What's the story?
The Mumbai Cricket Association is close to signing Jonty Rhodes as their fielding consultant. According to the reports in the Times of India, Rhodes is likely to accept the offer soon. The top brass of the Association is determined on bringing veterans to supervise the training of the budding cricketers in and around Mumbai.
“We've been in talks with him for a while now, and since he's keen to accept our offer, the process of his appointment is in the final stages now,” stated an official while telling TOI about the deal. Discussing the role of the former South African Fielding wizard in the new job, the official added, “ We want to spend around 80-100 days at our academy at BKC. He will help out our cricketers from all the age groups – from the under-12 to the Ranji Trophy level.”
The MCA is also looking to rope in retired fast bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar to aid in the training of the seamers associated with the academy. The cricket body is planning to organise short term pace bowling camps in which these experienced bowlers can facilitate the young players to improve their game.
In case you didn't know...
Jonty Rhodes is one of the most celebrated fielders in the history of Cricket. The ease with which he executed his catches made him one of the best player in the business during his time. After his retirement, he took up a role of the fielding coach for the Mumbai Indians in 2010. Since then, he has done a brilliant job as their fielding instructor. He also worked as the assistant coach for Kenya for the 2011 ICC World Cup.
The heart of the matter
The MCA found an excellent opportunity in roping in veterans for the job of supervising the training and practice of all the cricketers across all the age groups till the Ranji Trophy level. These training sessions will be organised for a short duration via specific workshops. They are also keen on including other renowned names recommended by the Cricket Improvement Committee as the instructors in the academy.
These aforementioned recommendations read Dinesh Nanavati – batting and wicketkeeping, Ramesh Powar – spin bowling, Onkar Salvi – Pace bowling and Amit Dani and Wilkin Mota- fielding.
The MCA will also launch six zonal academies for the wider outreach to the promising cricketers from the vicinity of the city. They aim at reaching out to the young aspiring cricketers in every corner of the city. These academies will be centred in Belapur, Virar, Kandivali, south Mumbai, Shivaji Park (in Dadar) and Thane.
What's next?
As per the looks of it, Jonty Rhodes is equally keen on signing this deal. In case that happens, young cricketers playing for the MIC will have the privilege of being trained under the former greats of the game.
Author's take
There is no denying that Jonty Rhodes is one of the best fielders the cricket world ever saw. His movement on the field was so effortless while he executed the “superman” catches. He made the most difficult catches appear simple. Training with such an extraordinary cricketer is bound to bring in great improvements in the blooming cricketers. Moreover, it will provide an incredible international level training in a domestic reign.
This can also be said for the idea of bringing in Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar in order to train the pace bowlers with the help of multiple workshops. Overall, it is a brilliant move.
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