Steps to cricket stardom

To be a professional cricketer you must train from an early age, and focus on certain aspects of your game in different stages of your life.

This is according to Jody Martins (34), who is the Randburg Cricket Club juniors head coach and academy manager. Martins has been involved in coaching cricket for the past 16 years including spells for the Gauteng Cricket Board and International Cricket Council.

He provides the following steps to become a professional cricketer:

• Players up to six years old need to learn the basics of cricket. “The best thing that you can do for players up to six is throwing a ball to them,” Martins said. The ball can be any size and the player should learn to catch it, throw it and hit it with a bat.
• Players six to nine years old should be taught a bit more technique, but here the knowledge and rules of the game are more important. “You should expose everything about the game to them. They should start learning how to be a wicketkeeper, in case they will do that one day.”
• Players nine to 12 years old are in a crucial stage of learning cricket. According to Martins they should develop their skills to a greater extent. Batsmen should learn five shots: the drive, cut, pull and forward and back foot defence. Bowlers should learn to control swing and a variation delivery. Game knowledge should also improve.
•  Players 12 to 15 years old should focus on mental skills. Batsmen should work on batting plans, such as when and where to score runs, and bowlers should develop strategies to take wickets and be economical.
•  Players 15 years and older take longer to learn new techniques. So although skills should be worked on, the focus should be on maintaining the enjoyment in cricket and to keep playing.

Players at a certain level are selected for provincial or SA age group squads, or are noticed in the cricket premier league and receive contracts with provincial squads.

Either path leads to a professional career.