Practice: How important is it? (Part 2)

This is in continuation of my last post on the subject of practice. Since then I’ve conducted a few impromptu experiments, with a stop watch, as to the extent and quality of practice that one can get through the Knack drill (discussed in my last post) and the results have really surprised me.

Some of you who have read my last post may want to ask, what purpose hitting a slow moving ball against a wall will achieve? More than you think. I have never once heard of a single great footballer who didn’t practice his skills against a wall (with sometimes not even a football but the bladder of some animal wrapped in rags) and look at the skills these guys have. It’s all about making the most of what you have.

The Knack drill  requires that one stands at a distance of only 8 feet from a wall and try to play the ball on the rebound for as long as possible. By my calculations a golf ball, when thrown from this distance, rebounds and reaches the player on the bounce in somewhere between 0.90 to 1.05 seconds. This is a generalization in the sense that it depends on how fast you throw the ball in the first place. Let me qualify my statement further and say that during these experiments I was doing two things at the same time, i.e., throwing/catching the ball as well as working the stop watch – I might’ve obtained more accurate results with a partner assisting me.

In this drill since the player shapes to play the ball once it hits the wall, therefore, it gives him about half a second to play the ball, i.e., between 0.45 and 0.525 seconds. The bat’s downswing, the feet moving towards the point of impact and the transfer of weight required to hit the ball is all achieved in that time. This attunes the body to move quickly, from the feet up to the head, into an appropriate position to play the ball repeatedly – thus making this motion second nature and almost instinctive.

Once again, what good does this drill do for a club cricketer starved for practice? In addition to developing good middling habits…

Ian Pont, in his book ‘The Fast Bowler’s Bible’ claims that the standard club quick bowls somewhere in the vicinity of 70-77 miles per hour. This implies that the ball reaches the batsman, over the 22 yards, in somewhere between 0.58 to 0.64 seconds. In fact, with someone bowling at 100 miles per hour the ball will reach the batsman, over 22 yards, in 0.45 seconds and at 90 miles per hour in 0.50 seconds.

So, in short, the Knack drill helps the player to develop reflexes which allow him to play with comparative ease balls delivered at around 90 miles per hour (or quicker) once adapted to the 22 yard length. The only problem then seems to be one of picking the ball up over a distance of 22 yards and to be able to see it when it’s travelling at speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour.