Coaching a breeze for Hopkins
It all sounds a bit easy, this coaching thing, for Gareth Hopkins.
The former Black Caps wicketkeeper, with no previous significant coaching experience, has jumped into the driver’s seat of the Northern Knights Twenty20 side this season and guided them to pole position in the Super Smash competition.
Hopkins and the men in pink will now look to add the icing on the cake at Hamilton’s Seddon Park today in the final against the Central Stags, in a match where the winner will take home $80,000 in prizemoney.
For investment adviser Hopkins, though, it’s more about the feather he can snugly tuck into his cap, that winning the decider would afford him.
He’s on a two-year contract with Northern Districts for the short-form game, after the association took the unique step of splitting the coaching roles this summer.
However, even with James Pamment now leaving the four-day and one-day role open with his departure to the Mumbai Indians, Hopkins isn’t interested in climbing the ranks too quickly, or taking on more than just his current lot.
‘‘Just Twenty20, I’m really enjoying that side of things at the moment, so just that for the time being,’’ said the 41-year-old, who relocated to Tauranga with his young family following his retirement from playing in 2014.
‘‘I’ve got a fulltime job with Craigs Investment Partners, I’ve got some good support staff so they’ve allowed me to spend a bit of time developing this. But my focus once this finishes will be getting back to my clients.’’
On the field, Hopkins’ career spanned 20 seasons and saw him represent ND, Canterbury, Otago and Auckland, as well as notch 39 appearances for New Zealand across all formats.
And it’s captaincy experience leading Auckland to back-to-back T20 titles in 2011 and 2012 - which has proved valuable for his new cricketing foray, having otherwise only dabbled in coaching by being part of some ND programmes, and
when playing in England.
‘‘It’s very similar in that you’re focusing on plans and strategy and focusing on guys’ roles and how to get the best out of them,’’ he said. ‘‘But the only difference is, you can’t actually do anything about it once the game’s started.
‘‘We’ve got a great captain in Deano [Dean Brownlie], and he’s managing things brilliantly out on the park, so it’s a matter of communicating with him, challenging him where I think he can be challenged.
‘‘For me, I’m letting the guys own their game and own how they want to play it. When you have that ownership you get a little bit more buy-in from the guys.
‘‘I just enjoy sitting back, and you’ve got the best seat in the house.
‘‘We’ve got such an incredibly talented group of guys that every time they go out there, it’s amazing what they do.’’
Now, after a fine all-round team
effort where the Knights have won seven from nine completed games, they’ve just got to get past a Central Districts side, who came through the elimination final against the Auckland Aces by 36 runs at Eden Park Outer Oval on Wednesday.
The Stags were in fact the last team to topple the Knights – triumphing by 49 runs at Mt Maunganui on December 27, before the Knights got revenge with a five-wicket win in New Plymouth three days later.
The visitors also feature the competition’s top run-scorer in Will Young (326) and wicket-taker in Blair Tickner (20), while speedster Adam Milne makes his return after a month off with a foot injury.
‘‘They’re a powerful side, they’ve got batting all the way down, and all those batters have been scoring some good runs,’’ Hopkins said. ‘‘And watching their bowlers, they’re just heavy length.
‘‘We’re going to have to be at our best to compete with CD, absolutely.’’
That will involve the Knights having Tim Seifert and Anton Devcich continuing their strong performances at the top of the order, reliance on the world’s topranked T20 bowler, Ish Sodhi, to produce more goods, along with the quick bowling and hard hitting that English international Chris Jordan has provided.
The Stags have remarkably batted first in all but one of their matches during the competition, losing in their only game fielding first, while the Knights are coming off four successful run chases.
While the Stags have played four games over the 12 days leading into the final, the Knights have only had one – their four-wicket win over the Canterbury Kings in Hamilton last Sunday – and Hopkins gave the troops a couple of days off to refresh, with five players then choosing to turn out in an optional inter-squad fixture on Wednesday.
"For me, I'm letting the guys own their game and own how they want to play it." Gareth Hopkins