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Shane Watson accesses his technical skills better

The former Australia and IPL allrounder talks about how he turned himself into a top-tier T20 batter in his 30s.

Who do you speak to if you're after a deep dive into the technical and mental challenges of batting in T20? It's simple. You speak to Shane Watson.

In a career that spanned most of the first two decades of the format, he batted in every position, while possessing the intimate knowledge of what went on in a bowler's head. He dominated big matches and major tournaments, at both franchise and international levels.He knows what it takes to juggle three formats, as he did for the bulk of his career, and he also knows what it's like to specialise in T20, as he did in his late 30s. And he has witnessed the game's evolution from multiple perspectives: player, commentator, coach, and president of the Australian Cricketers' Association.In this interview, which he found time for during a hectic period that also included commentary at the T20 World Cup and the launch of his book Winning the Inner Battle, Watson spoke about how he developed his power-hitting game, the method against spin that brought him consistent success at the IPL, and how he acquired the mental skills that allowed him to make the most of his cricketing gifts.Let's talk about your innings in the 2018 IPL final. You're chasing not a massive target but a fairly hefty one, and you're on 0 off ten balls. You've faced a maiden from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and he's beaten you a couple of times too. To go from there to scoring a century and winning the final for Chennai Super Kings - what did that take, mentally?
That innings in 2018 was a culmination of all the things I'd learned in the previous couple of years. I'd been specialising in T20 cricket from sort of early 2016, so from a technical point of view it was all under control in a way, but the mental-skills side of my game was an education that I got at the end of 2015.That was a time in my career when things shifted significantly, from a fear of batting more than anything, with the tragic event that happened at the end of 2014 with Phillip Hughes. I was fortunate to get introduced to Dr Jacques Dallaire, a mental-skills guru from the US, who finally made me understand, in really simple terms, how my mind works, how you sort of get in your own way from a mindset point of view, and then how to get out of your own way, how to create the right mental environment. Once I'd understood that, I was working on not just my technical skills but my mental skills, every ball that I faced, and in the lead-up to every game.And the caveat is, the 2016 IPL final that I played for Royal Challengers Bangalore was probably one of the worst games that I ever had, especially from a bowling point of view. I went for 61 off my four overs, and even though I was very well prepared, there were a couple of things that meant I just wasn't executing my skills, and I got exposed in a big way.

Watson places his bat and cap by the fence at Adelaide Oval in a tribute to Phil Hughes during the Test match against India in December 2014. Watson says Hughes' death changed his mental environment significantly and brought fear into his game front and centre

