T20 leagues a big draw, but coaches have greater influence

Mumbai: Overlapping schedules in international cricket seemed to be steering teams towards split-coaching. Also evident was a talent drain from international cricket towards lucrative T20 leagues. But the pushback has been strong.
After giving it some thought, India and England, in recent months, have chosen to entrust Gautam Gambhir and Brendon McCullum respectively with all-format coaching duties. With that, the three leading cricket nations — Australia are coached by Andrew McDonald — don’t have format-specific head coaches.
England did try their hand at split-coaching with Australia’s Matthew Mott taking charge of the white-ball teams in 2022. But even as their Test team, galvanised under McCullum, grabbed all the attention and headlines for their gung-ho style and mixed results, their white-ball performances took a beating. The 2019 ODI World Cup and 2022 T20 World Cup champions looked a pale shadow in the subsequent editions. Some of the blame fell on the English cricket board for not showing enough care for white-ball teams during bilateral series, where players are trialed for marquee events.
It is hoped that McCullum’s appointment across the board will help streamline priorities for Test captain Ben Stokes and white-ball captain Jos Buttler.
The role of a single commander of the coaching staff is no longer limited to running a squad of fifteen. He has a say in scheduling, home pitches, and players’ rest and rotation policy. Even the players seem to find it easier to have one person directing the show. While the franchise circuit exposes them to the best of coaching brains, they still feel most of the learning comes from international cricket.
“When you play for a franchise team, you are there for a month or so and you leave. To buy into such a set-up is really tough,” said England batter Will Jacks. “There is more room to learn in international cricket where the coaches are there for years. It’s easier to create that environment and work on philosophies.”
The learning from national set-ups starts even before entering the international fray. The foundation of Jacks’s spellbinding 41-ball IPL hundred for RCB against Rashid Khan and Co, last year, was laid during an England U19 camp in Mumbai five years ago. “In County cricket, you don’t come across too much high-quality spin. For any young English batters, to be able to do U19 tours of India where you are facing net bowlers for hours (helps). I played spin better as the tour went on,” said Jacks during an interaction organised by Sony Sports Network. “Hopefully when I go back (to India) in the future, I will be able to showcase what I can do against spin. I want to get better and am still learning.”
One limitation in franchise cricket is the lack of time for coaches to forge a bond of trust with players. Players are smart to embracing any changes while trying to stay true to their game. “More than anything, coaching has become about understanding the player with one or two things to change — mostly mental, not technical,” opined Phil Salt, who captained England’s T20I team against Australia. “I spoke to GG (Gambhir) a lot at KKR, and most of our talk was mental. It was about reaffirming the same points over and over, which would give us the best chance to win everything.”
Recently, Andy Flower told HT how ‘progressive improvement happened in international cricket’, while franchise coaching was more about ‘managing a group of players with on-the-spot decision making’.
England’s white-ball team is set to become bolder as McCullum takes charge. “I am really looking forward to Baz (McCullum). I have heard some very good things from the Test boys. I love a few things of his already that will make us a better team,” said Salt.
Jacks concurred. “Clarity of thought is such a key in international cricket. You don’t really need to know how to hit a cover drive. It’s all about man management and how the team will be in the right mindset to perform. From my experience, Baz is the best at that,” Jacks said.
Jacks and Salt are looking to stake a claim for next year’s Champions Trophy with performances in England’s ongoing ODI series against Australia.