Stop measuring coaches by the results
We as cricket fanatics have a habit of judging everything by the results. If a team is winning matches, they are showered with praises and blessing but if results are hard to come by, the level of criticism is beyond imagination. The world is gripped with data and statistic mania and it is growing with each and every passing day. Is this correct? Are we over relying too much on the results? The answer is yes but this not the exact way of looking at the overall picture. The game of cricket has always been cruel to coaches in particular. They have been placed under axing swords series after series. Coaches are often taken to task if their respective teams are not playing great cricket. Dav Whatmore has always performed superbly as a coach but things went bad when he went to Pakistan in order to make their national team more equipped of winning matches. The expectations were not meant, meaning he has to leave his post. He is the same man who led Sri Lanka to World Cup title in 1996. Whatmore was highly successful with the Under-19 Indian team. He was the coach of the Indian team which won the Under-19 cricket world cup under the captaincy of Virat in 2008. The point which I am trying to make is that results are not the best parameter to judge the qualities of a coach. Whatmore was good if plans were falling in place but as soon as situations started becoming bad, he was labeled as a failure by the Pakistan authorities. The same could be said about Andy Flower, who was recently sacked by the England and Wales Cricket Board after the poor performance of the English team on the Australian tour. The former Zimbabwean player would have been shocked after learning his fate after just one big failure in his decorated tenure. He was one of the reasons behind building one of the strongest England sides in the last decade.
However, this hardly mattered as he was shown the door. On the opposite, the Australians are going gaga over the role played by Darren Lehman in the success of the current national team. According to many, he is the wonder man of the Australian cricket, who was struggling to breath prior to his appointment. Coaches don't score runs or take wickets and neither have any role to play in the selection of the team by the selectors so there is no point of measuring their acts purely on the basis of results. They are not the leaders of the sides they coached. We have more often over read the importance of the coach. We think that players are just the dummies, who need direction and a plan to follow by their respective coaches. To be fair and frank, a coach can only do a filling job. He can tell a batsman and bowler about the points which can solve their shortcomings. The players at the international level are talented enough to decide what is right and wrong for them and coach has no role to play in their decision. If a batsman is bowled playing a wide ball outside the off stump, there is nothing which a coach can do. Same is the case with a bowler, who has a habit of bowling full toss in place of Yorkers. The job of the coach is to create right environment for the players so that they can perform in the matches. Doing different things for different players is the mantra of success for the coaches.
It is no more a secret that every player is different and has altogether a different view of looking at things. The coaches are required to tackle their disciple in a manner which is helpful in raising their bar. Gary Kirsten followed this with the Indian team and was able to win the support and the trust of the players. He carried same practice to South Africa, which made him famous among the South African players. It should be about the stuff he has on his plate as a coach rather scratching our heads purely on the outcome of the tournaments and big ICC events. It is far from reality that coaches win tournament and the series. It is different in football where the manager is the selector, strategist and also looks after the contract of the players. The players are bound to follow his instructions and their places on the field are decided by him. In cricket a coach is not more than a support staff and many coaches have looked their job in the same way. They never interfere in the work ethics of a captain. There is no denying the fact that certain coaches add fun to the dressing room but they are not exactly behind winning the matches. Australia won the Ashes comfortably but giving all the credit to Darren Lehman is not the right to do. He was behind changing one or two things which triggered Australia's comeback but he was not the only reason who wrote Australian success against their arch rivals. The time has come wherein we need to define the boundaries and the areas which are must for judging the performance of a coach in any format of the game.
cricket today magazine is a Expert Writer Of Cricket Match, crictoday india and also write Present Running series india versus new zealand series future match in t20 Wc banladesh and more about cricket new,update,records etc.
However, this hardly mattered as he was shown the door. On the opposite, the Australians are going gaga over the role played by Darren Lehman in the success of the current national team. According to many, he is the wonder man of the Australian cricket, who was struggling to breath prior to his appointment. Coaches don't score runs or take wickets and neither have any role to play in the selection of the team by the selectors so there is no point of measuring their acts purely on the basis of results. They are not the leaders of the sides they coached. We have more often over read the importance of the coach. We think that players are just the dummies, who need direction and a plan to follow by their respective coaches. To be fair and frank, a coach can only do a filling job. He can tell a batsman and bowler about the points which can solve their shortcomings. The players at the international level are talented enough to decide what is right and wrong for them and coach has no role to play in their decision. If a batsman is bowled playing a wide ball outside the off stump, there is nothing which a coach can do. Same is the case with a bowler, who has a habit of bowling full toss in place of Yorkers. The job of the coach is to create right environment for the players so that they can perform in the matches. Doing different things for different players is the mantra of success for the coaches.
It is no more a secret that every player is different and has altogether a different view of looking at things. The coaches are required to tackle their disciple in a manner which is helpful in raising their bar. Gary Kirsten followed this with the Indian team and was able to win the support and the trust of the players. He carried same practice to South Africa, which made him famous among the South African players. It should be about the stuff he has on his plate as a coach rather scratching our heads purely on the outcome of the tournaments and big ICC events. It is far from reality that coaches win tournament and the series. It is different in football where the manager is the selector, strategist and also looks after the contract of the players. The players are bound to follow his instructions and their places on the field are decided by him. In cricket a coach is not more than a support staff and many coaches have looked their job in the same way. They never interfere in the work ethics of a captain. There is no denying the fact that certain coaches add fun to the dressing room but they are not exactly behind winning the matches. Australia won the Ashes comfortably but giving all the credit to Darren Lehman is not the right to do. He was behind changing one or two things which triggered Australia's comeback but he was not the only reason who wrote Australian success against their arch rivals. The time has come wherein we need to define the boundaries and the areas which are must for judging the performance of a coach in any format of the game.
cricket today magazine is a Expert Writer Of Cricket Match, crictoday india and also write Present Running series india versus new zealand series future match in t20 Wc banladesh and more about cricket new,update,records etc.
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