The 'team behind the team': how sports science and psychology helps England's cricketers

Investment in backroom staff paying dividends for Stokes and McCullum's side

A few weeks ago, I spoke to three key members of the backroom team behind England’s Test cricket squad. Marcus Trescothick, Jon Marzetti and Rob Ahmun - who, between them, hold the roles of batting coach, lead psychologist and performance science head - talked to me ahead of the recently completed Ashes series, which featured arguably the most captivating set of matches in the competition’s recent history.

Their comments formed the backbone of an article I wrote for BBC Sport, examining the culture which the national team has established since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum were appointed as captain and coach, in May 2022. The story provides some concrete examples of how Trescothick, Marzetti and Ahmun – together with their support staff colleagues – have helped England’s management team create an environment conducive to both exciting on-pitch performances and off-field positivity.

However, the piece stops short of describing all the details from the conversations I held with the backroom trio, primarily due to word count restrictions. So, in this week’s newsletter, I wanted to shed some more light on the discussions with Trescothick, Marzetti and Ahmun, picking a few key points which emerged from the interviews and exploring those issues in more detail.

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The changing nature of elite-level psychological support

20 years ago, England’s cricketers were able to call on the services of a single sport psychologist. At the time, that level of support was arguably ahead of the curve: indeed, two decades on, there are still elite football clubs – such as Real Madrid and Tottenham – who don’t employ a men’s first-team psychologist.

The setup at Madrid and Spurs is a stark contrast to the environment which England’s Test players are now part of. The psychology team is currently six-strong, with Marzetti joined by two clinical psychologists and specialists covering the T20, one-day international, women’s squads and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) coaches.

Whilst it’s rudimentary to suggest that increasing the number of accredited practitioners automatically results in performance and mental health advantages, it’s also true to say that this type of investment – at a time when athletes are increasingly demanding psychological support – should be welcomed.

A balanced approach to ‘data-driven’ analysis

The hype surrounding ‘marginal gains’ and heightened focus on data has surrounded elite-level sport for well over a decade, but when I spoke to Ahmun, who leads England’s performance science division, he was at pains to stress the need for a considered approach to number-crunching.

Whilst there is a plethora of metrics that his team could use to devise fitness and recovery plans, Ahmun said that his unit focus on three sources of information: the number of overs racked up by England’s bowlers, GPS data collected during play, and training workload.

Pointing to the danger of collecting data for the sake of having figures to hand (‘you can’t turn up on the morning of the Ashes and say, ‘Sorry, you can’t play, because your heart rate variability has changed by 20%’), Ahmun told me that his team is as focused on qualitative feedback as it is on quantitative evidence. 

“The conversations coaches and physios will have with players, just asking how they’re feeling, can sometimes be overlooked,” he said.

“But it’s a very important piece of the puzzle because ultimately, it’s the person who we want to be ready to perform, rather than the numbers.” 

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

I spoke to Trescothick, Marzetti and Ahmun independently, but when I quizzed them about the extent to which they work with colleagues from across England’s backroom and coaching staff, it became clear that the divisions which can afflict an elite sport environment weren’t on show.

Marzetti, for example, is welcomed to training sessions by Stokes and McCullum, advising the pair on the best way of communicating key messages to players and given free rein to work with the squad on the field.

The psychologist also links up with the rest of Ahmun’s team when it comes to dealing with issues such as pre-match nerves. As Ahmun described to me:

“We've had quite a few occasions where the psychologist, coach and nutritionist all sit down together to discuss with the player how we’re going to solve them not being able to eat in the morning,” he said.

“So the psych is, for me, a hugely integrated part of the team, and their input into trying to help solve some of these problems that we face is huge to providing the best support for the players.”

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