Mike Hesson, How good is he?

[andruid]

OK this one's more relevant to the New Zealanders on here. Mr Hesson's now in charge of turning Kenya's national team around. He starts without three of its former captains (They all turned down central contracts) including Thomas Odoyo, and No Steve Tikolo who's still playing domestic cricket despite retiring. Do y'all think he's got the gumption to turn around an ill disciplined, undermotivated and massively divided associate criket team into the good 'ol world beaters of old

I hope he lays down the law like Roger Harper did when he was in charge 2006-8 and at least kept a kenya without match exposure ahead of the rest of the associates..

 

[_Ed_]

I do rate him highly.

I was a bit surprised to hear about this appointment, actually - I'd understood he was going to be involved with the NZ team in some way.

 

[Smudge]

He got sick of waiting for NZ Cricket to come up with a decision. Now where have I heard that before?

I had concerns about Hesson when he first got the Otago job - he was a real battler in Otago club cricket and only made the Otago side when the top players were all on strike. In fact, he was most famous for playing for the Otago women's team and scoring a century against a touring side!

To be fair, he proved me and all other naysayers wrong - the first thing was he instantly got the respect of the players (many of whom would have played club cricket against him), and set about lifting the standard of the whole side. He's a quiet guy who thinks deeply about the game, and I think he'll do a good job wherever he ends up - in this case, Kenya.

 

[SteveNZ]

He got sick of waiting for NZ Cricket to come up with a decision. Now where have I heard that before?

I'm unsure? I presume you don't mean Allan Donald, because that would be erroneous.

And this is nothing personally against Voltman at all, but it sh*ts me the mentality of 'must've played at a high level, otherwise I'm a sceptic'.

Rattle off a bunch of great coaches and I guarantee the majority of them weren't even considered above average in their playing days.

Wayne Bennett, Jack Gibson - rugby league.
Jake White, Graham Henry, Eddie Jones, Ian McGeechan, Clive Woodward - rugby union.
Duncan Fletcher, Steve Rixon, Troy Cooley, John Buchanan - cricket
David Ledbetter, Harvey Penick, Mal Tongue, Butch Harmon - golf
Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Sir Matt Busby - football

And so on with many other sports.

 

[Smudge]

I'm unsure? I presume you don't mean Allan Donald, because that would be erroneous.

And this is nothing personally against Voltman at all, but it sh*ts me the mentality of 'must've played at a high level, otherwise I'm a sceptic'.

Rattle off a bunch of great coaches and I guarantee the majority of them weren't even considered above average in their playing days.

Wayne Bennett, Jack Gibson - rugby league.
Jake White, Graham Henry, Eddie Jones, Ian McGeechan, Clive Woodward - rugby union.
Duncan Fletcher, Steve Rixon, Troy Cooley, John Buchanan - cricket
David Ledbetter, Harvey Penick, Mal Tongue, Butch Harmon - golf
Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Sir Matt Busby - football

And so on with many other sports.

Calm down. As I said, I was around those Otago circles when he was playing club cricket, and no one really thought much of him. Now, rightly or wrongly, those questions are always going to come up at the START of someone's coaching career if they've just been a bit of a club plodder.

And you might want to do a bit more research on rugby union before putting on your list a 32-cap Scottish veteran who toured twice with the Lions and a knob who played 21 times for England and also went on a Lions tour, while Eddie Jones was a very good player for Randwick - the strongest club in Australia - in the 80s, getting a match against the All Blacks in 1988. Just sayin'.

 

[SteveNZ]

Ha, swing and miss. I shouldn't have said anything about a sport I don't like and know not all that much about. My bad.

My point is, those concerns shouldn't come up at the start of anyone's coaching career. Just because someone perhaps didn't have the necessary talent/strength whatever to play doesn't mean they didn't have the tactical nous or ability to make others better.

The one that it ****s me the most with is commentating. I don't think there's ever going to be another commentator that wasn't an ex-player, at least not in cricket. That's a shame.

 

[andruid]

Oh that's cool. Anyway latest is he's now got to do it with a virtually brand new squad picked under the sort of cloud of politicking that West indies and Pakistan would be proud of. I reckon his only saving grace right now is that he's got easy fixtured to ease the 8? new kids into the world of international cricket squad.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-intercontinental-cup-2011-13/content/story/524300.html