Rambling on about Trust, Roles and Responsibilities

We always talk about batting, bowling, practice, opponents and strategy before a game. We decide a batting lineup and a bowling lineup. We are only tested when things do not go according to plan. We learn a lot more about each other if we are tested, and a bit more if we are tested, and we lose. Bouncing back from a loss shows character, and it means not just bouncing back with a win in the next match, its bouncing back and enjoying the game, bouncing back and getting the basics right, and its bouncing back and trusting the 10 other guys that play with you on the field. Lack of trust can manifest itself in many different ways - team members not very happy with the captain's field placements or batting/bowling lineups,a captain not really experimenting with the team he has, a striker not really responding to a non striker's call, a non striker not really trusting the striker to score runs, and hence attempting an inopportune single, a fielder not really trusting a call to throw at a particular end, a player who is more interested in finding faults in a non encouraging way, than on improving his own game and providing inspiration to his teammates, and finally a team not trusting in itself to bounce back. The above examples were only cited to explain my point and not to poke fingers at anyone.I myself am a victim of lack of trust,(for writing this blog in the first place :) ) and am no better. I remember, that after the win against champs XI, there was a call to practice on Monday itself, people were discussing their next opponents starting Sunday evening. I see nothing of that this week. I hope we all realize that we lost to a quality opponent , and we must not forget that just more than a week ago, we beat one of the other great teams in the bay area. You win some, you lose some, but you must always trust the other 10.

The second part of my blog is about roles and responsibilities. Everybody in the team needs to understand his role and responsibility. Everybody cannot be a batsman, and everybody cannot be a bowler. You might even have been selected purely for your fielding. We are a motley crew, and each of us brings something special and different to the team. The selection committee tries hard to be fair while selecting a team, and I am sure that one or 2 selections might be questionable in the eyes of others, which is natural. Fair rotation while maintaining the
chemistry is something that the team is looking for. Each player in the team needs to know the reason he has been selected. This will not happen without clear communication between the captain and the player. Tell the captain what your strengths are and let the captain make the call on how he wants to use you. Once the call has been made, the team members and the captain should trust the call and act responsibly. In an ideal situation, win or lose, the team always returns home happy, having enjoyed recreational cricket. Our aim is to win, but at what cost? I welcome comments and additions to this blog. Please feel free to rip me if I said something out of line (I always do, thats what I bring to the table ;) ). Looking forward to more wins and more trust!

Go Blitz!

Arun