VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: [1], 2, 3, 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 07:30:16 04/05/05 Tue
Author: jaf
Subject: captaincy by simon hughes

Captaincy in cricket is more important than leadership in any other sport. In the same way that an orchestra cannot perform without its conductor, the cricket team won't function without its captain. The main reason for this is cricket takes so long that the players' intensity cannot be sustained without some kind of direction. Excitement and adrenaline alone don't motivate the team as they do in short games like football or rugby.

A Test captain's list of duties does not extend to paying for tea and phoning in the score to the local paper, as it does in club cricket. It's an extremely complex and involved job nonetheless. His responsibilities can be divided into six areas:

1. Selection
2. The Toss
3. Motivation
4. Tactics
5. Declarations and follow-ons
6. Media


1) Selection

Historically, most captains were batsmen. It was a class thing; batsmen were 'gentlemen'. It's still predominantly true today, batsmen generally make good captains. In the last twenty-five years all the best Test captains – Mike Brearley, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh, etc – have all been top-order batsmen. (Nasser Hussain is now staking his claim to be included in this top bracket.) Before the current era, two of the best post-war captains were allrounders: Richie Benaud and Ray Illingworth. They appreciated both aspects of the game but didn't have the burden of top-order batting or opening the bowling.

A captain's influence on selection varies. The tradition in Australia is for a selection committee to meet, then hand the chosen eleven over to the captain. Occasionally, in the past, they would select the best eleven players first, then pick the captain from them. However, they didn't have much success with that method.

In England, a captain is usually nominated for a term (either a tour or a series). He has full involvement in selection. Mike Brearley said he would have hated to have been handed a team he had had no part in choosing, because he was the one who had to walk onto the field with them. The current vogue is for the captain to be one of three or four voices in the selection committee, but he may have the final say if a decision is split.

Selection is one of the captain's biggest headaches. In any team there will always be someone not pulling his weight, but when do you replace him, and who with? Much of the debate will centre round the balance of the side. How many front-line bowlers do we need on this pitch, against these batsmen? Do we need one spinner, two, or none at all? Only at the end of play will he know if he had the right team on the day.

2) The Toss

The captain announces his final eleven to his opposite number at the toss, which takes place half an hour before the start of play. Except in extraordinary circumstances, the make up of the team can't be changed after this point. The home captain will spin the coin and the visiting captain will call. Contrary to popular belief, even if the coin has come down heads in all the previous five Tests of a series, there is still a 50-50 chance it will come down heads again.

To bat or not to bat?

One of England's most distinguished captains, Colin Cowdrey, had firm beliefs about what to do if you won the toss. 'Nine times out of ten,' he'd say, 'you should automatically bat first. The other time you should think about fielding, but then bat anyway.' It worked for him (England lost only two of the nine series during his tenure as captain), but things are a little more sophisticated now. If there's any perceived dampness under the surface, most teams will elect to bowl first, either in a positive move, expecting their bowlers to make good use of the conditions, or as a negative one, not wanting to expose their batsmen to such a bowler-friendly situation. 'Sticking 'em in' is a far more accepted course of action than it used to be.

Occasionally, a captain will do the unexpected. At Old Trafford in 1997, Mark Taylor won the toss on an obviously damp pitch and elected to bat. This wasn't as foolhardy as it sounded. His batsmen dexterously negotiated the early movement, and the large, deep footmarks left by the England bowlers on the tacky surface, created perfect rough areas around the right-handers' leg stump, which Shane Warne exploited brilliantly later in the game.

The captain who wins the toss is supposed to tell his opposite number immediately what he has decided to do. He will also make a quick sign to the dressing room, either wielding an imaginary bat or swinging his arm in a bowling motion, to indicate what the team need to be ready for. The decision will usually be a consensus – he'll have canvassed opinion from colleagues, selectors, ground staff, quite probably old players and commentators found wandering about on the middle, and perhaps even a weather expert.

Sometimes the variety of suggestions is more confusing than it is helpful. Against Zimbabwe in 2000, Nasser Hussain had heard so many conflicting opinions, he didn't know what to do two minutes before the flick of the coin. Having won the toss, he followed his hunches and chose to bowl. It was a good decision. Within six overs Zimbabwe were 8-3 and soon after lunch were bundled out for 83.

3) Motivation

You get all types of captains. Loud, hands-on-hips types (Mike Gatting); quiet, detached types (Mike Atherton); disciplinarians (Alec Stewart); laissez-faire-ists (David Gower); fitness fanatics (Graham Gooch). The best captains employ a range of responses – emotional in some situations, philosophical in others, and know when to be stern and when to be sympathetic. Sometimes the whip is required, on other occasions the carrot is more appropriate. Mike Brearley, England's most successful captain, described the job as 'a bit like gardening – some plants need fertilizer to thrive, others need pruning'. A coaxing word for one and a cattle prod for another.

