August 2007

School’s in

Warne, Gooch, Donald, Rhodes, Doshi, Cooley wanted for elite Dubai coaching

Exclusive By Philip Moore

Shane Warne, cricket’s number one drawcard, is top of the wish-list of specialist coaches for the Dubai-based ICC Global Cricket Academy, the most ambitious training facility ever established.

The recently retired record-mutilating spinner is but one of a list of champions the elite academy wants to bring in for flying visits because of their peerless specialist knowledge.

Archer with the great Rod Marsh.

Former England opening batsman Graham Gooch and South Africa speed merchant Alan Donald are two others mentioned.

Ex-India slow bowler Dilip Doshi’s name has also emerged as a suggestion to help left-arm spinners as has South Africa’s ace Jonty Rhodes for fielding.

While Troy Cooley might not have set the world on fire as a journeyman fast bowler in Tasmania, he is rated the world’s leading bowling coach. When he left the England team they returned to being the no-hopers they were before Cooley helped them win the Ashes. The academy would like him to share ideas in Dubai.

It needs to be stressed that there is no indication that these players and coaches have agreed to work with the elite academy and they may not have even been approached, but they and others of their ilk are priority. Such star tutors would fill the high-profile specialist roles. Coaches of much lower profile will be recruited as full-timers to handle general and day-to-day functions and there will be several tiers of these employees.

This fascinating insight into the latest happenings at the emerging global training showpiece has been provided by new general manager, Marc Archer.

The elite academy is coming together and when the covers come off the collective pitch it is likely to be a breathtaking operation.

While sport gets its share of criticism for bloated support staffs (think Clive Woodward’s bumbling British Lions) and the likes of Duncan Fletcher becoming bigger names than the players in their squads – until they get flogged and the coach is sacked – coaching in academy form has been a revelation.

It was pioneeered in Australia with famous gloveman Rod Marsh at the helm. The guidelines were followed around the world with the Brits even recruiting Marsh to establish their academy. Like it’s Australian counterpart, it succeeded brilliantly.

Marsh, of course, is director of coaching at the Dubai operation.

The ICC’s elite academy is the most ambitious project ever undertaken in international cricket coaching, development and tuition. The world’s best will fly in for various reasons to use the facilities, either as individuals or with teams. Superstars spotted as youngsters all over the world will strut the global stage, the latest technology will be utilised, coaches will be coached, umpires tutored.
Pitches will be replicated from all over the world – a dozen in all, plus 15 artificial surfaces - so top teams can practice on decks similar to those they’ll encounter on various tours. Haw-Eye tracking and video analysys will be around every corner, on every wicket and the state-of the art speed bowling machines can give you Marshall to McGrath to Murali. There will be more nets than on a fleet of prawn trawlers and and some will even be spin-friendly, pace friendly and batting friendly.

Speed... Alan Donald

While the best will be at the academy, either coaching or practicing, any kid can come and knock on the door and have a go.

This was the approach that made Imran Khan’s era such a success when he was skipper of Pakistan. He spotted a 16-year-old Waqar Younis bowling in the nets and insisted he be added to a tour party and made similar demands concerning a portly young batsman from Multan named Inzamam-ul-Haq who subsequently returned the favour by winning a World Cup.

While the academy is called elite and does cater for the elite, the doors will be open to all.

“A kid can simply turn up and have a bowl,” says Archer. “It’ll be grass roots and affordable. The biggest markets for us are Asia and the UK. With the turf that we’re doing, with the English soil we can replicate UK wickets. We have the options to produce a climate-controlled wicket.

“National teams – the county, state or provincial sides – development squads, youngsters of varying standards.It’s here for everyone. It’s not just players, we’ll train curators in the best environment in the world and umpires too. (New Zealand umpire) Doug Cowie is head of the umpiring. We even have the facilities to test bowling actions.”

Archer is settling in as the first general manager of the academy. Marsh was appointed to oversee the coaching 18 months ago.

“Rod is champing at the bit to get going with this tremendous project. There’s clearly no-one in world cricket with such a success rate in the field of academies. He has already been to 18 countries. There’s huge interest from so many levels of the game. He’s met the ECB and the ECB academy. They don’t have outdoor facilities and this is a factor when they want to prepare for a tour.

“We’ll be operational some time in the middle of next year. Before then we’ll test all equipment, technology, test the wickets. It will be summer when we start up so it will be quieter here. We’ll start with grass roots, children at the local level, nationals and expats.

“There’s never been anything in the world like what will be done here. We’ll have Hawk-Eye, bowling machines, hard Australian wickets, spinning wickets, others that are something in between.

“We’ll import soil from outside the UAE. There’ll be 12 Asian wickets, 12 wickets in the South African and Aussie style. We want foreign teams to some and use it as base. They can also use it as a meeting point. The Indians can practice on a green seamer before a tour of England.”

