sign in sign up
<<
Home , Coach (sport), Craig McMillan, Darren Berry, Greg Shipperd, Knuckle ball (cricket), Mike Hesson

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 COACHES CORNER DECEMBER, 2015 NEWSLETTER

Pathway Events in NSW: In this edition of “Coaches The December edition also looks  Green Shield Competition, Corner”, we focus on the T20 at the advantage of having expe- Sydney—Dec 2015-Jan format. With the Big Bash rienced players, mixed in with up around the corner, the articles and coming future prospects— 2016 and drills look into the specific and how the balance of this ex-  Kookaburra Cup, Riverina— skills for this format. perience and youth can pay large dividends to the develop- January 4-7, 2016 ment of players.  Bradman Cup—Newcastle Our profile for this edi- tion is Greg Shipperd—who January 11-14, 2016— has had vast experience in all For all those budding coaches includes coach education on formats of the game. As a play- who have not played at the First fast er, he represented Western Class or Test level, an interview Australia and Tasmania with and article about the NZ Head  U13-14 State Challenge, distinction; and as a coach, he Coach— Mike Hesson—and his has developed players from rise and role within his ever im- Dubbo—January 18-21, around the world—NOT just in proving team. It gives all coaches 2016 this country. a sense of how you can persist and take on different roles to gain experience and expertise in the field of coaching. In the T20 format, he has coached the star studded Mel- Inside this issue: bourne Stars and Delhi Dare- devils. In his new role, he takes Finally, the technological aspect to job of coaching the Sydney this edition, there are two sec- Cricket NSW Coach Profile 2 Sixers in the upcoming Big tions—one on fitness for cricket; bash tournament. the other on using a delay video APP to assist your players. Drill of the Month— 2 Cricket fitness and WU

Article of the Month — 3 Lessons from Big Bash Article of the Month — Article—NZ 4-5

The article this month— Two Big Lessons from the Big Bash League to Create a Dates for the Calendar 6 Whole New Ball Game at Your Club— has its’ focus on T20 cricket, matching the full edition of this newsletter. It looks at how the success of the BBL from 2014/15 can be linked with some initiatives which could be advantageous at the club cricket Useful Resource 6 level — mix of experience and youth; as well as how keeping it simple works for any type of cricket, especially T20.

Page 2 COACHES CORNER NEWSLETTER

Coach Profile of the Month — Greg Shipperd

aged to score the slowest Aus- win and was at the helm of tralian first class hundred tak- the Stars during ing 481 minutes to reach 3 their 4 consecutive BBL semi figures. final appearances.

As a coach, Greg has been Greg has already had a large able to gain first team coach- impact with the , This month we have a look at ing roles for Tasmania, Victo- where he was joined by his new Sydney Sixers coach, Greg ria, the and assistant coach, Darren Berry, Shipperd. Dehli Daredevils before being in a new coaching partnership announced as the Sydney Six- for the franchise. As a player, Greg was a top ers coach for 2015/16. order batsman who occasion- We look forward to watching ally kept. He represented Greg has led his sides to many the impact he has on the Syd- Western Australia and Tasma- premierships. He led Victoria ney Sixers during Big Bash 05 nia in First Class and List A to four shield, one one-day the Christmas period. cricket. Greg attained healthy cup and four T20 premiership averages with 42.27 in wins before the rebranding of the extended format and the competition—now the Big 41.66 in one day domestic Bash. cricket. Greg also led Tasmania to During this time, Greg man- their first shield premiership

Drill of the Month— APP for fitness drills

The Cricfit APP gives the coach a step-by-step guide to warm up activities for both games and training. It gives a detailed guide to dy- namic stretching activities, pre- game and training fielding/ acceleration activities and a routine for shoulder preparation.

The APP is free and can be down- loaded from the App Store.

