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A few weeks back, Usman Khawaja raised some old school eyebrows by being rested from consecutive Sheffield Shield games for Queensland.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s captain of his state, he\u2019s not injured, and the Ashes were months ago. Surely, he doesn\u2019t need a rest or more time with his family? Or so the argument went.<\/p>\n
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Usman Khawaja (left) was pivotal to Australia retaining the Ashes in 2023, while Glenn Maxwell had a World Cup to remember as Australia lifted the trophy.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Artwork: Aresna Villanueva. Images: Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n It was the sort of critique raised around the same time by Mitchell Johnson, when he questioned why Lance Morris was being rested by Cricket Australia following his recovery from a back stress fracture.<\/p>\n Johnson, in his explosive column attacking David Warner and selection chair George Bailey, gave voice to a continuing sense of mystification about how the national team functions.<\/p>\n But in offering a planned break from the mental toll of batting, Australia\u2019s head coach Andrew McDonald and Bailey were looking to ensure Khawaja will be at his sharpest for the home series against Pakistan, having already faced nearly 1000 more deliveries in Test cricket than anyone else this year.<\/p>\n For Khawaja, those sorts of pragmatic decisions are the key to Australia\u2019s World Cup final rumbling of India, the Test championship win in England against the same opponents, and the retention of the Ashes, all in the same unprecedented year on the road.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing effort, a great effort. Massive credit has to be given to Andrew McDonald, George Bailey and Patty,\u201d Khawaja told this masthead. \u201cI think a lot of times in the past with coaches and leadership members in the Australian cricket team, they didn\u2019t respect how hard Test cricket is mentally.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think Patty and especially Andrew and George understand how hard it is to be able to mentally perform at international level. I don\u2019t think the guys would have been able to perform at the international level the way they have this year if it wasn\u2019t for those people at the top.<\/p>\n \u201cI know for a fact that they have worked hard at taking the load off, taking the pressure off, taking the stress off, and letting the players play at their best for as long as possible. The little things that don\u2019t matter do not matter \u2013 we\u2019re not there to box tick.\u201d<\/p>\n Box ticking included things like compulsory warm-ups before play, micromanagement of player downtime, or discouragement of players resting during games.<\/p>\n As an example, a young Glenn Maxwell once commented on how much he was thinking about how he looked, especially being clean-shaven. Stubble certainly did not appear to be an obstacle during Maxwell\u2019s remarkable 201 against Afghanistan.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing to play for Hampshire and then straight into the Australian set-up I\u2019ve had to lift my game up a few levels and really just make sure I\u2019m at least at that standard and looking like I\u2019m at that standard,\u201d Maxwell said in 2012.<\/p>\n \u201cI turned up to the squad and [coach] Mickey Arthur goes, \u2018Are you going to shave any time soon?\u2019 \u2026 About 10 minutes later I went to my room and had a shave. So it\u2019s basically just looking the part.\u201d<\/p>\n More than a decade later, Maxwell reveals that his own performance has been greatly enhanced by being given the right to choose how he can best prepare for batting.<\/p>\n His anxiety about compulsory, adversarial net sessions with Australia\u2019s pace bowlers peaked during the 2019 World Cup, where Maxwell struggled to make an impact and subsequently took a mental health break from the game for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cWe used to have net sessions, and they would be \u2018you have to be bat versus ball\u2019, the top-six batters taking on the quicks, you\u2019d be forced to stay in there for 45 minutes and battle it out,\u201d Maxwell told this masthead. \u201cYou weren\u2019t allowed to face the fast bowlers until they were 100 per cent up and ready.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got to be honest, when I went into the nets I\u2019m thinking, \u2018As long as I don\u2019t get hit or injured, this net session will be a success\u2019. I couldn\u2019t care less about my technique and the whole time was about survival and not getting hurt so I could play the game.<\/p>\n \u201cLooking back on it, I just see it as complete madness that they would ever be thrust upon you. I\u2019m the sort of person where if I can get 10-15 minutes of throwdowns and spin, I can feel like I\u2019m ready to go mentally and technically. That\u2019s been a big change for a few of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Glenn Maxwell in the nets at the 2019 World Cup.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n Ricky Ponting once described batting in the nets as \u201cso false and fake to what you actually come across in a game\u201d, and Maxwell agrees.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not like it changes the way you play quicks in a game,\u201d he says. \u201cIn a game there\u2019s no barriers around you, no nets, no feeling of being enclosed or caged in a net where you\u2019ve got no escape.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you get out to the middle it\u2019s nice and free, you can put pressure on the quick and hit them out of the attack, where in a net it just feels like they keep coming, and you feel stuck. There\u2019s a few of the batters I reckon have felt like that, where the nets are a little bit spicy, or aren\u2019t as good as the middle and at times can be quite dangerous.