I trust that Cricket West Indies (CWI) in their wisdom have not overburdened Daren Sammy, having placed this further responsibility on his shoulders to be the Test cricket coach for the West Indies. It will be an enormous task, given the heavy workload in all three formats in present-day international cricket.
Diverse players would be involved to fit in for their suitability, and being a coach and selector would be a much tougher job than might be anticipated.
Captaincy is an art on its own and should never be compared with coaching. That is the reason why anyone, but especially a former cricketer, ought to subject himself to a coaching course in order to understand the rudiments of the sport and its players from miscellaneous angles.
Sammy admitted to never having taken a cricket coaching course. That is tantamount to saying: “I realise all I need to know to be a coach, having been an international captain of a cricket team for quite a few years.”
Until one does a coaching course, one does not realise how little one knows of building the capacity of players to face the circumstances in a game of cricket. Every personality has different needs.
One must know the game inside out and then some more.
There’s the gift of appreciating when to be stern and when to be encouraging.
Then, of course, he has to know how to build and spread enthusiasm and strengthen resolve.
An important factor is to have players always mentally attuned to winning, committed to the moment, especially when preparing. It's also crucial to absorb all the information one can, through psychology, which is most important to one’s human relations.
[caption id="attachment_1143391" align="alignnone" width="1024"] -[/caption]
How can anyone boast about not having any qualifications, yet he is able to walk into a job of vital importance like an international Test cricket coach and be confident in holding the position? Furthermore, the responsibility of Sammy’s coaching position is not as easy as it looks. Test cricket should be in a class of its own because a lot more is involved.
The grading is more complex and so is the number of issues involved. Additionally, the selection of bowlers to suit pitches, the balancing of teams to challenge any situation, a two-innings game over five days and a host of ideas that one has to be aware of; in the event of playing defensively, when to attack, or to declare.
The captain has to understand the changing of bowlers, the batting order. No one dictates four or ten overs maximum per bowler.
A Test match coach on its own is a tough assignment and his concentration on and off the field must be sharp, including his players’ preparation, when he’s thinking about his plan to suit the game or the team to choose for the occasion.
It would be interesting to find out how the coach would deal with these matters; however, he'll need all the luck he could attract and a great deal of common sense. Sammy says: “We are faced in a situation where our players with the most exposure to different conditions
