ECB Coaches Association links Coaching Insight 2019 | Page 43

Just Jos
across as lazy, or that I don’t care,
but it gives me clarity and freedom.
It stops me thinking about technical
thoughts or anything else that’s
going on. It also helps you deal with
failure; not that you’re masking it, as
if it doesn’t matter, but really, in life,
it doesn’t. We’re very fortunate to be
playing cricket. Whether I have a bad
day and 20,000 people think I’m s***
at cricket doesn’t really matter in the
grand scheme of life.”
For all that this more overtly
confident version of Jos has struck
“The game just
suits my eye in a
different way to
what is perceived as
conventional.”
a rich vein of success, failure is a part of
cricket, perhaps the part of cricket. Has it
ever become a burden?
“Definitely. I’m not saying I’ve cracked
it at all. When I got dropped from Test
cricket [in 2015 after going seven Tests
without a fifty], I needed it. Then a
few weeks later [vs Pakistan at Dubai]
I scored the fastest ODI hundred for
England. At times you just need to break
the cycle.
“That’s why I think rest is important. Your
body can get through it, but your mind
needs a break.”
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