Bringing Professional Cricket Experience into Mindset Development
What can young fast bowlers learn from someone who spent more than 20 years playing professional cricket, represented England and went on to become one of the county game’s most experienced coaches?
That’s the thinking behind the latest collaboration between Cricket Mind and the National Fast Bowling Academy (NFBA).
Building on an established partnership, Cricket Mind has completed a second bespoke mental-performance video series for NFBA, this time featuring former Lancashire and England fast bowler Glen Chapple.
The four-part series explores the psychological side of fast bowling through Glen’s experiences as both a player and coach, helping young bowlers better understand the mental challenges they’ll encounter throughout their development.
It’s also an example of how Cricket Mind works with coaching businesses and cricket organisations to create tailored educational programmes that complement their existing coaching provision.
Building on the Cricket Mind and NFBA Partnership
The partnership between Cricket Mind and the National Fast Bowling Academy brings together two complementary areas of expertise: specialist fast bowling development and mental-performance coaching.
The first series, featuring Cricket Mind’s Briony Brock, introduced NFBA players to the psychological principles and mental skills that can influence their performances.
The second series takes a different approach.
Rather than explaining psychological concepts in isolation, it explores how those challenges are actually experienced and managed in professional cricket.
Through conversations with Glen Chapple, players gain an insight into the thoughts, emotions, decisions and experiences that helped shape his approach to the game.
Together, the two series provide complementary perspectives: understanding the psychology of fast bowling and learning from someone who has experienced its challenges at the highest levels of the professional game.
Both series are available to NFBA players through a dedicated, access-controlled online learning hub developed by Cricket Mind, alongside additional educational resources and reflection questions.
Glen Chapple: Lessons from More Than Two Decades in Professional Cricket
Few fast bowlers have experienced the demands of professional cricket for as long as Glen Chapple.
During a Lancashire playing career spanning more than 20 years, Glen took almost 1,000 first-class wickets, represented England and captained Lancashire to their historic County Championship title in 2011.
Following his retirement as a player, he moved into coaching, including seven seasons as Lancashire’s Head Coach and subsequent roles within professional and international cricket.
The new series is hosted by Nathan Wood, Cricket Mind founder, ex Lancashire professional cricketer and former ECB Head of Coach Development.
Nathan played alongside Glen at Lancashire during the 1990s, bringing a shared understanding of professional cricket to conversations that explore the psychological demands of fast bowling.
The result is a series of informal but purposeful discussions, combining Glen’s personal experiences with practical lessons that developing players can apply to their own cricket.
Four Videos Exploring the Fast Bowling Mindset
The series follows the psychological journey of a fast bowler, from training and preparation through to competing and reflecting on performances.
1. Training Mindset
How do you maintain the motivation and discipline to train effectively over a long career?
Glen reflects on his approach to training, including a turning point early in his career when changing his mindset helped transform his bowling.
The discussion explores training with purpose, taking ownership of development, maintaining motivation and responding constructively when practice sessions don’t go to plan.
2. Pre-Match Mindset
How do professional fast bowlers manage nerves and prepare themselves mentally for important matches?
Drawing on experiences including his first Lord’s final, Glen discusses how his approach to pre-match preparation developed throughout his career.
He explains the importance of recognising your emotional state, developing routines that work for you and building confidence through purposeful preparation.
3. In-Match Mindset
What happens psychologically when a world-class batter is getting the better of you, wickets aren’t coming or the outcome of a match depends on your next delivery?
Glen shares experiences of bowling against some of cricket’s finest batters, maintaining concentration during difficult spells and handling crucial moments in important matches.
The discussion highlights the importance of clarity, patience, adaptability and focusing on what matters most.
4. Post-Match Mindset
How can players learn from their performances without allowing results to define how they feel about themselves?
Glen explores the importance of honest reflection, separating performance from outcome, maintaining perspective and learning from success as well as setbacks.
He also shares his experiences as a cricketing parent, offering insights into how parents can support their children’s development while protecting their enjoyment of the game.
Watch: Glen Chapple on Managing First-Ball Nerves
One of the most revealing moments in the series comes when Glen describes how he learned to manage his nerves before bowling the first ball of a big match.
Rather than becoming distracted by the batter or the occasion, he developed a simple approach: focus on delivering that first ball well.
And if it didn’t go to plan? Make the second ball the most important one.
It’s a practical example of an important mental-performance principle: directing your attention towards what you can control, rather than becoming caught up in what might happen.
Watch the short clip from the series:
The complete four-part series is available exclusively to National Fast Bowling Academy players through their dedicated NFBA Hub.
Bespoke Mental-Performance Programmes for Cricket Organisations
The NFBA partnership demonstrates how specialist mental-performance education can be integrated into an organisation’s existing coaching programmes.
At Cricket Mind, we recognise that different clubs, academies and coaching businesses have different needs, audiences and ways of working.
That’s why we offer bespoke mental-performance projects, designed around the specific objectives of each organisation.
Our work can include:
- Bespoke educational video series: Expert-led content developed around particular performance challenges, age groups or coaching objectives.
- Mental-performance workshops: Interactive online or in-person sessions for players, parents and coaches.
- Dedicated learning hubs: Branded online resources bringing together videos, educational materials and practical reflection activities.
- Specialist educational programmes: Structured learning experiences combining cricket expertise with sport psychology and mental-performance coaching.
- Ongoing partnerships: Complementary mental-performance support that organisations can integrate into their existing player and coach development programmes.
Projects can be delivered as standalone initiatives or developed into longer-term partnerships.
Our approach combines the practical experience of professional cricket with specialist expertise in coaching, mentoring and sport psychology.
Importantly, the objective isn’t simply to provide information. It’s to create meaningful learning experiences that help players, parents and coaches better understand the psychological side of cricket and apply that understanding in practice.
Supporting the People Behind the Performances
Technical ability determines what a player can do. Mindset influences how much of that ability they can access when it matters most.
For cricket organisations, developing the mental side of the game doesn’t have to mean introducing a completely separate coaching programme.
It can mean complementing existing technical and tactical development with specialist resources that help players understand themselves, manage challenges and develop greater independence.
The continuing partnership between Cricket Mind and NFBA is one example of how that can work.
By combining the expertise of both organisations, we’re helping young fast bowlers learn not only how to develop their bowling skills, but also how to approach the psychological challenges that come with the game.
Could Cricket Mind Create Something Similar for Your Organisation?
Whether you run a cricket academy, coaching business, club or governing body, Cricket Mind can work with you to develop mental-performance education tailored to your players, coaches and wider community.
From a single workshop to a complete video series or dedicated learning hub, we’d welcome the opportunity to explore how we could support your organisation.
Interested in working together?
Visit our Cricket Workshops page to explore our educational work, or get in touch to discuss a potential project.
You can also find out more about our partners at the National Fast Bowling Academy.
Cricket Mind provides specialist mental-performance coaching, mentoring and educational programmes for cricketers, coaches, parents and cricket organisations worldwide.
