Flirting with the Zone

The Zone – been there, done that …. never got to stay long enough to buy the T-shirt. In fact, I’m not even sure they have a gift shop – we’re talking flying visits here!

Having said that, these brief liaisons have been responsible for some of the coolest stuff I’ve managed to do on a cricket pitch. Not cool in a “Reverse-sweep for 6 off the opposition’s fastest bowler” kind of way. At one season into my cricketing career I still get a thrill out of not messing up a long barrier! No my moments of glory are of the fairly simple variety. It always brings a smile to my face remembering the time I threw my foot a near-certain 4 just short of the boundary – and have it chip up into the hands of my waiting team-mate; or my slalom-like dive around the non-striker to take my first ever wicket caught and bowled; or even my first catch in a league game to remove the opposition’s highest scorer on the day.

All these things have one major thing in common though – it wasn’t really me doing them! Oh it was me, just not me in the “stream-of-consciousness” sense. Brain was probably off having a nice cup of tea somewhere; or trying to figure out where we’d left our car-keys; or generally being distracted while Body got on with the cricket!

Unfortunately Brain isn’t nearly as accommodating as I’d like him to be. To be honest, he’s a bit of a control freak! As soon as Body goes and does something interesting, Brain realises he doesn’t really like tea, and our car-keys are in the bag where we put them before the game – and POP … zone-mind disappears leaving you standing there looking a bit conflustered at a cricket ball in your hand and a disappointed looking batsman wandering back to the pavilion. Another whistle-stop trip to the Zone is over, and Brain will be damned if he’s letting go of the steering wheel again soon – I mean, what if we’d crashed, Body’s not even insured to drive this thing by himself!

This year though things is gonna change! Armed to the teeth with tips from the web (thanks Harrowdrive ;) ) Brain is learning to relax and let stuff happen. Maybe this year I’ll be able to stay in the zone long enough to reach that milestone 5^th run, or open my account for league wickets …. Who knows, maybe I’ll even get that T-shirt.