Coaches who made a difference at the international level – Cricket

A coach’s worth is determined by his pupil. But there is a valid counterpoint that a pupil’s worth is determined by a coach. So, here are those coaches who made a name for themselves in the game of cricket till date –

1) Gary Kirsten – Kirsten is the first coach to have overseen two teams being World No.1 in Test cricket. In India, Kirsten bought man management skills and a philosophical approach of imparting knowledge, to the table. He believed that a balance in professional and personal lives was a must for an individual to succeed and that they must not be pressurized by being result oriented.

Thus, India had a rare period of team unity. They became the No.1 ODI and Test team under his reign and won the 2011 Cricket World Cup at home. He also coached South Africa with moderate success until recently.

2) Bob Woolmer – He was the pioneer of the reverse sweep, wicketkeepers taking inspiration from goalkeepers and using laptops at the ground to assess a player’s performance. All these are common practices these days. The burly Englishman coached the Proteas from 1994-1999 to play more methodical cricket but not so much the Pakistanis. He unfortunately expired after Pakistan’s first round exit during the 2007 World Cup.

3) Dav Whatmore – The Sri Lankan born Aussie has coached three international teams, and all from the Indian subcontinent! He made the Lankans a strong fielding outfit and probably suggested the openers to completely attack during the field restrictions, in their victorious 1996 World Cup winning campaign. When in Bangladesh, Whatmore’s hard taskmaster image helped the team grow as he instructed the batsmen to bat all 50 overs in an ODI game, irrespective of the run rate. Currently, he coaches Pakistan and was with Kolkata’s IPL franchise in 2010 and 2011.

4) John Buchanan – The Australian coached his country to world glory from 1999-2007. He judges players and then decides whom should he advise to play their natural game or play an adaptable game. He was way ahead of time when he suggested the multiple captains’ theory during his disastrous tenure with Kolkata in the IPL 2009, but this was a practice adopted by many teams in the IPL 2013. Any Australian player under him, barring Shane Warne has huge respect for him.

5) John Wright – Wright’s grit and radical thinking has made India the team that it is today. His calmness complemented Ganguly’s aggression beautifully from 2000-2005. He then led New Zealand to the 2011 World Cup semi-final, after no one gave them a chance to do so. Recently, he also assisted Mumbai Indians in winning the IPL.