It's present in all sports where confidence and self-belief can be the difference between highly skilled athletes. My beloved Cowboys found this out last week in their victory over the Titans. The lads from the Gold Coast dominated the first 10 minutes of the match thanks to some solid play and some poor handling from the Cowboys. Despite the Titan's advantage the Cowboys were able to hold them out. This gave the Cowboys confidence which was boosted by a try soon after to give them the lead. Holding the Titans out for a sustained period then scoring with their first real opportunity gave the Cowboys the confidence and the momentum. They went on to score a comfortable upset victory.
Australia regained the momentum in last night's play on the first day of the 4th Ashes Test. Despite an unfortunate "Rudi" by Billy Bowen the Australian bowlers managed to snatch the momentum out of England's hands and shake the living daylights out of it. The end result, England all out for 102, was an emphatic change in direction for the Test Series. But momentum began shifting well before play commenced.
1. Australia dominate the final day of the 3rd Test after being thoroughly outplayed for three other days (four if you count England's weather as part of their team).
Flintoff out: Freddy "the Conqueror" Flintoff was forced out of the Test with knee soreness. His quota of needles expired in the 3rd Test leaving him no option but to sit out the 4th.
2. Aussie selectors: Clark in for Hauritz was as gutsy as it was necessary. Hauritz had proven a solid member of the team playing a role similar to Tim May in the 80's. Solid but not spectacular. Valuable but not game breaking.
3. Prior spasms: Matt Prior suffered a few back spasms just prior to commencement of play putting doubt into the English lineup. Paul Collingwood subbing in as 'keeper with Johnathon Trott is as an extra batsman might have actually improved the team but the doubt and uncertainty may have nudged the momentum along.
With all this momentum switching to Australia it was inevitable that the first session was going to be critical for both sides. England needing to halt, then reverse the momentum and Australia needing to keep the flow in their direction. History shows that the momentum was all Australia until England's bowlers managed to take three quick wickets in the space of four overs. Australia looked stunned and England were strutting around with some confidence for the first time in the day. Michael Clarke and Marcus North batted out the remainder of the final session ensuring that there was no momentum shift back to England. Holding momentum can be as important as gaining it in the first place.
Momentum applies to all levels of sport - although it's more pronounced when the combatants are evenly matched. In our Grade Cricket circles I like to focus our team on winning each session. This is a common Australian strategy which was a staple of Steve Waugh led sides. We aim to win each hour of our Grade games. In the field we look to hold the runs down and take wickets in every session. In times when we are behind this gives us small, achievable goals and when we are ahead it ensures that we stay focused on maintaining the momentum. Simple strategy but very effective in sides where you have inexperienced players or juniors coming through the Grades.
Finally, momentum seems to be an aspect of cricket that only arises when there is a change from one team to another. When Australia dominated England in 2006/07 in Australia there was little talk of momentum. Why? Because it was always there. Like sunshine for five days of a Test, it's ignored if it's continuous.
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