Click here for Cricfit VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 Page 3

Article of the Month — Two Big Lessons from the Big Bash League to Create a Whole New Ball Game at Your ClubTwo Big Lessons from the Big Bash League to Create a Whole New Ball Game at Your Club

ing . Young talent needs opportuni- The Big Bash League has ty, backing and support. Ex- been magnificent from start perienced players who have to finish: The quality of the Tie them down deliveries in- chosen to play at a lower lev- cricket, the size of the clude: el than their peak - not al- crowds and the production ways true with the ones who on the TV has made it a have been dropped - often 1. Heavy back of a length spectacle. put their own ego and prepa- ball over middle stump ration to one side. They open 2. Straight (bowled Mix the old and the new up facets of themselves that to an appropriate field) may have been hidden The BBL franchises have throughout the peak times in 3. Wide Yorker (bowled to done a great job of recruit- their career. an appropriate field) ing a combination of recent- 4. ly retired (or sacked!) Inter- 5. Back of the hand slower national cricketers with the It can be a cathartic experi- next crop of young talent. ence for the more senior play- ball “Young talent needs The learning opportunities er and a hugely positive 6. (mix it up ball) opportunity, backing and are incredible. learning opportunity for the support.” talented youngster. The ability to nail these dif- ferent deliveries has been the Any senior player who sees difference between the top their role as part develop- Do we get the most out of our T20 bowlers and those who ment and part performance experienced players after aren't as successful. is a brilliant person to have they go over their peak? around your changing room. I have seen this at club level An ideal mindset for bowlers when 'club legends' drop Can we use BBL4's example to to look at when bowling in down a playing level to free look at utilising our club leg- T20 cricket can be seen in up time for family life or to ends in a more proactive fash- Geoff Lawson’s adage of, ease the workload on their ion to inspire and educate our ageing body. I have also next generations? experienced this phenome- "be sure what ball your non in professional cricket. bowling, make sure your Tie up an end field is set appropriately, then commit!" Internationals such as Raul With the increased popularity Dravid (Rajasthan Royals), and occurrence of T20 crick- (Surrey), Jus- et, the need for improved tin Langer (Somerset), Adam tactics from bowlers has in-

Gilchrist (Kings XI Punjab) creased concurrently with the H and (Sixers and change in batting tactics. KKR) still performed to the e best of their ability yet r their positive impact on Fast bowlers have been forced Article—Pitchvision impressionable young crick- to find variation deliveries so e Academy. they don't become predictable eters and cultures within a team or club cannot be to batsmen. These deliveries a measured. focus on wanting to tie down the batsmen rather than tak- r Page 4 COACHES CORNER NEWSLETTER

'To know when to intervene and when to say nothing is an art'

New Zealand coach Mike Hesson talks about why a coach can be successful without having played first-class cricket.

Mike Hesson is a self-described "pretty boring bloke". His is an ethos built upon em-

boldening his players while remaining unobtrusive. Yet if the coach's

eschewing of the media marks him out as an anti-Mourinho, in a sense he is also

cricket coaching's nearest to José Mourinho. No one has done more to show that a

paucity of playing experience need not be a barrier to a plum coaching job.

When John Wright quit as New Zealand coach in 2012, Hesson became one of the few full-time coaches of a Test nation not to have played a single first-class match. It was a breed small and undistinguished. Together with coach Russell Domingo, Hesson has proved that first-class, let alone international, experience need not be a prerequisite to international success.

"There's a preconception that it helps to have played to coach - that has some advantages, but it's not completely necessary. If you have- n't played you need to be able to look, learn, watch and absorb - Mike's got those qualities," his predecessor Wright reflects. Hesson's three years as New Zealand coach have already brought them their first World Cup final and an ongoing unbeaten run of seven Test se- ries, a record for them. To Hesson, not playing international cricket deprives a new coach of "a honeymoon period" that illustrious former players enjoy. Not that he minds. "If you can't pass on the knowledge that you have, it doesn't matter whether you played 100 Tests or none. The players will make the decision whether they deem you to be useful or not. That's the art of coaching - making yourself as use- ful as possible. I'm quite happy to be judged on how I coach because it's been a long time since I played."

"For any coach, if you want to challenge yourself, you have to make yourself really uncomfortable, and I certainly did that travelling to Argentina and Kenya and learning different languages" Indeed it has. Hesson is not yet 41, an age when most coaching careers are nas- cent, and he already has nigh on two decades' experience to call upon.

