Time for the coaches to deliver

The lead up to an Ashes series is among the most tense, pressured periods of a cricketer's career, and you need the support of the coaches and staff around you. It is at this point in both England and Australia's build ups for the series that the respective managements really have to earn their money. The huge backroom staffs which have become a big part of the professional game are often under scrutiny, but this is where they must demonstrate their value. I would personally be trying to keep preparations as simple and as regular as possible, to ensure that the players feel relaxed and at home. If I was in charge I would be studying the opposition's batsmen and bowlers individually, and feeding all of that information back to the squad. It is critical from the batsmen's perspective to know exactly what to expect from the bowlers they are due to face and that cannot be underestimated. For the bowling unit, I would incorporate a lot of specific practice, in particular working against left-handed batsmen. The Australia team has a lot of left-handers, while Mitchell Johnson's left-arm seam needs to be practised against too, even if it is just through a bowling machine. The angles the bowlers come through the wicket at must be accounted for, and a bowler like Johnson is tricky to face if you are not accustomed to it, as South Africa discovered to their cost. The England batsmen's techniques must be up to speed and ready to take on some seriously good pacemen, with Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Stuart Clark, Ben Hilfenhaus and Johnson. I believe that this series will be dominated by pace bowling, and the batsmen will have to be on their guard, and prepared for reverse-swing in particular. Let us not forget the impact that former England bowling coach Troy Cooley had in the last series in this country in 2005, and that he is now plying his trade with Australia. If Cooley can be similarly effective in nurturing a bowling unit who each possess complementary skills, with reverse-swing in the mix too, it will be a formidable challenge for Andrew Strauss's side. If England's batsmen know what they will be up against, then they can crank up the bowling machine and prepare with the required intensity to cope with it. For me, the best coaches and captains have a way of keeping things simple, and I have always felt that the bigger the match is, the more basic the game plan needs to be. It is all about executing your skills well and not over-complicating things, and Kevin Pietersen and Strauss are both very good at that, among others. --- A lot of talk surrounds the famous 'boot camps' and team-bonding exercises which have been implemented into teams' preparations, with Australia generally doing more of that kind of thing than England. From my perspective it is all very peripheral stuff, and it is important that those kind of trips do not overshadow the cricket training itself. Shane Warne was particularly critical of John Buchanan's methods in that department, and I can understand some players having an apathetic attitude to it all. It is of course good to get the squad together and focused, but it is the cricket skills that matter, not whether you have team meals, golf days, boot camps or whatever else. It was nice that the England squad went over to Belgium the other day, and that kind of trip puts things in perspective and can be a good build up for the rest of their preparations. It was very clear to everyone that England were poorly prepared in their tour of Australia in 2006/07, while Ricky Ponting's side were not in the best shape in 2005. It has been argued that Ponting may have benefited this time from exiting the World Twenty20 early and having extra preparation time, but it is impossible to tell with any certainty. One thing I can say with absolute certainty is that every player involved will be desperate for the series to get underway; there is nothing worse than a long, drawn out build up. The sooner the first Test in Cardiff on July 8 begins, the better for everyone involved, and only then will we be able to judge which team has prepared the best.

Name

Content

To

From

Email id *