Ramps up to Test cricket and mental toughness

dcsiva — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:38:00 GMT

Why isn't Mark Ramprakash playing for England? Mark reckons it's all down to...what exactly? Is it social class or race or just being anti-establishment?

Why am I pointing all this out now? Well, there's much talk at the moment as to why Mark Ramprakash can't get in the England side. Well, if you go back and re-read some of the descriptions applied to Trueman in the third paragraph, you might get an idea why Mark Ramprakash wasn't given the extended run in the team he deserved, whilst people like Mike Gatting and Graeme Hick were given every opportunity. It also might explain why Owais Shah wasn't picked ahead of Andrew Strauss last winter.

Also, if Ramprakash's surname was 'Richardson' or 'Roberts' I reckon he'd be in the England team today. Let's face it, with an average of over a hundred in the past two years, and one ton already under his belt this year, he certainly justifies it on form.

Sandy Gordon, he of coaching psychology fame, is doing research on emotional intelligence on and off the field. Perhaps Harbhajan and Sreesanth and all the various mental frailties that good county cricket players are exposed to when they step up to Test standard are related?

"While other sports play a similar form of global entertainment that professional sport has become, only cricket seems poorly equipped to deal with the market forces at work," he noted. "We will leverage off our current research on refining a Cricket Mental Toughness Inventory, which was funded by Cricket Australia," revealed Dr Gordon. He is also the senior lecturer at the School of Human Movement and Exercise Science of The University of Western Australia.

Meanwhile, Sajith points to yet another synergy between film and cricket:

In an event, which has been lorded by the Bollywood, the epsiode was a replica of the
tear-jerkers seen on the small screen. Sreesanth, and his teary face, resembled Tulsi and Harbhajan resembled the strict father-in-law. But, to me it was Gabbar Singh v/s Mogambo. For once, Bollywood was rampant on the cricket field.

Cover Points : emotional intelligence

Ramps up to Test cricket and mental toughness