What makes Joe Root a match-winner?
It could be seen in the second innings as soon as Joe Root walked out to bat that he wanted to win the match for England. Right from the start his body language was there for all to see – he was ready to stay there until the end and see his side home.
It was extremely difficult to play in those swinging conditions and as a batsman, you do want to play your natural stokes and get some early boundaries to instil some confidence. However, he showed that he was calm and composed and his intent was to be the match winner – because of this, he showed that as players we can do things differently according to varying situations in the game.
Our intent is our thought process before going into any situation and is shown in our body language and behaviours. Body language has a direct relationship with our behaviours which leads to our success in cricket. In short, our intent is the cornerstone in achieving anything we want in cricket. It sets the tone for us to put all our energy into our success – or, if we show poor intent – failure. Whatever we think is reflected in our body language and influences our performance, so if we think positively then it will have a productive effect and if we think negatively then it might cause us to fail.
In cricket, the probability of failure is high compared to success and even the best players in the world have to go through a lot of disappointments. In those difficult times we often get negative thoughts which effects everything else around as and most of all our performance. Factors which can positively affect this include us having a strong a purpose (in life as well as sport) and thinking less about our emotions, saving every bit of our energy to achieve our goals.
That purpose can be many things, for example winning the match for your team or helping influence and mentor younger cricketers. Whatever it is, having a higher purpose will let you concentrate less on your emotions in the moment and find ways to achieve your bigger goals. With a strong direction, it’s easier for us to put our negative emotions and thoughts to the side and just keep focussing on our goals. We will think more about finding ways to get to our next target rather than thinking things like, “I am not a good batsman”, or, “what would other people think about me?” etc.
Having a purpose changes your perspective and helps you find opportunities even in very difficult and stressful situations. Joe Root even said in his interview after the game that it was always about winning the match, which is what kept him going – his purpose was being England’s matchwinner, on being there at the end. He knew that if he did that, he would probably reach his 27th hundred and pass 10,000 career Test match runs in the process… which he did. He was clearly emotional during his innings after reaching these milestones with the same shot, but he was able to re-focus and apply himself again to get his team over the line.
The bigger the purpose, the easier it gets to achieve your goal.
As a psychology consultant, I emphasize to players about finding your true purpose in life a lot because once you know what you really want to achieve, it becomes much easier to bridge the gap between your dreams and reality.