Shane Warne has publicly stated that John Buchanan, Australia’s former coach did very little for Australian cricket and that there was no requirement for a coach in modern day international cricket. However, the Australian record in both forms of the game under Buchanan is any coaches’ dream. Australia has won three consecutive World Cups and has had very little off days during the period he was in-charge. The consistency the Australian team has shown in winning Tests as well as ODI’s cannot be matched by any team in the history of the game and their closest rivals would be Clive Lloyd’s West Indian team of the 70’s & 80’s.
Many of the International teams are on the look out for a coach after the conclusion of the World Cup. All four subcontinent teams have still not found one although India seems to be closing in on Dav Whatmore.
Dav Whatmore, a man who has played only 7 test matches and 1 ODI for Australia has had an excellent record coaching in the subcontinent. Under Whatmore Sri Lanka went from “one-off match winners” to World Cup winners, while Bangladesh, although has not yet reached those heights have shown some progress too.
Tom Moody, too with relatively less international experience (8 tests and 76 ODI’s) has been an excellent coach for Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan players talk of him "pushing them out of their comfort zones" as he fought against complacency, forcing all players to analyse ways of improving their performance. "Tom challenged every individual," said Mahela Jayawardene. "You could not stay in the same place. Every training session, every team talk mattered. We all learned, not just the youngsters but the senior guys too”.
Greg Chappell on the other hand, captained Australia successfully and was a world class batsman. However, his record as the Indian coach was nothing out of the ordinary. Starting with the Ganguly fiasco, he was continuously criticized by the players for various aspects of his coaching. He attempted to control the senior players they said; probably forgetting that he was the coach and not the captain which in the end led to his resignation.
Duncan Fletcher, the former English coach - played International cricket for Zimbabwe. The famous Ashes victory in 2005 came during his tenure as England coach. He did change many things in English cricket but many fans would agree that he stayed on for too long and had got used to a routine which he did not want to deviate from. The best example of this would be him playing Ashley Giles ahead of Monty Panesar in the first three tests of the 2006 Ashes series.
History has shown us that you don’t need to be a world class cricketer to become a world class coach. But what is the role of a coach in an International team? And what goes into making a successful coach?
A coaching qualification either from Australia or England is a must for a coach. In addition to this the most important attributes for an international coach would be:
1. Man management skills
One characteristic that is most important is the coaches’ willingness to stand up to senior players when they step out of line. This requires a certain degree of diplomacy – Greg Chappell chose to take the senior players head on and we all know what happened. On the other hand Tom Moody gained the respect of the senior players by the introduction of a performance-based culture that encouraged self-improvement, even in the senior players. This enabled him to stand up to them when they went out of line.
2. A tactician / strategist
In International cricket today each team analyses and studies its opponents in detail. The coach and his support staff work behind the scenes in gathering and analyzing information. Teams know the strengths and weaknesses of each batsman and bowler in opposing teams. A coach is required to use this information in formulating a strategy for each game/tournament. Of course the captain and some of the senior players would be involved in this but a major part of the plan would come from the coach. The strategy would not be the same for each game, an element of surprise is required sometimes in order to ensure that the opponents do not know what to expect. It would be a huge benefit if the coach has played international cricket as sometimes applying a plan in practice is not always straight forward as saying it – somebody who has played Tests and ODI’s would understand the difficulty in applying a plan in practice.
3. A motivator
Every team has a blend of younger and senior players. It is the coaches’ duty to instill self-belief in the younger players and help them grow in order for them to take more responsibility as they go along.
With the amount of cricket that is played it’s normal for a player to go out of form. When this happens a player looses a certain amount of confidence. In certain instances it could make or break a career. A coach should be able guide even a senior player to make it through such a phase by motivating and reminding them the importance of them to the team.
Is this all that is required to be a successful coach in international cricket?
The greatest players in a team and the best coach in the world would not always be the right combination. But if the team is as good as the current Australian team do they require a coach? Shane Warne certainly does not think so. What do you think?
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