Indian coach prepares to climb Everest
Charlie Austin - 19 July 2001
Caked in white zinc, his eyes covered by shades, and his skin crinkled
by the sun, the New Zealand-born Indian coach could be attempting to
scale Everest. He's not, but John Wright has undertaken an equally
daunting task - the job of welding the Indian cricket team into the
world-class side that it's natural talent demands it should be.
Wright wanders around the Sinhalese Sports Club practice nets with a
simple school masterly air. He doesn't have a video camera glued to
his hand or a bio-mechanics manual hanging out his back pocket, but he
is quick to tell his batsmen that the pull shot is best played by
going back and across his stumps.
The 46-year-old, who coached Kent for four seasons before joining the
Indian team in November last year, is clearly from the `keep it
simple, play it hard' school of coaching. He could share a beer with
England coach Duncan Fletcher, but would probably dismiss some of Bob
Woolmer's theories as utter flim flam.
Asked as to whether he had set the team objectives for the current
Coca Cola Cup he replied in astonishment: "Yes, of course, that is
what the job of the coach is." Could you please divulge what they
were? "Well, that would take ages because there are 15 different
players in the squad," he helpfully pointed out.
Eventually the team objectives were unveiled: "What we try to focus
on is doing the basic things well. We are trying to improve our
fielding standards, particularly our ground fielding, our running
between the wickets, and are very were keen for the batsmen, when they
get in, to go on to get a big score.
"You can analyse the game all you want and have all kinds of
technology, but you always come back to trying to perform the basics
under pressure consistency," he said. "We have a lot of flair and
ability, so if we can do those basic things, that makes us more
formidable."
A left-handed batsman in the era of Richard Hadlee, the Crowe
brothers, and Jeremy Coney, Wright handled the basics very well. He
was an obdurate player and one of the most consistent batsman that New
Zealand has produced, scoring 5334 Test runs at 37.82 in 82 matches.
His appointment, ahead of Geoff Marsh, who bizarrely didn't realise
that his reluctance to live in India was a black mark on his CV, and
Greg Chappell, who simply wanted too much `dosh', has already produced
an upturn in the national side's fortunes, securing Test series
victories against Zimbabwe and Australia at home. They have though
tripped up in the one-day game.
He is quick to point out though, when the dreaded `final' word is
mentioned, that this is a youthful side: "The average age of this
side is just 25. We failed to beat Australia in the five match one-day
series so that was a shame and didn't play quite as well as we would
have liked in Zimbabwe, but it's a young team."
Wright grimaces a little when the 2003 World Cup is mentioned. The Sri
Lankans talk of little else and the Kiwis admit that they have `one
eye on it,' but Wright does not have that luxury. Eighteen months for
the coach and players in India is an awfully long time.
He once revealed that it has been his "dream to coach in Asia" and
says, "It's a wonderful experience and great privilege to work in a
country where there is such a passion for cricket." Nevertheless, the
high expectations mean that India and Wright simply have to perform
all the time.
"There is a lot of expectation in India whenever we play," he says.
"To be quite honest, everyone in our camp, and indeed India, wants us
to win every game, so we take it one game at a time. We are not
looking too far ahead " tomorrow will do!
The responsibility of satisfying those insatiable expectations is
clearly a burden, especially for the younger players, so Wright
simplifies the issue: "We will win some and lose some, but if the
Indian people see that their cricketers are playing the game with a
lot of pride and fight, that hopefully will repay the support we
get."
Tomorrow, it's the first time he locks horns against Kiwis. He refuses
to admit to any heart wrenching divided loyalties: "It's really just
another game. We spend a lot of time trying to play better cricket
ourselves and it doesn't matter who you are playing."
Nor is it much of an advantage apparently: "I don't even have that
intimate knowledge of the New Zealand guys, as I haven't been coaching
in New Zealand at the first class level."
One knows of course that he knows a fair deal, because it just
wouldn't be his style not to do his homework.
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