket requires fair amount of skill than others .They need to master the art of dealing with the new ball. Now the question is how many such skilled players will you have in the team. Generally it is 2 openers and 2 new bowl bowlers. Neither all 6 batsmen need to be openers nor all 4 bowlers need to be new ball ballers. 2 each should be sufficient. All members need not possess the skills.
All teams generally have a designated number 3 batsmen who would come into play on fall of a wicket. The role of this batsmen becomes critical, if one of the or both the openers get out early in the innings.This is one of the most demanding roles in batting as you need to don multiple hats depending on the situation of the game. Historically openers job has to "See off the new ball" i.e to be there until the ball has lost its shine. Not always can they do it. Hence it is also important that the number 3 batsmen to possess the skills required to deal with new ball. It is also important to have a backup.Cricket is generally played at different times in a year in different part of the world where in conditions are different. The pitch, the weather and the ground conditions are all different across the world. Some conditions will be batsmen friendly and some of them would assist the bowlers. You generally require an extra batsmen or that extra bowler in the team depending on the situation . The team think-tank is often in the state of ambiguity with this position.Who do we drop to fit in this extra player? A bowler or a batsmen? In such a case, it is always helpful if we can have an all rounder. Who can bat as well as bowl. He need not possess the specialized skills but be fairly good with both batting and bowling. He would provide the right balance to the team. It is good to have a member having multiple skills.
Cricket matches, especially test matches goes on and on. Most of the times you have long innings played. May be because of the track being flat or may be because the batsmen are showing no signs of getting out. As a opposition, what best you could do is to keep bowling in right areas. "Keep it there, thereabout!" is what the captain the would tell the bowler. No fancy stuff, keep it simple, stick to basics. Keep bowling, Keep bowling, Keep bowling... Generally spinner or a first change bowler is nominated to do this. Need to have a marathon player in the armoury.The key here is to go on and on without much thinking about the situation of the match.
With evolution of cricket, fielding is slowly but steadily becoming a key aspect of the game. Finding a place for such roles is tricky because fielding has an impact on the game but alone cannot help you win matches or help you put up a fight. Hence very rarely do we see a player being part of the 11 only because of his fielding abilities. It is donned by some one whose primary skill would be batting or bowling. Its is not possible to have dedicated player for each role. Need to find one from within the team to do it for you. It is interesting to know that there is a lot of thought put in identifying roles and then selecting a player to fit the role. We have almost covered all the positions in the 11 member team. If there is any position we have not touched upon, those are the ones which are generally kept open for youngsters.Keeping in mind the future, having a young talent in the team is important, they generally have fresh ideas and always bubbling with energy. Its important to have youngsters in the team who can learn from the seniors.
We can talk about different roles in the team, skills of different players , having people with lot of energy, having people with different ideas, having mentors. But the job is not complete until its finished.Its always easy to start but hard to complete. Moliere, famous french playwright once told "Long is the road from conception to completion". It is key to have a person in the team who can takes things to completion . Need to have a finisher.If you search for words like "Key", "Important" or "Vital" in this article, you would find a plenty of them. Which is direction reflection of each role being key or important. All roles in the team are Necessary but not sufficient . Its only when each member in the team contributes , the goal can be achieved. Each and every member in the team plays a crucial role in the success of the team. After all what captain expects from everyone is to be totally passionate about the game. "Give your best. Give 100% leave the rest to me", he would generally say.
When you have a team, there is always a player who leads and motivates the players, gets the best out of them, makes plans and strategies and is nominated as the Captain of the team. It is important to believe in your captain and follow him.
There is lot of hard work done in achieving the success. Players spend dedicated time on practising,learning, exploring and various other things as part of the preparation for the match. But once every thing is done. It is equally important to celebrate . Everyone should take time out for celebration.It adds an excitement and a lot of fun to life.It allows us to remember the things in life that truly matter. If not for anything it lets us talk to others with whom we had little conflicts due to difference of opinions during the course of the match. After all it all ends with sharing a laugh together.
Cricket after all is not a bad tutor.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment