Kent interim head coach Mark Dekker believes improvements will come – if players are honest with themselves.
It’s been a largely disappointing batting effort so far in the One-Day Cup for the Spitfires, who have struggled to put runs on the board across all formats this summer.
But Dekker believes that with games coming thick and fast this week, Kent might be best served by taking ownership of their decision-making.
“That’s the nature of batting, the ability to go away and reflect on performance,” said Dekker.
“We could have a practice, sure, and we will practise. But sometimes the reflections are as powerful as hitting a ball. Someone who got out on Sunday, did they choose the right option?
“It’s just a reflection and I think that ability to be honest and accountable on your performance, that’s where improvement happens. I don’t think hitting balls is always the answer for improvement.
“It’s the ability to be honest with yourself – did I make the right choice for that stage of the game? If the answer is no, it’s as simple as what could I have done? If the answer is yes, then that’s fine. I think that ability to self-examine one’s thinking in any sport is what takes us forward.”
Despite the inconsistent scores, Dekker ruled out making wholesale changes as the county are backing the current crop to come good.
He feels it’s important that the coach trusts his players to deliver.
“A performance where you don’t win a game doesn’t mean you start panicking and massively make wholesale changes to the batting line-up,” said Dekker.
“You’ve put those guys in that position as you believe in it, you trust them, and I always believe if you continue with that belief and trust you generally get the best out of guys.
“The moment you start changing batting orders because of panic is when it gets a bit pear-shaped.
“You can’t go doubting the way you want to play. We’ve spoken a lot about processes, it’s about what are we doing well to allow us to play good cricket, and the win comes from that.
“We try to stay in the moment, it’s always easy after you win a game to get excited but it’s when you lose a game, can you keep the same qualities that you speak about when you’re winning? You’ve got to have that emotional control when you win or lose, as coaching staff and players.”
As for progress already made in the last few weeks, Dekker added: “The easiest one to measure is has the quality of our fielding gone up?
“As a fielding unit, match-on-match we’re starting to see guys own areas more effectively and be more confident delivering a fielding performance.
“Individually those games are harder to measure, runs is the easiest measure but we’re looking at thinking and clarity, on ways of getting better. It will get there. You don’t want to panic, you stay nice and calm and trust your players as they’re here for a reason.
“It’s a journey and a process, if you do that journey and respect the process hopefully you get the results you would like.”
