Own your Patch

During the midst of the Covid 2020 lockdown, I watched the Australian Cricket Series "The Test" that was being aired on Amazon Prime.

To put this in context, Australian Cricket 18 months ago had faced a cricketing mine storm with 3 of its' players- 2 of them leading batsmen David Warner and Steve Smith being implicated in what is now known as Sand paper gate. Steve Smith- Australia's then Captain was stripped off from captaincy and both David Warner and he were handed over a one year cricketing ban.

I have been a fan of Australian Cricket since the 90's because of two major reasons.

In the 90's and since then, the Australian team's hunger to win has been unmatched. Most cricket lovers will tell you that you can never be sure that you have beaten Australia till you have completed the winning run or taken the last wicket. Lots of lessons in life there- especially in a VUCA world. The deal isn't complete till the money hits the bank. The order isn't yours till it is signed, delivered and executed.

The second has been their process to match that hunger. In 2008, I had a chance to meet with James Sutherland, the then CEO of Cricket Australia. In a 45 minutes chat, I was impressed with a clear vision statement of how Australia wanted to be the number 1 cricket nation in all formats across both the men and women's version of the Sport. And to do that, their programs at a school and university level were detailed. Beyond this, the physical and mental rigor that national players were expected to put in practice and in non-match time were from a leaf book taken straight out of the most Elite Military programs. Lots of countries have now followed that model in the recent years with tremendous success.

In this context, I watched the series called the Test. This series traces the turmoil since the ban was announced, the surprise when Tim Paine became Australia's captain to the World Cup of 2019 where both Steve Smith and David Warner returned back into the National Team. Justin Langer took on as Australia's coach just after the Sandpapergate scandal.

Here are a few quotes from that series worth bookmarking in your transformation journey.

(1) "Play the next ball as though your life depends on it" Adam Gilchrist- Episode 1.

Gilchrist was brought in to help the shattered Aussie team (remember they had lost two of their stars) recover their morale. Gilly helped the Australian team members remind them on why the baggy green was special to them. To help them zone out the White noise, Gilchrist tried to get them to focus- one ball at a time.

The Australian team also in Episode 2 wrote a foundation document to bring together on what kind of a team and culture they wanted to foster. One of the key points in that was "Play your percentage wins- day by day. Win every session"

Takeaways:

Start with Why and Finding your Ikigai in Life is very important.

Once you find that, win one ball at a time.

(2) "Own your patch" Ricky Ponting Episode 1.

Takeaway: Can you dominate/ own what you are good at. You are blessed with a differentiator but can you practice hard enough to make it into a Superpower.

(3) This one is my favorite:

"There are times when life is difficult. Financial struggle, Mortgage gone up... You don't give up. Test Cricket is like that" Harsha Bhogle.

Takeaways: Resilience is hard. But staying at the crease and not throwing your wicket away has big, compounding effects.

A few other favorites

(4) "You don't win by being scared. You win by going out fearlessly and ruthlessly executing" Ricky Ponting on the eve of the World Cup 2019

(5) "Biggest opponent on the field is not the other team. It is pressure. When everyone is scrambling, can you be clinical and deliver" Justin Langer.

(6) "If you want a great prize, no one is going to give it to you. Go up and take it" Justin Langer.

(7) "My hard times when I was dropped taught me more than when my easy times" Justin Langer.

(8) When you are hungry for something and determined and focussed and committed to it, it is hard to give up" Justin Langer.

Champion teams continue to inspire in adversity and success. There is a lot to learn from teams that rebuild with a process. A deep peak into their journey reveals their mindset and the rigor that comes with creating a culture of high performance and winning.

If you have not watched the Test, I would recommend watching it (especially if you love Cricket). Do share what inspired you in this Series.