The academy will use its prime geographical position to persuade touring teams to rendezvous in the UAE, use the facilities then commence tours.

“You have situations of Aussie batsmen being in county cricket, their bowlers are back home. To meet here is logical in terms of some tours.”

Four high level coaches will work full time at the academy, as will eight others a rung below.

But it’s the superstar specialists who will be drafted from time to time who present a mouth-watering prospect for cricket star-spotters.

“We’d love to have Shane Warne come in for four days to teach leg spin bowling,” says Archer. “We’ll ask Alan Donald if he will offer advice on fast bowling. He has just started working the England team and he’s already getting good results there.

“Dilip Doshi might come to help left arm spin bowlers, Troy Cooley is a renowned bowling coach and it’s logical we would ask him. Graham Gooch is one we have in mind to assist with batting. In fielding we would love to have Jonty Rhodes work with us. He is involved in fielding coaching with various sides these days.

Leader... Francois Pienaar

“We will cater for the elite player but also for the clubs and schools. We’ll develop grass roots cricket wherever we can and we’ll train coaches in the UAE. We will go out to schools but really we want people to come to us because we will have such wonderful facilities. It’s all about being athletic. We’ll have a cricket-specific gym.”

Archer hails from Christchurch where he played provincial cricket with many of the current and recently retired New Zealand stars including skipper Stephen Flemming, great all rounder Chris Cairns, Shane Bond, Nathan Astel and Craig McMillan. A knee injury put paid to a career out in the middle.

“I was close to getting a go.”

He took the next season off, had a crack at coaching, found he had a talent for it, and can claim Bond and McMillan as two of his early charges. He broadened his experience in Australia, England, Ireland and South Africa. Archer still plays the game, is a member of the MCC and sometimes tours with its sides.

He expanded into sports management and client sponsorship including being involved with Donald and Zimbabwe-born England cricket player Graeme Hick, rugby stars Mike Catt, World Cup-winning captain Francois Pienaar and Ieuan Evans. Golf is another area Archer has worked a great deal. He’s missed his first British Open in years and counts Michael Campbell as a friend.

What chance the Maori warrior of the golf course might drop in to tell young cricketers how to soak up the pressure at the death in a match like you do in a Major if you have the greatest player golf has ever seen breathing down your neck all the way down a back nine?

Archer had a stint in South Africa where he witnessed some of cricket’s finest custodians enter the Test arena.

“I moved to South Africa in the Western Cape in the exciting period of post-apartheit change, working in development of cricket and taking the sport to all kids.”

Duncan Fletcher, soon to make a name for himself as the coach who helped wrest the Ashes back from Australia after 18 years, was coaching Western Province.

“The likes of Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis were bursting through. It was an exciting time,” says Archer.

Archer moved into sports management and Donald was one of the players he was involved with, including when ‘White Lightening’ was ranked the world’s number one fast bowler.

“He was as hard as nails in the field but the first into the opposition dressing room after the completion off play. He did it the old style. There’s less of that now.”

A stint in sports marketing in the US, specifically with a firm that works with technology in the NFL, provided Archer invaluable insight into some of the initiatives in sport in North American that became standard all over the world.

“The technology enabling the coach to talk straight to the quarterback was what I was involved in. I was sideline at the last two Superbowls. I saw the Stones warm up, I listened to the coach (just retired after 15 years at the helm) Bill Cowher call a trick play which won the Superbowl for the Pittsburg Steelers versus Seattle. The crowd didn’t hear it.

Mark Boucher

“The NFL is 30 coaches contributing in various areas. They’ve all got the technology. It’s that sophisticated.”

Kerry Packer initially imported many North American ideas to cricket. What more can we take from there?

“Americans do look at things differently with their sport. They make changes to their sports to make it a better product.

“We’re seeing this approach in cricket with the coming of Twenty20. The product has been changed to suit the demands of the consumer. The Twenty20 World Cup is a result. It’s for close finishes. The best team might not necessarily win as it is geared to close finishes. In 50 overs cricket the best team tends to win. The five-day game and first class cricket require different skills.

“Twenty20 needs different skills. Guys can learn to bowl more Yorkers. Batters spend time hitting sixers.

“I came across Mark Boucher, the South African wicket-keeper, in the middle of a ground just practicing clearing the boundary hitting sixes. That’s now an important part of the game, to be able to hit sixes at will.

“A player who joined the Ashes tour of Australia, Mal Lloyd, has a new shot, a sweep off the fast bowlers, that he developed for Twenty20. It’s the sort of shot that gets you a new set of teeth if you get it wrong against Brett Lee, but it has been successful for this batsman.