His coaching journey began accidentally. When he was a player for Otago A aged 21, he was offered a contract for a club in Cambridge- shire in England on the condition that he was involved in coaching too. "It was more a necessity than anything," he reflects. "I didn't real- ise it was going to lead to a career path, it was a short-term move." Hesson swiftly found he had a natural aptitude for coaching. In 1998, at the age of 23, he became the youngest person to gain a Level Three New Zealand Cricket coaching qualification. Otago appointed Hesson coaching director, working under .

He remained there for six years. After taking up an offer to become Argentina's coach, Hesson returned to Otago a year later, replacing Turner as head coach. In 2008, Otago won the one-day trophy, their first silverware for 20 years; domestic T20 triumph followed in 2009. This success led to involvement with New Zealand A, but it was Kenya that provided Hesson's next international job when he was hired after the 2011 World Cup.

Only 11 months later he resigned, fearing for his family's security after his family fell victim to an attempted car-jacking and a grenade exploded near their house in Nairobi. Yet Hesson does not speak of his Kenyan stint with acrimony. "I loved it and loved the players - a really good group of guys, really keen to get better. It's a struggle in terms of facilities and there's quite a small playing group, so you had to make the most of everything you had and had to be adaptable." Such experiences afforded Hesson a more rounded experience as a coach and, indeed, a man.

"Sometimes in international cricket you forget where you've come from and you forget how hard it is for players at different levels to push their case. You have to be creative in how you train - there's no point in having excuses, you just have to try and find ways," he reflects. "I've been lucky enough to work in different countries around the world and been taken out of my comfort zone many times. For any coach, if you want to challenge yourself you have to make yourself really uncomfortable, and I certainly did that travelling to Argen- tina and Kenya and learning different languages. Those sort of things help to evolve you as a coach." In his final months as New Zealand coach, before resigning after a power struggle with John Buchanan, Wright tried to enlist Hesson as team manager. "I valued his organisa- tional and interpersonal skills very highly," Wright says. "He's got a good mind, he's well organised and not afraid to ask questions. He's an intelligent man with a strong capacity to learn."

When Wright stepped down, New Zealand Cricket soon asked Hesson to become the national team's coach. Some coaches without inter- national playing experience who had succeeded in domestic cricket - like the headmasterly Bennett King (castigated as "one of the worst coaches" by Ramnaresh Sarwan when King left the West Indies job in 2007), and Peter Moores in his first spell as England coach - were criticised for failing to adapt their methods to , where players are fully formed and there is less need for intense coaching. "At international level it's another type of job," Wright reflects. VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 Page 5

Hesson has recognised as much. "I don't do as much hands-on coaching as I have in

previous jobs, but I still do plenty," he explains. "There are some players that the last

thing they need is some technical advice, but there are others who you need to inter-

vene with." He cites as a player he works extensively with. "That's the

beauty of having coached at different levels - you understand the continuum of coach-

ing and you know when to intervene and when best to say nothing. That's a big art."

As he is also a selector, Hesson is more powerful than many international coaches. Yet he has not been shy about hiring prominent coaches, including former players (who has since departed) and Craig McMillan. "You have to be across most things, but you also need to allow your support staff their heads. A lot of them have a huge amount of skill, and I trust and allow them to go ahead and do their jobs. As head coach you have to make sure everything's ticking over nicely, and you fill the gaps when it's required. My job is continually building relationships with players and making sure they've got the support they need and the skills around them to get better." If it can be distilled, the Hesson formula boils down to the empowerment of his team. "The players have to make decisions out in the middle. A big part of what we do as support staff is try and give them as much support as we can, so when they go out there, they're capable of making decisions."

It helps, of course, having Brendon McCullum as leader. His appointment, coming after had been sacked as ODI and T20 and then quit as Test captain, was controversial. Some even talked of the Otago mafia, as McCullum had batted with Hesson for Otago A at the start of his career.

