The Sports Psychology Blog
This Sports Psychology blog comes as Australian leg-spinner, Stuart Macgill, announces his retirement, from the Australian test team.
Cricket: Stuart Macgill - No Comfort Zone
So Australian leg-spinner Stuart Macgill is to retire from Test cricket, at the end of the current match, against the West Indies in Antigua.
"Unfortunately now my time is up....as I said many times last summer, there is no way I will ever walk on to a cricket field unless I can guarantee that I can dismiss top order batsmen consistently''.
No dragging on your career, collecting caps and match-fees. All those years in Shane Warne's shadow. Surely, there must be a desire to take more wickets, to make up for time lost?
It's reminiscent of the way Damien Martyn announced his retirement, during the 2007 Ashes series. The player simply no longer having the will, or desire, to carry on performing at the highest level.
The intensity of Australian cricket is such, that a player cannot manufacture an attitude to get by. They either have that attitude, or they don't. And they are aware of what other players see and feel. There can be no hiding place, in such a competitive culture.
It's the total commitment to the cause, that gives the Australian team, their intensity and collective power. Its the desire, to want to personally improve and raise the performance bar. Knowing that another player is waiting in the wings, hungry to take your place.
And it's in the honesty, of being able to say that you no longer have the will, to get out there, and perform at the highest level. It's that very honesty, that makes the Australian's, the ultimate cricket machine.
Stuart Macgill has demonstrated today, just what it takes to be an Australian test cricketer. It's not for the faint-hearted or the un-committed.
