Dizzy heights in coaching ranks going unnoticed with Gillespie
THERE’s only one thing certain in the debate over who should be Australia’s next cricket coach — Jason Gillespie will be underestimated. ROBERT CRADDOCK explains why that shouldn’t be the case.
Cricket
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cricket. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THERE’s only one thing certain in the debate over who should be Australia’s next cricket coach — Jason Gillespie will be underestimated.
He’s always being underestimated.
You know that guy you work with who everyone likes and who you would go to war for, yet in a list of job applicants, he’s always a chance of being beaten by someone with a flashier style or bigger promises.
That’s ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie, a man whose coaching reputation, while good, is not what it should be after twice winning the English county championship with Yorkshire and this season’s Big Bash (as rank underdogs) with the Adelaide Strikers.
With the Australian role likely to be split in two, it would be a great result for Australia if they could find room for Gillespie and Justin Langer, perhaps with Ricky Ponting’s great batting knowledge to be perhaps split between the teams.
FEARED: Warner is Cricket Australia’s biggest fear
ANALYSIS: Smith pushes through pain barrier
LEHMANN: The moment that forced him out
VACANCY: The candidates for Lehmann’s role
WARNER: ‘I apologise for my part’
Of course, this is only a wish list because all three have families and will be fully stretched to accept any position with Gillespie coaching Sussex in England.
There is much talking to do, especially as Gillespie is known to loathe the bowling restrictions Australia places on its young quicks.
Many are speaking up for Langer and he deserves the praise on the back of the players he roused to the peak of their games in Western Australia such as Shaun and Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Bancroft, plus the success of the Scorchers in the Big Bash.
To his players, Langer is a little bit of everything ... a best buddy, an angry dad, a hard nosed technician and a deep thinking motivator who once wrote a book called Seeing the Sunrise.
Most of all, he is a hard, fair and dedicated man who knows the value of solid morals and hard work.
Gillespie’s great talents as a mentor are not as prominent but they did attract the endorsement of one shrewd judge when former Test leg-spinner Kerry O’Keeffe said the current Australian team needed to learn to respect the game more and they needed some love.
They needed Gillespie for both reasons.
When Gillespie’s name is mentioned for job interviews there is always someone who seems a better computer man, a game reader, a planner, or more attuned to the short game.
But his well-rounded package is arguably as good as any around.
The last time I spoke to him he ended the interview then went into a room to watch a random Big Bash game with Billy Stanlake and a handful of Adelaide Strikers players.
On and on they chatted about techniques, game plans and the finer points of the game.
They were being coached without even knowing it.
That’s the Gillespie way.
He is at heart a players man but strong enough to hand down the tough medicine if required.
Accountability is a big thing for him and he certainly lived that as a player.
When Australia had a review into its performance after the loss of the 2005 Ashes, bullets flew in all directions.
It was said that out of around 25 players and staff interviewed Gillespie was the only one not to blame anyone bar himself, and made a point of swallowing the bullet.
“I played crap — and I’m not blaming anyone,’’ summed up his sentiment.
Unlike a lot of modern players he is addicted to watching the game and can by up after midnight tuning in to some obscure game overseas.
When he started his coaching career Gillespie had to head to the Zimbabwean wilderness to a town named after the sound made by a tree frog get a start.
But the things that worked for him there are still working.
When some of his penniless players had no lunch he made sure wife Anna brought them sandwiches.
When he drove through the streets and saw his battling players cued up to get money out of ATM’s on payday he did not scold them for being late for training.
He knows when to crack the whip and when to cuddle.
Australia’s coaching ranks used to be devoid of former stars — it is lucky to have the likes of Gillespie, Langer, Ryan Harris and Chris Rogers shining.
Originally published as Dizzy heights in coaching ranks going unnoticed with Gillespie
Kuhnemann probe exposes ICC’s Kohli hypocrisy
A fringe Australian spinner is fighting for his career while Virat Kohli escaped with a slap on the wrist for shoulder charging a rival player. The difference in treatment, as BEN HORNE writes, highlights the ICC’s hypocrisy.
Cricket Australia has failed Aussie star
A former Test bowler has put the onus on Cricket Australia after Matt Kuhnemann was cited for a suspect action in Sri Lanka.