HOW TO BE AUTHENTIC – THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HASHIM AMLA AND THE REST

HOW TO BE AUTHENTIC – THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HASHIM AMLA AND THE REST

A few years ago, I watched an interesting movie, called the Legend of Baggar Vance. It was a movie about golf, and because it was a period in my life when I was into golf, I ended up watching the movie a few times. It was based on a book by Steve Pressfield about a caddy called Baggar Vance (played by Will Smith in the movie), who was this kind of sage and charismatic, knowing not only about golf but also about life. He advices a local golfer Junah, playing in a tournament against Walter Hagan and Bobby Jones, who at that time was the greatest golfer the world had ever seen.

Baggar Vance talks about being authentic to your true self, when Junah wants to know how, for just once in his life, he can play the perfect swing. So the book is about Baggar Vance explaining to Junah the four pathways or secrets to the perfect swing. Now, the perfect swing in this instance is really a metaphor for becoming a master at anything in life, from playing a guitar, to batting, to becoming a computer operator or a violinist.

And so Baggar Vance explains the four pathways to the perfect swing:

1.       Practice (The Body) – If you want to become good at what you do, you just don’t have a choice, you have to practice. In his book ‘Outliers’, Malcolm Gladwell refers to Bill Gates and The Beatles, and explains the small role innate talent plays and the bigger role that preparation seems to play in the careers of the gifted. He further elaborates on a study done in the early 1990’s by psychologist K. Anders Ericsson on three groups of violinists, and on how it takes at least 10 000 hours of practice in order to really master a skill. The elite performers practiced what they did with such regularity, when compared to the merely good violinists who totaled between 2000 and 4000 hours. The striking thing about Ericson’s study is that the thing that distinguished one performer from another was that they didn’t just work harder, they worked ‘much, much harder’ than the rest.

2.       Apply the Intellect (The Mind) – Once you have practiced and put in the hours, the next step is to start reading, thinking and understanding what you are doing. In other words, educating yourself in a way that will allow you to apply the skills you have learnt in an intelligent way to give you the best possible chance of success. For example, a bowler would carefully think about a batsman’s weaknesses and how to set him up in order to get his wicket.

3.       Unconditional Love and Passion (The Heart) – This is something that is almost difficult to explain to somebody who doesn’t have it, but when you come across a person with unconditional love and passion for what he or she does, it’s something you cannot miss. It’s like the way a parent loves a child. It is the only thing that will get the person coming back again and again and again, for the right reason against all odds, even when times are tough.

4.       Letting Go (The Spirit) – So often we feel we have to control everything and when things don’t work out or don’t go according to plan, we tend to get upset and look to blame someone, even ourselves at times. Another way of putting it would be to have faith in a higher power, or something bigger than us. You’ve done the work, put in the time, applied the intellect, and you love and enjoy what you do. Now is the time to reap the rewards of your efforts. However, after all this, success may still elude you if you try too hard and put yourself under pressure. It’s what separates the good from the great in my humble opinion. It’s what separates Hashim Amla from most other cricketers in world cricket. The rare ability to let go and detach himself from the outcome.

We know he does the first two things well, and the probably the third as well. I would assume most cricketers at first class or international level fulfill the first three pathways. How much they practice and read or understand the game, and how unconditionally they love the game will off course vary from person to person. For me though, it may just be the fourth pathway of Letting Go and leaving it in His hands, that takes Amla to a different level from the rest. It’s his spirituality. It’s his faith. It’s his belief that everything will work out in the end, even if he walks after nicking the ball while the team is in trouble, or he desperately needs some runs to stay in the team.

Baggar Vance would have been pleased with Amla, as I reckon most cricket lovers probably are. Not because he is fast becoming one of the greats of the game, but because he reveals his own true authentic nature as well as the true nature of the game.

Why play cricket? Why would someone want to stand in the middle of a cricket field and bowl, hit or chase a red piece of leather for five days? Hashim Amla I believe answers that question again and again.

Written by Hussein Manack - Hussein is a highly respected cricket commentator and analyst for the national broadcaster in South Africa SABC, on Radio 2000 FM Sport and SABC TV for the past ten years, covering international Test, ODI and T20 games involving South Africa. He also serves as a non-executive Director on the Gauteng Cricket Board and Lions Cricket NPC, Convener of Selectors for the Highveld Lions and a Selector for the Proteas.