Quote Originally Posted by the other bob wilson View Post
I agree that it's a bit of a generational thing. What teaching I received on the art of batting started with trying to get my defence right and then the instruction was to try and develop your game (both in general terms and in playing an innings) as you felt more comfortable - it follows therefore that I instinctively balk at the sort of thing we've see from Glamorgan this season.

It's taken me a while to see the other side of the argument, but I can now understand the logic which says batting four hours for fifty when you are trying to save a game keeps pressure on your team in a way that batting the same time and scoring four times as many doesn't - more often than not, the first approach ends up with your side losing as well.

I agree with you to the extent that Glamorgan's poor batting this season can be put down to an attitude thing rather than the way individuals are coached. It seems all batsmen are encouraged to be more positive these days, but I still say that there is a place for the skills which prevailed for a hundred years and more and I get the impression that these are undervalued these days - as in most things, the answer lies between the two extremes and it would appear that Essex appreciate this because they have batsmen who will score at a quick enough rate without taking the sort of risks Glamorgan's do.

The strange thing is that Glamorgan's approach to bowling in the Championship has been attritional with an emphasis on exactly the same things that Essex aim for - indeed, I can remember one of their players saying how hard we made it for their batsman to push things along in the game they played at Cardiff earlier in the season and it's a compliment I've heard repeated by Kent and Sussex players as well.

Essex 192-6 now with ten Doeschate providing Hogan with his fourth wicket. We'll probably lose this game, but we had the better of a draw with the Second Division Champions in May I think it was and now we're pushing them all the way here - strange that we can do this and yet be stuffed by teams like Gloucester (twice), Northants (twice) and Leicester.
When i say there is need for a change in attitude, i believe that, that attitude comes from the coaching, if all your batting session are attacking and all the talk is to attack then its difficult to switch from that in a match situation.

However it is yet to be seen that this approach may benefit our younger players in the long run.

Its all down to the attitude of whether you primarily look at this a season of disappointing LVCC results (which it is), or a season of development and progression of youngsters (which you could argue it is as well).