Australia won the first ODI in Zimbabwe last night by 59 runs—a decent start from both sides of the ball.

Ollie Peake—we’ve talked about him here—made 30 from 40: a four, a six, a strike rate of 75.00 (-23.00 to the team SR). Batting at seven isn’t easy. You’re one wicket away from batting with the back four. It’s the role they have for him—he’s just turned 20; I agree with how they’ve placed him. But just one but; I’ve watched him plenty; I know his tendencies; it surfaced mid-innings again. Tendencies do; they’re annoying little critters!

Here’s not to tell, but the question is: to message or not? And then, which question to ask. I think I know, but I’m not sure whether I will. But I will share this—Seth Godin summarised John Sawatsky’s rules for asking better questions close to 20 years ago, and it still holds:

Don’t ask double-barrelled questions. Just one at a time, and if you can keep it to one, all the better.
Don’t add your own remarks. It’s not about you.
Don’t ask closed questions. If it starts with a verb, you’ll get one word back.

And the coaching dilemma: to intervene or not—which question do you start with—and don’t assume all coaches see what you see.

I messaged him. One question. Open-ended. No remarks.

Coaching is mostly that—asking the right question at the right time. Now, we wait and see.

Nick

A group of question marks sitting next to each other — Photo by Buddha Elemental 3D on Unsplash

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