The Three Ws

‘‘He may have been born in India, but that was a long time ago. He will still need someone to show him the South Asian ropes without all the fancy tricks’’, Wessels grinned when talking privately at the team’s first practice on a sultry September afternoon at The Wanderers in Johannesburg.

That tour was a disaster. South Africa lost every match in a limited overs series, the media howled for action. Sack the coach was the advice; the Safs needed a local, not a foreigner. He may have played for Natal and Western Province, and coached Boland as well. But he was a Pom and therefore foreign.

Sounds familiar? Cue to a steaming early September afternoon in 2001 at Colombo’s Singhalese Sports Club. John Wright and Sourav Ganguly were being chewed over by the Indian media after a heavy defeat by Sri Lanka.

Barely three months later, Wright sat in a Durban hotel bar, having a late nightcap. His future, he admitted, was uncertain. India’s big problem, he said, was attitude and cultural change. It was a question of fitness. No side can expect to win a Test, or a series, if the fast bowlers could not, when asked, bowl fast (or swing the ball) when the new ball as due.

‘‘It is something you have to get them to think about and agree that hard work and fitness wins matches’’, he said.

In July 2004, he took Irfan Pathan into the middle at the Nondescripts club in Colombo and, in the noonday sun, had him bowl flat out to try to find the right length. ‘‘Four years ago no one wanted to listen’’, Ganguly said while watching the practice session. ‘‘Now they can’t wait to go out and work with him. Attitudes have changed, and he has changed them.’’

That’s fair enough. But what does a Western style coach have that South Asians lack? ‘‘It’s all about perceptions’’, said Woolmer. ‘‘South Asian culture is different. Life is far too easy for most men; too comfortable. The hard work ethic is foreign; they have servants to do it.’’

Wright, Woolmer, and Dav Whatmore share one common belief: if the coaching systems are soft, the players would be as well. To be the best you have to get to be ft and to be fit meant discipline and tough training habits.

Unlike Wright, Woolmer did not consciously study the habits of Indian players to see how he could improve the system and improve their levels. What he did have were players willing to learn, adopt such methods, and challenge the system. ‘‘Pakistan is so rich in talent’’, Woolmer once said. ‘‘But they also argue too much among themselves. They plot their own downfall; you need to change the system. Get them to think that to get ahead you need to practice and adapt.’’

This came from the time he was coach of Warwickshire and had observed players such as Waqar, Wasim, Inzamam and Latif. Former Pakistan Test fast bowler Aaqib Javed, now coach of Pakistan A, admitted recently in Sri Lanka that he had learnt more from a day watching Woolmer work with the players than six months under the old regime.

‘‘It’s all about working at the game and making it work for you’’, Aaqib said. ‘‘All you have to do is look at Woolmer and Wright and the way they approach their roles. It’s about understanding the players, and educating them to understand the game and the techniques required to lift standards.’’

Getting the players to think about changing their lifestyle, dietary habits, understanding their body, of what worked and what did not. For Whatmore it was also a question of patience and the need to challenge old habits.

This didn’t go down too well with Arjuna Ranatunga. Here was a smart-thinking captain but Whatmore needed physical attitudes to change too. Sub-continent conditions are hot and humid and players have to understand the needs to keep them fit. India needed fitness trainers to change an outdated system with something new. In other words, to keep up with Australia; maybe challenge them and even beat them.

In the case of Sri Lanka, then India, having players put the team first helped. The rest followed.