The skills on display this month at the Cricket World Cup were born perhaps 20 years ago as youngsters took up the game.

But go back 30, 40 or even 50 years. That's where many of today's administrators are seeking lessons for players to take on the next World Cup and the one after that.

They look to a time when skinned knees, broken windows and a hunger to win combined in a backyard game of cricket. Decades ago, Kiwi kids absorbed an innate understanding of how to be at the right place on the field to get the ball. Tip 'n’ run taught them how to take catches and deal with spin and bumpy pitches. It has a label: game sense.

Critics these days say that the Play Station has supplanted the playground.

Otago Cricket's Network Coach is Mark Bracewell. He says when he drives past a park these days, he doesn't see a group of kids playing a game. He says that cricketers develop their game sense by playing, not just by getting coached.

"It's recreational learning, playing with a group of kids, some of whom are older. That's where you learn,” he says.

In the Bay of Plenty, Cricket Manager, Tai Bridgeman-Raison has similar concerns. Coaches, like players, have lost the old arts too and he's trying to plant the importance of game sense in them.

"If coaches grew up without the neighbourhood games experience, they're unaware of that whole missing dimension," he says, and so they don't teach it.

Both coaches speak almost as one when they identify the advantages that game sense imparts. Mark's ideal is Brendon McCullum. The Black Caps captain excelled at many sports and developed more than just a technical appreciation. For Tai, it's Kane Williamson.

Tai says Williamson has representative rugby, volleyball and basketball behind him. Like McCullum, he learnt to read a game as well as gain its required skills.

They each agree that the likes of McCullum and Williamson are not just talented but that they also know how to win. Both coaches believe they can teach it.

Mark Bracewell easily picks someone lacking game sense. "The fall-guys are the guys who buy the big dummies. They just don't see things coming," he says.

To coach game sense Mark strips the structure from coaching. He gets away from bowling machines and the nets. The kids set the rules to determine instant outs, what is a four, what is a run and so on.

"It's just like the backyard, mate; if it hits the windows you're out."

He tries to recreate the atmosphere of player-curated rules. Players learn how to score and bowl to best advantage, not just to a set of taught skills.

Tai too dislikes how modern coaches focus on technique and if a player isn't going well they think it's a technical issue. Often it's just a poor decision. He can't get to every player so he's concentrating on the coaches' skills, and at present they lack game sense "massively." When he's taught them, they'll head out and teach young players.

New Zealanders might not notice this dip into backyard cricket tradition for some years. But when they do, perhaps the tinkle of shattered glass and a cry of "you're out" might ring around neighbourhoods again.