Call me old-fashioned, but the idea of adding a mental skills and performance coach for the senior men’s cricket team to tour New Zealand was just so much hogwash.
Cricket is a psychological game, and to play it at any level involves players applying psychology through their temperament, sensitivity, passion, and enthusiasm. This is where the coach comes in: the players need someone who knows the game of cricket and how to approach it with the intention of victory.
Hence, the coach has to know cricket as a player, so that he understands what the cricketer is going through in order to assist him in his performance. Some armchair psychology is all that’s required of the player.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) believes adding this dimension to the preparation squad would improve the team’s performance. This was one of the recommendations made by CWI’s Cricket Strategy and Officiating Committee earlier this year.
This committee was set up in August in panic, after WI were bowled out for 27 against Australia in Kingston. Clive Lloyd and Brian Lara were members of that committee. Lara was the first WI captain to officially tour South Africa in 1998/99 and the first WI captain to ever lose all five Test matches in a single series. Lloyd was the WI manager on that tour and that great fast bowler, the late Malcolm Marshall was the coach.
Why do cricket administrators like CWI’s Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe, CWI president Kishore Shallow, plus their committee members believe that top international cricketers automatically qualify as good coaches? Of course, there are those who can make the adjustment by taking the necessary courses and becoming successful coaches.
Nevertheless, they are quite aware of the workload of a cricket coach and how difficult it would be to adjust to teaching the game after years of producing runs and wickets for their country. Some years ago, Sir Vivian Richards was selected as coach to a touring West Indies team that failed miserably. A popular, top-class cricketer always finds it onerous to adapt to coaching, as the deep emotional satisfaction is completely opposite to each other.
They can be invited to have chats with the players about their experiences and maybe in some instances, act as mentors. In this manner, they would be very useful, although I doubt they would have the time. However, it’s an error made by those with limited knowledge of the game of cricket, to assume that they invariably qualify as coaches, because quite frankly, they have contributed immensely to West Indian cricket by being players and it will be tough on them after retiring to start a career in coaching when there are so many other possibilities open to them in all those lucrative cricket administrative positions in the modern cricket world.
The ignorance doesn’t stop here. I quote Bascombe: “The addition of a mental skills and performance coach reflects our commitment to developing the complete cricketer. At the elite level, success is as much about mindset and composure as it is about technical ability. Strengthening this area ensures that our players are provided with the necessary non-technical support, geared towards equipping them to manage pressure and maintain focus.” End of quote!
A coach, however, should possess certain qualities to encourage, build confidence, and ensure lengthy individual practice sessions in all departments of batting, bowling, wicket-keeping and fielding. Practising in this way builds a player’s self-confidence in his ability to perform on match day.
It is surprising to think that the gentlemen who administer WI cricket can actually think that all this theoretical rubbish can justify the proper preparation of a cricket team, to ensure that they perform at the peak of their fitness and ability.
The professional coach is versed in these matters, of which psychology is an essential part of the course. Therefore, with one appropriately qualified coach, CWI hardly needs the squad of handlers that travel with the side, which only demands extra financing.
It will be interesting to know how many matches have been won and lost and the margins thus, since Shallow and Bascombe, plus their committee members, have taken over.
Finally, a professional, international coach does not need assistants in order to progress.
Source: Newsday
