A head coach in the modern era needs to manage players well
Former Australia fast bowler Ryan Harris played only 27 Tests, taking 113 wickets, before being forced to end his career in 2015 after a series of injuries. But he typified the Aussie spirit with his aggression, always giving 100 %.
Having settled into a coaching role with the National Performance Team Down Under, Harris spoke to HT on the sidelines of an MRF Pace Academy function, discussing modern coaching, threat to Test cricket and his favourite players. Excerpts It’s been easier because of the relationships and trust I had built with the players I played with. I hope to establish a connection with the younger players. They trust in me and they are able to talk to me freely.
What should be the role of the head coach?
It is a combination of man management and skill management. You have to look after every player and know what each player wants. The coach has to accomodate each individual. If the player wants to learn and the coaches make him feel better, that is the day they reach the peak of their career. The head coach basically runs the team. The other coaches, like batting and bowling, they look after all the skills. The head coach ultimately has a say on what happens in the team. He has a say on my training session and what happened. The batting and fielding coaches will weigh in on their decisions with him. It is important the head coach gets around all the players but he cannot be stuck doing one thing. He has to communicate with all the players.
I find it hard to go past our bowlers, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. Pat Cummins and James Pattinson are magnificent.
Absolutely. We need to rectify this situation. We want to see results. People will not come for five days to watch boring cricket. They want to see attacking cricket and that is what Test cricket is all about. In the Australian summer, it depends on who plays in the summer. If teams like South Africa, India and England come, we have pretty good wickets. We want to see results. There would have been some discussions (among players) but I do not think it played a role. We did not play well. One and half games were affected by rain, which did not help. When we did get a full game against England, we did not play well. I have bowled to Sachin Tendulkar, Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers, Kevin Pietersen. They are all class batsmen. The job of bowlers is harder due to flat wickets. Pietersen was the toughest to bowl to as he was such a big guy. One had to change a lot of different things when you had to bowl to him.