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In the mood for cricket

December 03, 1998


How many runs professional batsmen score and how well the bowlers perform in county cricket matches depends on different aspects of their mood and how it changes during the match. It also depends on the mood of the team. This has not been shown before and suggests players could be helped to achieve more.

These findings were reported today, Tuesday 15 December, by Dr Peter Totterdell of the University of Sheffield, to The British Psychological Society's London Conference, held at the Institute of Education.




Thirty three professional county cricketers from four teams used pocket computers to rate their mood and performance three times a day for up to four days during a championship match. Their batting and bowling figures were then related to their mood ratings and their own ratings of their performance. Dr Totterdell found that happy mood, energetic mood, enthusiasm and focus all predicted the players' actual performance, whilst tense mood did not. The performances were also related to the collective mood and the confidence of the team.

Importantly, it appears that batsmen and bowlers may be affected by different mood states. Batsmen who scored more runs tended to be more engaged with their problems and more focused. Bowlers who had a worse average were experiencing more mental strain and were more tense.

The findings help explain why some players sometimes underperform and how something might be done about it. The research is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.



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