Communication

Having said that, a general outline of tactics is necessary in the dressing room – a pep talk before each session of play. This may be imparted in measured tones, as in 'It'd be nice to get three out before lunch' or 'Now let's not forget that Smith is very strong against anything short', or in more forceful ones: 'I told you Smith [80 not out] was a good hooker and puller. Anyone listening out there?'

Fred Trueman and his ilk would be quick to say that any Test cricketer worth his salt shouldn't need telling how to do his job, or require any motivation. 'Three lions on my chest were good enough for me,' etc. But players do need direction and, with the endless amount of international cricket played these days, the odd gee up. Nasser Hussain addresses his players in a little huddle on the field, just before heading out to the middle, as a final reminder of what's at stake.

Once play is underway, the captain's motivating words are on a more individual basis. He might sense a bowler is just going through the motions and chivvy him into greater effort, or take him off and let him stew on the boundary for a while until he's champing at the bit. He might be aware of someone feeling a bit of a spare part and give him an earlier bowl than he might have expected. He also has to be strong enough to take that bowler off again if he doesn't deliver.

Canvassing opinion from other members of the team, however junior, is also a good way of ensuring everyone feels important. Asking others what it would be best to do next is good team psychology and it doesn't mean you have to follow their suggestion. Mike Brearley suggests, in his classic book The Art of Captaincy, that charisma is not a prerequisite for a captain, but communication is. However icy the wind, he must not keep a glacial distance from his players. More importantly, he must be able to manipulate the team mood, rather than be manipulated by it. The last thing you want is to alienate people.

4) Tactics

When all's said and done, a captain's primary task is to organise the bowling and set the field. In this sense, tactics and motivation are inextricably linked. It's no good setting a really attacking field knowing the bowlers prefer to be more defensive. This is a sure way to lose runs. Bowlers should have the major say in their field setting. If they don't get it, they'll get very shirty. But, no matter, the captain reserves the right to overrule them. He has the final say.

Field-setting strategies

A lot of field settings will be pre-planned. The team will know that so-and-so tends to hit the ball in a particular area and therefore have men placed to cover it. Alternatively, they may know of a batsman's strength (the hook shot for instance) but leave the area vacant, daring him to play the shot. Or a man might be positioned for the hook shot as a sort of decoy – the bowler never intends giving him the chance to play it. There's a lot of bluff and double bluff in field strategies.

One of the most thorny issues is how long to keep the field 'up' (lots of close catchers). Obviously if the ball is constantly being edged, it's sensible to persist with a predatory slip cordon. But the time will come when edges have ceased or developed a tendency to scoot along the ground towards the boundary (perhaps as the ball gets softer). A high proportion of Test-match runs are acquired through, or wide of, the slips.

At some stage, protection (in the form of a third-man fielder) will be needed, which means removing one of the slips. But how soon? That is the perennial question. It's important to be flexible. Pre-planning is good, but persisting with a ploy if it doesn't work is not. If the captain has put a team in on an apparently damp pitch and they've raced to 90-0 it's time to ditch the attacking fields and opt for Plan B.

A stubborn captain is far more likely to rile his team than an adaptable one. The best captains are like the best sailors – they have a feel, maybe an extrasensory perception, of when the wind's changing, and they can alter course accordingly.

Bowling changes

As for bowling changes, although there will be a strategy beforehand, these are very much at the captain's whim. Managing the attack, so that the best bowlers are not over bowled and remain fresh for those vital moments, is a skill that requires acumen, a cool head and some luck. Opening bowlers will normally be rested after a six- or seven-over spell, though they may go on longer if they're taking wickets. Rotating the bowling so that, for instance, all the quicker men get a burst downwind, keeps everyone happy, except the spinner who is lumbered with wheeling away endlessly into a gale. Sometimes it'll be evident when a bowler is tiring, sometimes it won't. The trick is to relieve him before he sends down that weary over, costing 12 runs. Through a long, tiring day, it's sensible to share the workload.

For instance, it was noticeable how often against the West Indies Nasser Hussain gave his spearhead, Darren Gough, a brief early spell, then brought him back immediately Brian Lara walked to the wicket. As Gough claimed Lara five times for single figures in the series, it's a ploy that can be said to have definitely worked.

Keeping up the pressure

What should always be uppermost in the captain's mind is how to keep the batsmen under pressure – putting bowlers on or fielders in positions that the batters specifically don't like. A batsman who is uncomfortable or frustrated will inevitably get out. There are a-thousand-and-one tactical ruses to prosper in the field: from the obvious (maintain relentless accuracy, as Australia do) to the bizarre (Mike Brearley's overs of slow, head-high lobs with everyone back on the boundary, confused even the most confident batsman).