INTERVIEW BY KARTHIK KRISHNASWAMY | NOVEMBER 18, 2022

Who do you speak to if you're after a deep dive into the technical and mental challenges of batting in T20? It's simple. You speak to Shane Watson.In a career that spanned most of the first two decades of the format, he batted in every position, while possessing the intimate knowledge of what went on in a bowler's head. He dominated big matches and major tournaments, at both franchise and international levels.He knows what it takes to juggle three formats, as he did for the bulk of his career, and he also knows what it's like to specialise in T20, as he did in his late 30s. And he has witnessed the game's evolution from multiple perspectives: player, commentator, coach, and president of the Australian Cricketers' Association.In this interview, which he found time for during a hectic period that also included commentary at the T20 World Cup and the launch of his book Winning the Inner Battle, Watson spoke about how he developed his power-hitting game, the method against spin that brought him consistent success at the IPL, and how he acquired the mental skills that allowed him to make the most of his cricketing gifts.Let's talk about your innings in the 2018 IPL final. You're chasing not a massive target but a fairly hefty one, and you're on 0 off ten balls. You've faced a maiden from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and he's beaten you a couple of times too. To go from there to scoring a century and winning the final for Chennai Super Kings - what did that take, mentally?
That innings in 2018 was a culmination of all the things I'd learned in the previous couple of years. I'd been specialising in T20 cricket from sort of early 2016, so from a technical point of view it was all under control in a way, but the mental-skills side of my game was an education that I got at the end of 2015.That was a time in my career when things shifted significantly, from a fear of batting more than anything, with the tragic event that happened at the end of 2014 with Phillip Hughes. I was fortunate to get introduced to Dr Jacques Dallaire, a mental-skills guru from the US, who finally made me understand, in really simple terms, how my mind works, how you sort of get in your own way from a mindset point of view, and then how to get out of your own way, how to create the right mental environment. Once I'd understood that, I was working on not just my technical skills but my mental skills, every ball that I faced, and in the lead-up to every game.And the caveat is, the 2016 IPL final that I played for Royal Challengers Bangalore was probably one of the worst games that I ever had, especially from a bowling point of view. I went for 61 off my four overs, and even though I was very well prepared, there were a couple of things that meant I just wasn't executing my skills, and I got exposed in a big way.
Watson places his bat and cap by the fence at Adelaide Oval in a tribute to Phil Hughes during the Test match against India in December 2014. Watson says Hughes' death changed his mental environment significantly and brought fear into his game front and centreWatson places his bat and cap by the fence at Adelaide Oval in a tribute to Phil Hughes during the Test match against India in December 2014. Watson says Hughes' death changed his mental environment significantly and brought fear into his game front and centre Ryan Pierse / © Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesSo the underlying motivation leading into that 2018 final was around how disciplined I needed to be, around my technical but especially my mental perspective, and the things that I was thinking about and planning but also the things that I wasn't thinking about. It was a culmination over a couple of years of working through how I could pull myself into the right technical and mental state to be at my best, and that innings in 2018, every single ball, even in that first over that I was facing with Bhuvi, every single ball, I was working through my technical and mental checklist. Every single ball.What did that involve?
The technical checklist that I was going through was just around my head position; my hands; making sure my pre-movement was going straight down the wicket and it was early, so I wasn't rushed; my head was dead-still as the ball came out, so I had a clearer sort of focus and picture from my eyes to the ball to pick it up.And then, where was my mind as the ball came out? In between balls, was I tapping into my gut feel, trusting what I felt? In that first over, there were a couple of balls where my technique was a little bit off - I was a little bit rushed, a little bit to the off side of the ball - so I was working through that. Because the ball was swinging around as Bhuvi does do, there was one ball in particular where I was just a little bit hesitant. Maybe it was slightly in the back of my mind, where I was [telling myself], "Maybe just get through the over while the ball's still swinging", so I lost my intensity and intent for that one ball and I missed a cut shot. I sort of half-hit a cut shot to backward point, along the ground, and because I was a little bit defensive because the ball was moving around, I missed an opportunity to score.And the first ten balls, I was just working through, every single ball, how was I, mentally and technically. And because I'd worked through that process over the previous couple of years, it wasn't me overthinking it, because I was very aware of my mental energy, but I was shifting through it very quickly to go, "Okay, I need to make that adjustment, technically, mentally."So I was none off ten, and the [required] run rate was going up. Faf du Plessis got out to [Sandeep] Sharma, charging and probably playing a shot that he didn't necessarily have to play but he felt he did, because I was none off ten. The little bird on my shoulder was sort of chatting to me, going, "You caused that, what're you going to do, are you going to get on with it? You've caused Faf to get out, you've dug a hole here", and again it was me understanding that I'm in control of that little person on my shoulder, that I had to grab control and redirect it to, "No, this is what I need to focus on, every ball, and just do it over and over again."And then it just got to a stage where a couple of match-ups came my way as well, after those first ten balls. Sandeep came on for his third over in the powerplay, and I knew the ball wasn't going to swing as much, that was my time where I could, from ball one, take that over down, and try and get on top of him. Siddarth Kaul, he bowled back-to-back overs as well, which meant again, his second over I could take on from ball one, because I'd really assessed what was going on with how he was bowling and how the ball was reacting off the wicket.It was not premeditating anything. It was being very clear that I was ready to take him on, but I was trusting my instincts to react to where the ball was bowled. So every ball, I was pulling myself into the mindset that I knew I needed to be in, which was just a very aggressive mindset, and technically having that body position as well, and then reacting, and not getting in my way at all.And again, things fell my way, a few mishits sort of lobbed in the gap, but it was just me continuing to navigate my way in between every ball, so I was pulling myself into that right sort of mental space that I got into and I just stayed there, and trusted what that mindset was.

