My reply was simple and unambiguous
John Buchanan02-Jun-2003In the June issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly, John Buchanan, the Australian coach, reveals how his team can take the game to a new level
John Buchanan honours his pledge to have his head shaved if Australia won the World Cup
At the press conference immediately after our World Cup win I was asked: “How much can this side improve now that it has taken the game to a new level?”My reply was simple and unambiguous. We can improve a lot across all areas of our cricket because I do not believe we have taken the game to a new level. We play the same way as all the other teams, utilising similar basic skills. The difference is that we deliver these skills better and more consistently than all other teams.To take the game to a new level requires us to rethink all our technical, physical, tactical and mental skills to determine what can be done differently, more effectively and within reasonable boundaries of time and resources.The concept had its origins in a lecture I attended in Brisbane in the late 1980s by Dr Edward de Bono titled The Process of Thinking. De Bono enthralled the audience with his theories and examples of how to think differently or “laterally” and demonstrated how our thinking is constrained by history. In order to solve problems he devised a range of strategies to challenge conventional approaches.Stephen Waugh and I visited him during the 2001 Ashes tour to discuss some of his ideas and he met a small group of players and administrators during the following domestic season in Sydney. I am not skilled in De Bono’s techniques but I subscribe to his process. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” should be amended to “if it ain’t broke, break it!”The “Fred Flintstone principle” is one that many organisations, particularly sporting ones, adhere to. Why would Fred want to change anything? Everything works, so Fred is satisfied.It is at this point – actually it is probably long before, due to the presiding culture or an individual’s lack of ambition – that an ever increasing decline begins.We must question everything we do – things that are not working and things that are. We must constantly seek ways of improving. “Can we improve?” The answer is obvious.I wanted to improve our fielding at the World Cup as I believed the best defence – bowling and fielding – would win the tournament. So I employed Mike Young, a baseball coach whom I had worked with at Queensland Cricket. Young brought new skills and drills to improve our on-field performance but also a new culture to the team.Before the final I used a quote from Sun Tzu. “Invincibility comes from defence; attack gives you the opportunity for success.” Young’s work with us, together with our planning strategies and player skills, gave us additional confidence in our ability to contain teams with the ball or defend totals. Our attack through our top four batsmen gave us the opportunity for success. It was then left to our defence to seal the World Cup.There is still much to be done. I doubt whether the current group of players will be significantly affected by improvements in our training systems, coaching skills, new physical regimes, mental skills coaching and better tactical planning. There will be marginal differences for them but by the next World Cup, if we can begin to pinpoint key skills and successfully implement programmes to enhance these skills, then we may be able to say that we are taking the game to a new level.I have pin-pointed six priorities:1. Increasing the influence of baseball throwing techniques for all players, including wicketkeepers.2. Adapting baseball approaches to tactical signalling throughout play. This can be from coaches to captain, captain to bowlers or fielders, batsmen to batsmen and so on.3. Introducing the concept of having more than 11 players in the field and two when batting. This will eventually be achieved through the development of players who are skilled on both sides of their body. Then a captain might have an additional two or three options because players can bowl both leftand right-arm. If players are able to bowl both spin and pace/swing, a captain will have a range of options that should counter most attacking ploys presented by the batting team. With players being able to throw from both sides of the body there will be fewer gaps for batsmen, creating opportunities for the bowling team. It is also possible to increase a pair of batsmen to effectively three or more by the same standards.4. In the coaching world best practice means adopting the “best of the best”. Each of the game’s great players has unique technical and mental attributes. It is time to analyse and harness these skills and traits for the coaching and development of future players. For example Muttiah Muralitharan’s ability to be an off-spinner with a wrist-spinner’s action; the technique of bowling fast like Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee; bowling fast from short run-ups like Wasim Akram or Jeff Thomson; disguised spin bowling like Saqlain Mushtaq and John Gleeson; and the various batting techniques of greats like Tendulkar, Lara, the Waugh brothers, Gilchrist, Ponting and Hayden. The list could go on.5. Linked to this best of the best and world’s best practice is research. Theco-ordinator of the Australian Cricket research programme Marc Portus is beginning to develop studies which challenge many basic premises of coaching practice and fundamental laws and understanding of the game. Included in this research programme is the concept of cricket fitness. What is it? What is it in relation to a wicketkeeper v fast bowler v batsman v allrounder v spinner across ages and Tests and ODIs. With the schedule for all countries demanding, the research domain could be one of the major influences on the future of cricket.6. Technology is now commonplace for most international and first-class teams and it is time to continue to investigate how it can be more effectively used to gain advantage.To achieve these goals it will require myself, other coaches, support staff and administrators to think laterally about our cricket. It is not the time to be Fred Flintstone.Click here to subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly
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