"When you're in a job like this you have to make some really tough decisions. As long as you can refer back and make sure that whatever decision you made was in the best interests of the team, then it's far easier to justify," Hesson reflects. "Your relationship with any leading in the group is very important. I've got a good working relationship with Brendon and we've also got a really good senior player group that all contribute at different times, and we've had different leaders as well. It's hugely important that when the team goes out onto the park you've got someone that the players are really keen to play for and head towards that common goal."

From the transformation of youth cricket a generation ago to McCullum's leadership today, the reasons for New Zealand's revival are multi- farious. To Hesson, continuity of selection has been critical. "Players are playing for the team rather than perhaps having to look after their own spot. That's made a difference." The head coach has also sought to achieve another type of continuity: in the team's mood, regardless of the most recent result. "What we try and do is be consistent day to day, the way we try and play the game and act and the way we be- have. By doing that you try and get consistent performances."

Along the way Hesson hopes to do more than win cricket matches. Allan Border's mantra - "I'd rather be a prick and win" - does not sit easily with the current New Zealand set-up. "A big part of what we do is try and grow the individual as well. We talk a lot about the fact that we have some players come in when they're 18 or 19 and they don't leave for a long time, and they need to grow up as people as well. We take that responsibility pretty seriously." Hesson might not get recognised in the street but his side's success is already helping to build New Zealand's team of tomorrow. "Post World Cup the number of participants is dramatically up this year. That's huge for us, in terms of having a sustainable team in the future. When you have a World Cup in your own backyard, you've got to make the most of that opportunity.

"It wasn't so much just the performance, it was also the style of play and the way we went about our business - it was able to capture the public. A lot of young players are choosing to play cricket for the first time and that's exciting." New Zealand cricket will become cooler still if New Zealand can win a Test series in Australia for the first time in 30 years. "It's exciting for this group to test ourselves against our big brothers across the ditch - it's a big challenge for us. We've prepared well but we also know that Australia in their own backyard are particularly difficult to beat, so we know we're going to have to play well," Hesson says.

The final match of the series, in Adelaide, will make history: cricket's first ever day-night Test, something not all New Zealand players are overly enthusiastic about. "The players were initially a little apprehensive. The fact that we had a two-day trial just removed a little bit of doubt - not all of it, just a little bit. Come that third Test hopefully the series is well alive."

Other challenges can wait while there is a series across the Tasman to relish. "The beauty of the group at the moment is, we never look too far ahead. We're very process-driven, getting better every day. Rather than looking at a goal that's way over there we're very much focused on this series against Australia. If we do that right hopefully we can achieve some good things."

Hesson's words are rather less rabble-rousing than McCullum's clarion cry of "Dream big, New Zealand" during the World Cup. That's just how he likes it.

Article—Tim Wigmore - cricinfo article Dates for the Calendar:

 Level II Coaching Course—Bowral, December 14-17, 2015

 Coach Workshop——Newcastle Sportsground No1—Tuesday January 12th, 2016; 7:30pm (during Bradman Cup)

 Coach Workshop—Dubbo—18th January, 2015 (during the U13-14 State Challenge)

THE WEB!

Useful Resource: Live Video Delay

This month we’ve decid- This month’s resource is: them a chance to make ed to delve into apps to any changes on the spot. find our Useful Resource. Live Video Delay An example of the way Apps provide much more Developed by Panupan, of a hands on assistance that this app can be used Sriautharawong, the Live to coaching through the is in the nets. Batsmen can Video Delay App allows you ease of using our phone have their shot filmed or tablet. to video an action taking from the bowlers place and then view this Apps give us the chance and can turn around and to review what’s just from an alternate location happened as well as give look behind to the coach with a different device, or us a checklist that we can who has the frontal view simply come back and view it keep on hand to ensure on the device. This also Cricket NSW all of our coaching points after a short delay. provides two different Driver Avenue, Moore Park, NSW, 2021. This is a great way to review views almost at the same Phone: 02 8302 6000 practice as it enables players time, which can assist Website: http:// www.cricketnsw.com.au/ to view what they are doing coaches with what they support/coach-support/ during training and gives can provide as feedback. Email: [email protected]