The Great Brain Robbery

Last Saturday I witnessed a rampant Australian side tear the barely beating hearts from a New Zealand team that were at Eden Park in seemingly body only. I could smell the Australian swagger from the stands. The stench invaded the nostrils of the 20,000 or so others in the ground too, as one heckle after another chided the failing efforts of the hapless Kiwis.

Fast forward a mere four days. A puny leap of 100 hours and the Men-In-Black stood with phasers at the ready and came within a shaving of chasing down the 323 required runs. In the process, they accumulated more than three times their Auckland run tally.

So why the difference? Same men, same coach, same team batting first and while ultimately the same result, it would be a one eyed critic that could not concede to the difference between the two sides being microscopic in Wellington.

New Zealand, inside the Westpac Stadium ‘cake tin’ found the mental missing ingredient and baked up an altogether more intense aura. They had a touch of swagger blended with bites of brilliance and but for a young Australian with a golden arm, may well have been heading to Christchurch with the prospect of taking the Chappell-Hadlee honours.

The difference between the two sides (New Zealand Saturday and New Zealand Wednesday) was surely mental. Four days is not long enough for techniques to improve or flaws to be eliminated. Perhaps the scolding critics touched a cranial nerve, or perhaps John Bracewell calling into question the players ‘mental techniques' was the catalyst.

Whatever the spark, a raging fire was ignited in the Black Caps camp and they took to their task on Wednesday with an altogether more confident stride in their steps.

An Irish folk saying goes that “you never plough a field if you only turn it over your mind” however, the mind can assist like a well crafted technique or debilitate like a torn hamstring, depending on the thoughts that run through it.

Increasingly, professional sports teams are employing the services of sports psychologists to ensure that players approach tournaments and matches with their head space full of the most positive thoughts possible.

New Zealand Cricket has Gilbert Enoka, who carries the mantle of ‘Mental Skills Coach’, and I would suggest that Mr Enoka has been gainfully employed since the Auckland caning.

The Psychologist role should be an increasingly valued member of the coaching staff of any team wishing to extract the maximum performance from its members.

In Wellington, the Black Caps commenced a run chase with brains full of belief that they were good enough to at least get within a whisker of the World Champions.

Come Christchurch, with another few sessions with Gilbert under their belts and we may see that belief carry the New Zealanders into a victory in the final game of the series.