Sigh. I tried so hard to distance my self from the "there goes Jimmy Foreigner whose taking big bucks to deliver nothing but bukwas" like of thinking for all of all of Woolmer's three year tenor as coach, but I'm can’t help but ask serious questions of his role now.
Woolmer’s biggest advantage as a coach was that he was suppose to be a neutral man, with great technical know how. In his time as coach of South Africa he pioneered the use of technology in coaching, knitting South Africa into a strong but psychologically under pressure side (the famous chokers tag as it’s called).
In theory, if not dramatic wins on away tours, and all encompassing winning streaks, Woolmer should have in the very least been able to solve some of Pakistan’s basic weaknesses. The tendency of the batsmen to not use their brains for more then 0.2 or 0.1 balls is perhaps down to our first class structure, but surely with all the technology at his disposal he could have made at least one, just one, I’m not even saying two openers, overcome some of his technical deficiencies.
It is true that coaches are limited on how much they can mould players, especially in the case of Pakistan’s player, where their techniques and batting mindsets have been hopelessly spoiled by consistently batting on featherbed wickets in the domestic structure, but with all that resources at his disposal, he ought to have, as I said, delivered at least some results.
All of Shoaib Malik, Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Salman Butt, Taufeeq Umar, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed and even Younis Khan have opened the innings for Pakistan while he has been in charge, not even one of these players have overcome any of their technical mistakes, let alone talk about producing performances that stake out an outright claim in the side.
And what’s more, instead of actually improving the existing mistakes, the batsmen have actually acquired a brand new weakness during Woolmer’s time, the dammed hooking disease. We are routinely told all batsmen get to re-watch their mode of dismissals at the end of each day’s play, and that they have access to this footage at all times, then why Woolmer unable to explain to his players that the hook shot wasn’t working, and hence until its mastered upon, they ought not to play it! It really shouldn’t have been this hard.
And what of the shambolic fielding, poor running between the wickets and extras problem. These are things you overcome with repeated practice and coaching, this should have been Woolmer’s domain in other words, and his failure in it is painfully obvious. Woolmer always has something to say for him self in defense, and I’d really like to know what his excuse, if any, is for these failures.
His inability to have any influence on Inzi’s poor captaincy skills or mould Shoaib Akhtar’s temperament problems, coupled with an underlying reluctance to select s p e c i a l i s t s as opposed to bits and piece all rounders, will all count against him as well. It is true that any coach is limited in what he can do when you have a first class structure underneath that’s capable of producing only flat truck bullies, but still. People have been harsh on him at times, I know that too, the frequent references to his foreign nationality in the press and media are in bad taste, and it was a breach of trust for the PCB to have leaked out his salary and contract details, but when you’ve invested millions of rupees into some, its not unfair to ask these questions.
It’s a cricket culture in Pakistan to make coaches the foremost scapegoats; perhaps in Woolmer’s case there is good reason to do so too. His time, as has been widely speculated, should be over too now. I’m not sure if he’ll resign immediately, or if he’ll be sacked, but either way, he’s going. I’m certain also the split will be quite mutual since Woolmer has been speaking of keeping his options open in response to reports about England possibly being interested in him.
His lasting legacy too, unfortunately, will be of gross underachievement. He did have some good influence on players like Shaoib Malik, and for a while, Shahid Afridi, but I’ve got more things for him to complain about then be thankful for as he now comes to the end of his tenure. May be it was never meant to be. Goodbye Bobby, and better luck elsewhere. |
