Cricket can be a very tough game at times and consistent success doesn’t come easy.

One thing for sure is that all players no matter their skill, experience or level struggle for form at some stage of their careers. When this occurs it is very easy to make excuses and feel sorry for yourself, however the tougher and more worthwhile road is to accept the great challenge that cricket presents and tackle it head on.

A key element in succeeding in the face of the challenge that struggling for form presents is to remember to enjoy the challenge.

After all when you enjoy something you do it well, so feeling upset, uptight or thinking that the game of cricket has got it in for you won’t work! When we play well we enjoy it and when we don’t play well we tend not to enjoy it, after all not performing isn’t much fun.

However while form may be temporary class is permanent and as such it is very important to continue to enjoy the game despite a personal lack of success in the short run. If you let a lack of short-term success destroy your enjoyment of the game you simply won’t play well.

Key tips for enjoying the challenge.

• Remember what you love about playing the game
• Think back and remember how you play best and how good it feels when you play well
• Enjoy the challenge of getting back to form and when you overcome it this time it will help you to do it better when it occurs again
• Realise everybody misses out from time to time and this is a natural part of the game
• Enjoy your teammates success and keep contributing to the team effort

Good luck

Mark