Bat like a ball player: Watson worked with former baseball coach Mike Young on his power-hitting stance and on using the body to get power through the ball © PCB

In my mental-skills book, I go into detail, around how I was pulling myself into that zone, into that space, where it was the absolute best of me. Even with the situation, the pressure around me, it was about creating that cocoon around me to not let any of that white noise penetrate my bubble. And I was using all my mental skills that I'd been taught to keep pulling myself into that mindset - the right thought at the right time as the ball was coming out [of the bowler's hand].And that, for me, was the first time that I consciously, purposely pulled myself into the right headspace, technically and mentally. So the satisfaction that came out of that innings - yes, the satisfaction of being able to play an innings like that, which every cricketer dreams of doing in a big game, but to be in control to the point of being able to pull myself into the best version of me, that was the most satisfying part.You spoke about the voice on your shoulder and being able to control that. What are the kind of techniques that you used to do that?
Well, the very simple technique that I used was understanding the… there are two components of your brain, the conscious mind and unconscious mind, and one of the conscious-mind functions is, if you want to exercise the control you have, you can take control. But a lot of us - and I certainly did - I allowed my environment to be able to control how I thought. I didn't take control of what I could.And that inner dialogue that's always going on, you are in control of it if you want to be. If you want to take control, you can redirect the script to the right thing at the right time. So by me understanding that, I knew that when that voice on my shoulder came in, and it was the wrong thing, I had the control to be able to grab it, and say no, and just redirect it to, "Okay, what do I need to focus on right now to be at my best?"One technique was putting a song into my head to shut it out. Some people think about their breath or whatever different techniques they have, but for me it was a song. That sort of just put my mind in neutral. But then I was very direct with what I needed to think about as the bowler was running in and as the ball came out.So they were my two techniques to be able to, more than anything, just get out of your own way to access all the skills that are so ingrained in you from all the hard work that you've put in.As a cricketer at that level, you've always had those skills, but at an earlier point in your career, having got to a place like 0 off ten, would you have been able to come out of it the way you did?
Well, I might have been able to come out of it, and I had at certain times of my career before I really understood the mental-skills side, but it wouldn't have been by me being in control to direct myself there. It would have been because of the circumstances allowing me to fall into that sort of space, technically and mentally, to find my way through it somehow.

So I had to work on a couple of shots in particular to know that I could put pressure on the bowler and then just react. It also helped that in my first IPL, I batted at four for Rajasthan Royals. We had Graeme Smith and Swapnil Asnodkar, so they were always the right options to open, and Shane Warne saw one of my strengths as being able to hit boundaries through the middle period and not get bogged down by spin. The wickets we played on, especially in Rajasthan, were beautiful wickets to bat on. The ball always came on nicely.Because of the IPL, because of Warnie's belief in me, I got opportunities to be able to expose what my strengths were, whether that was with the ball, opening the bowling and bowling certain periods and bowling at the death, or being exposed to bat at No. 4, which was sink or swim: I was either going to be able to score runs quite quickly through the middle period against spin, or I was going to get bogged down and I'd be dropped.Against spin sometimes, you'd play the pull and end up with your back knee on the ground. I guess this was because you were pulling lengths that were fuller than the traditional pulling length? Was that something you worked on, to be able to pull a wider range of lengths?
Yeah, absolutely. The pull shot to spinners, that was just an evolution with my power-hitting. Loading up my back leg meant that I had power underneath the ball to be able to power up through the ball, and not feel like my weight was sort of going back. That was just a by-product, in a way, of the power-hitting that I worked on off the quicks, and it just meant I was able to get into a low position.I wasn't premeditating, looking for a short ball, but when I was in position early and I was watching the ball, even if it was a faster sort of arm ball or something like that, as soon as it was flat and shorter, because I was in that powerful position, I could move back quickly and stay under the ball. It meant that at times my back leg was on the ground, but I was in a powerful position and not with my weight totally going back either to the off side or to the keeper, which would have meant I was losing my power as I was trying to hit the ball.

Reference

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