5 great coaches who used to be ordinary cricketers

Great cricketers, especially the naturally talented ones, do not necessarily translate into great coaches and the reason is not inscrutable either. Throughout their playing careers, cricket had come naturally to them. They hadn’t known what questions to ask, for all the answers were already known to them. They hadn’t known the struggles of mastering a flick for timing had been an art they had had a natural penchant for.Such cricketers obviously find themselves unable to explain and enlighten the sea of questioning pupils eager to learn the why’s and how’s of each shot and the details of where they are going wrong. And then of course, there are issues of ego and player management that filter the best coaches from the ordinary pool.Here the author takes a look at 5 excellent cricket coaches who had been hardly so during their playing days.

#5 Duncan Fletcher

Duncan Fletcher (Zimbabwe's captain) goes to receive the Man of the Match award after defeating Australia in the 1983 World Cup

The name of Duncan Fletcher might seem a misfit given the infamous losing streak India had had to endure in Test cricket during his stint as the coach, but statistics speak more in favor of the Zimbabwean than against. Despite having never played Test cricket, he went on to coach two of the top 4 teams in international cricket with varied success.

Since the World Cup victory in 2011, India played 107 matches till the semi-final defeat against Australia on March 26, 2015 – which spelt the end of Fletcher’s career as India head coach – winning 64 and losing 35. The home numbers stand at 25 wins to 9 defeats as compared to 21 victories to 20 losses away.

In fact, India went on to win every ODI tournament in 2013 including the ICC Champions Trophy, two Celkon Mobile Cups, and a seven-match home series against Australia. Under his tutelage, the limited-overs team flourished and soon achieved No. 1 ranking in ODIs.

Earlier, as England coach, Fletcher supervised famous away series wins against Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa between 2000 and 2004 and completed whitewashes against New Zealand and West Indies at home. Further, he secured the Ashes for England after 18 years in September 2005 with a 2-1 victory over Australia.

#4 Anshuman Gaekwad

Anshuman Gaekwad had a mediocre record playing for India

“Anshuman Gaekwad's scoring range was limited and his batting lacked elegance, but raw courage against pace that he possessed was a precious commodity in Indian cricket, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he made it into the team on that virtue alone,” says ESPN Cricinfo.

Indeed, his 70 Test innings yielded only two centuries and his ODI records are equally unflattering with an average of 20.69 from 15 matches. It was this average cricketer though who turned the fortunes for India in late 1997 – this time as a coach.

As a replacement for Madan Lal, Gaekwad joined the team as the head coach in October 1997 and continued his good work till September 1999. The triumph over Pakistan in the memorable Independence Cup final and Anil Kumble’s ten-wicket haul against Pakistan in February 1999 remain the highlights of his tenure.

Such had been his success that despite differences, the BCCI resorted to his guidance once again in 2000 when Kapil Dev quit as the head coach of the Indian team.

#3 Bob Woolmer

Bob Woolmer played 15 Tests before joining the breakaway World Cricket Series

The world-famous Bob Woolmer was not a cricketer of ordinary means per se, for his elegance and doggedness certainly made him a notch better than his contemporaries. It is unfortunate, therefore, that he got to play only 15 Tests before deciding to join Kerry Packer’s cash-rich World Series Cricket in 1977.

He returned for England to play another four Tests scoring a paltry 139 runs before ending his career with the rebel-trip to apartheid-grappling South Africa in the ‘80s.

His skills as a coach, however, blossomed a decade later with Warwickshire’s success in the domestic circuit. He then embarked on a five-year stint with the South African national team that saw them win 10 out of 15 Test series during that period. The one-day side fared equally well, coming agonizingly close to winning the World Cup in 1999 under his exceptional guidance and modern approach to the game.

Such was his inclination towards modern technology that he once famously fitted a wireless receiver in Hansie Cronje’s ear in order to communicate with his captain on the field. As a pacifist without a temper and a man of reason, Woolmer inspired unanimous respect till the very last day of his life.

#2 Dav Whatmore

The 1996 World Cup thrust the portly Dav Whatmore into the limelight

A portly figure in the Sri Lankan dressing room was thrust into limelight overnight after the historic 1996 World Cup triumph. Head coach Dav Whatmore had not only masterminded Sri Lanka’s victory against Australia in the finals but had also led the team to consecutive wins over India twice in that World Cup.

For a player who has featured in only 7 Tests and 1 ODI in his entire career, Whatmore’s cricketing acumen was unparalleled in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. He turned the tides for a hitherto hapless Bangladesh cricket team with victories against Zimbabwe at Chittagong, Australia at Cardiff and even India in the 2007 World Cup.

Noted for his talent-spotting abilities, the Sri Lanka-born Australian is known to have overseen the birth of promising cricketers in Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli in the Under-19 team during the successful 2008 Under-19 World Cup. He followed it up with a highly productive IPL stint as the Kolkata Knight Riders coach from November 2009 to July 2011 before moving on to a national role for Pakistan next year and later Zimbabwe.

#1 John Buchanan

John Buchanan had a batting average of 12.3

If ever one talked about an analytical mind in cricket being the victim of jeering, rejection and intolerance, one would be talking about John Marshall Buchanan. A one-time university lecturer and a teacher by trade, Buchanan’s playing career spanned only seven first-class matches for Queensland in 1978-79 – that too, at a pitiable average of 12.3 runs per innings.

But then, it was he who delivered Queensland their first Sheffield Shield title in 1994-95 and ended up as the national coach for a Steve Waugh-led Australia. Unprecedented success is what summarizes his initial 15 matches at the helm of Australian cricket of which he had won all.

A keen thinker and a visionary somewhat, Buchanan made reciting poetry a norm in the Australian dressing room in order to increase the self-assurance of the players. Similar open-minded suggestions of his down the years met with violent disapproval and criticism which ultimately resulted in getting fired on more occasions than one.

Results, however, continued to flow among all this with Buchanan’s Australia scaling heights with numerous Ashes wins and consecutive ICC World Cup trophies. The fact that he was inducted into the Queensland Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 without having played even 10 official cricket matches speaks a lot more about his contributions to the game than this column can record.