Australia v England - Coaching

[howardj]

I think this article was very instructive.

When Tim Nielsen was appointed (and not through a proper process, but because he was previously the assistant and Ponting wanted him as coach) we were ranked number one in both ODIs and Tests. Under his watch, we have slipped to number five in Tests. Where is the expertise with Nielsen? His coaching record is ordinary, and he was a work-aday player.

It's not just that though. Our fielding has markedly slipped, batsmen seem incapable of adjusting to the conditions, and we rarely stick to any pre-game bowling plans.

A coach should be the team's conscience. As in this article, Nielsen is a mate, a 'yes man', and a sounding board. Listen to one of his press conferences, and he just spouts corporate rubbish.

For him to be awarded a three year extension, beggars belief and really typifies much of which is wrong with Australian cricket - complacency, lack of accountability and a real boys club mindset. The same mindset that saw Justin Langer appointed as the batting coach.

You contrast that to England - clear plans, plain language, a maked improvement in fielding, and a very cricket focussed coach in Andy Flower, and I think we're getting flogged in the coach's box as well as on the field.

[BoyBrumby]

English coaches suck: it's official. We realised this, shame Oz hasn't wised up.

Seriously, it's hard to disagree with too much of the article. Nielsen looks, rather like Peter Moores, to be a decent man promoted beyond his ability. His three year contract extension looks symptomatic of the comfyness that seems to pervade the Oz set up. There's a reluctance to make the hard calls: witness North's baffling retention, the reluctance to pull the trigger on Ponting's captaincy and the fact that Greg Chappell suggested to Ponting he might want to drop to #4 rather than telling him he should.

[Uppercut]

It's not why they lost the Ashes but the current setup's selection policies are some of the worst I've ever seen. It's always difficult to judge someone's coaching ability just by watching their team perform. But it doesn't seem likely to me that a group of people could be so comically retarded when it comes to picking players but good at getting the best out of them or harnessing a winning spirit.

[Ausage]

Haddin, who has done a lot more keeping than his counterpart, has 43 byes for the series next to Prior's 14.

PEWS called this in one of the match threads. First time the stat has been brought up, not the last I imagine.

[marc71178]

To be fair to Haddin in spite of England bowling in more innings he's had to do a lot more keeping than Prior though.

[Spark]

Very harsh, Haddin has also had to deal with Johnson at his worst - the others have served some alarming rubbish at times too. There were at least 15 byes which were ridiculous too, most definitely wides.

[Burgey]

Troy Cooley is a buffoon. End of.

[GIMH]

Was he just lucky that Flintoff & Jones were in their primes as bowlers?

Also it's generally accepted that he set Jimmy Anderson back a couple of years. Shame really as by my calculations we'd have easily whitewashed India in 08 with the current Anderson

[Marcuss]

Originally Posted by Spark

Very harsh, Haddin has also had to deal with Johnson at his worst - the others have served some alarming rubbish at times too. There were at least 15 byes which were ridiculous too, most definitely wides.

Even so, he's at almost double Prior's tally.

[Spark]

As stated, he's had to do a lot more keeping against much more erratic bowling.

[Midwinter]

Every game shows up a lack of disciplined play.
Isn't this the coaches role ?

There is a reason Australia became successful under Bobby Simpson and John Buchanan.

Australia was once the best fielding side in the world. There has been no explanation of why it has fallen so low, anyone care to enlighten us.?

[howardj]

And having said all that, the Poms do in this particular series have the better players. That;s all the more reason why we need to get off field stuff like coaching and selection right. These things need to reduce the gap, not exacerbate it.

[Woodster]

There does seem to be a more thorough and complete attention to detail from the England coaching staff, which is not in evidence with Australia. Now that may just be because I'm an Englishman and pay more attention to what is going on with England and so am much more informed as to how they are going about their business off the pitch, while I may not be fully aware of Australia's preparations, but that is how it comes across at the moment.

I arrive at those assumptions from mainly what I see on the pitch. England seem to have clear plans, whether that is for each individual batsman or a general strategy for a particular pitch. These plans have to be persevered with, yet also flexible when the time is right. Now much of this can be down to the captain, but a coach's intervention from his viewpoint if things are not going well, is vital. Not sure what Nielsen offers here.

I've read much about England's preparation and listened intently to what Flower and Strauss have been saying, and you cannot fault much of what has been done. Of course it's easier to praise when they are getting the results, but surely they're getting the results due to the attention to detail, grounding of the players, hard work ethic, and the morale around the side.

It seems all of the Aussie selection committee are culpable of some perplexing squad selections. The chopping and changing, a real sign of uncertainty that they really don't know who should be in the squad, and are hoping one of them pays off. The Khawaja selection may be the one that comes out of this series.

The fall in rankings for Australia cannot solely be down to Nielsen, it was an inevitable happening, and the damage was done prior to him taking the reins. So it would be unfair to criticise too harshly, as the quality of players that got them to number one are simply not around at the moment. Nielsen having a contract to the end of the Ashes 2013 is surprising, and at this stage, I'd be most surprised if he reaches the end of his contract.

It would be difficult for me to judge the Aussie support staff. Troy Cooley was probably fortunate to be with the England side at a time when we had a peaking Flintoff, Harmison, Jones and Hoggard, but those guys are quick to point out the impact Cooley had when working with them. However we seem to have struck gold again with Saker.

On the batting side of things, you'd say Langer was not doing the best job judging by some of the batting stategies displayed by the Aussies this series, while Graham Gooch must be delighted with the patient and disciplined approach he has instilled into the England line-up.

[Mister Wright]

People were calling for John Buchanan's head, and it was probably time for him to go too. Nielsen might be the right kind of coach with experienced players in the side such as Ponting, Hayden, Hussey & Haddin, even Clarke. However, we are at the start of the changing of the guard. If Clarke is our captain, he's more about image than actually working hard at his game, so we're going to need a coach who is going to be hard-nosed and give some discipline to the Y-Gen.

[Top_Cat]

Yeah agreed. Vinny's too nice, would be more of a 'suggestions' coach. Get the feeling this team needs someone who has a strong image of how they want things to run and given the freedom to make it so.

Ponting may need to go before that happens.