Cricket is perhaps even more of a mental game than a technical one.
It was a facet that Charles Colvile investigated in depth a couple of summers ago in our Mind Games series as he chatted with Sir Alastair Cook, James Anderson and Stuart Broad and investigated mental health in sport and what it means to be mentally tough.
Over the next five days during Mental Health Awareness Week, we will be republishing each episode of the series on skysports.com and we begin with episode one - The Zone - as we look at preparation, pre-game routines and dealing with big games.
Watch in the video at the top of the page.
Former England and Leicestershire spinner Jeremy Snape - who is now a sports psychologist - explains how visualisation can help, while golfer Justin Rose, boxer Anthony Joshua and former rugby union player Will Greenwood talk about the importance of embracing pressure.
We also assess what you can learn from a batsman's body language as he emerges from the pavilion and just how important trigger routines can be.
Plus, Charles looks at some of the 'dark arts' used to unsettle opponents and learns how some players thrive on the clarity of a match situation.