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you\u2019re watching the quicks wheel in and fire off 18 yards and whizzing them past your ears or into your ribcage. The last thing you want is an injury, and you miss a series because you\u2019ve been facing blokes trying to prove themselves in the nets.\u201d<\/p>\n Khawaja, meanwhile, was one of four players suspended for a Test match in India in 2013 during the \u201chomework\u201d affair. He has played in teams mentored by every Australian coach and selection panel since January 2011.<\/p>\n \u201cFive years ago, if I was sleeping during a cricket game, I\u2019d get absolutely scolded,\u201d Khawaja said. \u201cA Test match is five days, it\u2019s tough work, but \u2018what are you doing sleeping during a game, wake up\u2019. Now with Patty or anyone, if someone is sleeping during the game, no one says a word.<\/p>\n \u201cEven the smallest things like warm-ups, getting you ready to play the game. That takes that little bit of mental strength. Every day you don\u2019t have to wake up dreading doing a warm-up you don\u2019t want to do. If I nicked off the day before, and I\u2019m not batting, why do I need to do a warm-up? I don\u2019t need to warm up until we go out and field again.<\/p>\n \u201cThey put the onus on the players and I think that\u2019s been massive. I think there\u2019s that respect, accountability and trust that everyone will do what they need to. Players are getting treated like adults for the first time in a long time, and they\u2019re behaving like adults … for the majority of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Usman Khawaja with his wife Rachel and children Aisha and Ayla after the Lord\u2019s Ashes Test. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n Khawaja was aware of the murmurings about him missing a couple of Shield games. He pointed out that in recent years, the vast majority of cricketers who have put their hands up for mental health breaks have tended to be batters or all-rounders: Maxwell, Ben Stokes, Will Pucovski, Jonathan Trott, Marcus Trescothick, Sarah Taylor and Meg Lanning to name a few.<\/p>\n Other approaches to relieve stress include careful consideration of when and how to relay feedback to players: batters, for instance, will never be critiqued immediately after they get out, a famously emotional time. Team meetings are rare, and must have a specific focus. As one squad member puts it: \u201cFeedback needs to happen at a time when the information can be best absorbed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo one questions when a fast bowler takes time off, do they?\u201d Khawaja said. \u201cSo I don\u2019t know why anyone was questioning myself taking a couple of games off. You never play six Shield matches before a Test series, there\u2019s always a case of getting burned out before you get to a Test series mentally.<\/p>\n \u201cThe toll of batting isn\u2019t physical, it\u2019s more the mental toll, you\u2019re always switched on. I\u2019ve batted a lot this year, I\u2019ve been switched on a lot, so I know at some level I\u2019ve got to respect that. I was pretty tired after that Ashes series mentally, and going into [the Sheffield Shield] I played that first game and the plan was always set out.<\/p>\n \u201cCredit to Andrew and George, they\u2019ve been great through the whole process. We sat down and thought about what\u2019s the best way to prepare and go about it, and that\u2019s the way it was.\u201d<\/p>\n While the achievements of 2023 will linger long in the memory, Khawaja said there would also be another macro effect of Australia\u2019s careful management \u2013 lengthening the careers of top-quality players.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I was in the past environment I think I\u2019d be done by now, mentally,\u201d he said. \u201cI would have been forced to play six Shield games before the Test series, I\u2019d be forced to do 50 useless warm-ups before every Test match day \u2013 performative stuff. Those things would add up. At this point in my career I\u2019d go \u2018I\u2019m 36, I\u2019m mentally gone\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the fact there are new ways to do things have definitely given me a spark and reinvigorated me and allowed me to play for a little bit longer. I\u2019m in a place where if you ask me how long I want to play I can say I don\u2019t know, I\u2019m still enjoying it and feel like I can still do it. I might not have been saying that three or four years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, Maxwell\u2019s horizons have been broadened by the chance to prepare the way he thinks best. It was a fresh rather than frazzled Maxwell who played the innings of his life against Afghanistan in Mumbai. Lined up against some of his 2019 World Cup displays, it looked like two different players.<\/p>\n \u201cThat shift in mentality of getting guys ready for the game … there are still some guys who like facing that and challenging themselves, but as I\u2019ve got older it is more that I\u2019ve just got to do whatever I can to get ready,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt might be batting for five minutes or 10-15, but it\u2019s never about needing 1000 balls to get ready. I just need to make sure I feel like I\u2019m in good rhythm and then as soon as I hit that sweet spot, get out and make sure I\u2019m fresh.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2023, Australia have gained more sustained performance from their cricketers overseas than at any time in the past. As Khawaja says, it\u2019s been a case of concentrating on what actually matters \u2013 not always an easy thing when the national team is very public property.<\/p>\n News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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