It's easy to distinguish a good captain from a bad one in the field. The better ones seem always one step ahead of the game, putting bowlers on who immediately take wickets, placing fielders in positions where they stop runs. They have vision and direction. The also-rans 'follow the ball', plugging gaps that have already gushed runs and leaving bowlers on for long spells, letting the game atrophy. A good captain, a man with an agile tactical mind and a perceptive eye, is worth his place in the team for this alone.

5) Declarations and the Follow-on

Little is written these days about the art of declaring, largely because it isn't very often necessary. Bowlers are so good and pitches so indifferent, teams get rolled over before the captain can even contemplate declaring the innings closed. On the rare occasion that it is an option, however, the timing can make all the difference. If the decision to declare is sometimes an unenviable one, a more pleasant task for the captain is to enforce the follow-on. This happens when team B are all out for 200-or-more runs less than team A's first-innings' total – they can be asked to bat again immediately.

Declarations

Unless one side is so totally in command that the other has no hope of winning, declaring is a sort of balancing act. There should be enough time to bowl the other team out (on average about a day) but not too much more, because this could give the team batting last a greater chance of winning themselves. At the same time there should be a carrot for them too. A team set 300 to win in four hours will just shut up shop and be hard to dismiss. A more tempting 250 in five hours might just lure them into some injudicious shots. Often you have to risk losing to win. (There have, incidentally, been only a handful of occasions when teams have made over 300 to win a Test match in the fourth innings.)

Because of what's at stake, however, most Test captains are pretty cautious when it comes to declarations. Lack of daring declarations on predominantly flat, easy batting pitches on the sub-continent, has guaranteed that the majority of Tests between India and Pakistan (33 out of 47) have been draws. The follow-on A captain does not have to enforce the follow-on but being asked to follow on is psychologically damaging, and virtually consigns you to having your backs to the wall for the rest of the match. Usually, batting out the rest of the match to salvage a draw is the best you can hope for. This is why events at Headingley in 1981 were so remarkable. Australia made 401, dismissed England for 174 and enforced the follow-on, as you would. Second time around, England were teetering on 135-7, staring an innings defeat in the face. This was when Ian Botham took the game by the scruff of the neck with a barnstorming century. England eventually totalled 356, leaving Australia 130 to win. Inspirational bowling by Bob Willis gave England an extraordinary 18-run win.

Perhaps as a legacy of this, Test captains are now a little more wary of enforcing the follow-on, especially if their bowlers are tired and not relishing the prospect of more labours in the field. But it's still normally the best option.

6) Media

These days a captain's work is never done until the last television camera has been switched off and the last scribe has vacated the press box. Media interviews at the beginning and end of the match (and often during it) have become a prerequisite of the captain's job. Many find it a burden and try to avoid them if they can (David Gower actually went to the theatre instead of turning up for one of his own press conferences) or they become monosyllabic. Because of the extensive and varied coverage of Test cricket in the twenty-first century, it's not the easiest of the captain's tasks.

Playing the game

The captain who is up-front and friendly with the media generally gets a good press even if the team is doing badly. But, like England football managers, some have got themselves into trouble with an apparently innocuous comment that gets distorted into something else. It is this that sometimes pushes already severely drained Test captains over the edge.

Test-match captaincy is one of the hardest jobs in sport – the captain is pit-face worker, shift supervisor and trades-union spokesman all rolled into one. They have a lot on their plate, and it's no wonder their own game sometimes suffers. Nasser Hussain's batting average plummeted during 2000, and it wasn't until his last Test innings of the year that he managed to make more than 20.

The Australian Mark Taylor had similar experiences, and there were frequent calls for his head during the early part of their 1997 England tour. Even the English press joined in before the first Test. Taylor's form had become so wretched even taking guard was torturous, and a man from the Daily Mirror tried to present him with a special three-foot wide 'Duck bat', when the Australians arrived to play Gloucestershire.

Taylor arrived in the Bristol press box to face the knife-brandishing media. 'You ignored the present from the Mirror, does this suggest you've lost your sense of humour?' stabbed one journalist. 'No, I can still laugh at myself, but I don't think I have to stand next to a three-foot bat to prove I'm a humourous chap,' Taylor replied, chuckling. He had the last laugh; he made a century at Edgbaston and six weeks later Australia had won the Ashes, again.

Star players are a captain's best friends. Players like Botham, Warne and Lara can camouflage a multitude of inadequacies and get 'luck' on your side. Without them captaincy is a severe test of character. Taylor has been the outstanding Test captain of the last decade. He was constantly able to rub the lamp and conjure up something. But it helps to have a few genies at your disposal. Copyright material reproduced under license from Macmillan Publishers Ltd. London, England

Copyright © Simon Hughes 2001
Click for full terms and conditions

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.