Captaincy and Leadership

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Nick Foster – my best captain

I have been fortunate enough to play under some very good captains over my playing time. The name that stands out to me as the best captain is Mark Littlewood.

I grew up playing junior cricket against Mark around the Newcastle area and then played a lot of grade cricket against him. Whilst I didn’t share a club changeroom with Mark I was fortunate enough to spend many successful years under his captaincy in the Newcastle Representative team.

Under Mark’s captaincy the Newcastle representative team had one of its most successful periods with multiple NSW Country Championship wins and also a hugely successful stint in the NSW Premier Cricket Kingsgrove Cup T20.

There are a few things that stick in my mind about Mark’s leadership and captaincy:

• Mark was one of the most competitive people I know and it’s safe to say that competitiveness took others along with him for the ride.
• He instilled confidence in others and especially myself. I have no doubt Mark made me a better cricketer and I think many other people he captained would say similar things. I always felt he had complete faith in me to do the job the team needed.
• Mark was always positive. Whether it be Batting, Bowling or with his captaincy, he was always trying to win! And always trying to move the game forward.
• Mark never took a backward step. It wouldn’t matter the opposition, Mark was always up for the fight. As a player in his team I found it such a great thing to know that our leader just wanted to win and wasn’t going to be intimidated or be pushed around by anyone.
• Mark performed when our team needed it the most. He was so resilient. I recall Mark dislocating a finger whilst fielding in a NSW Country Final at Bradman Oval in Bowral. Mark went to hospital for treatment and returned to bat and went on to score a decisive half century to secure another title for Newcastle.
• Mark was tactically very astute. He understood the game, and always seemed to be a step ahead. I am convinced that Mark’s tactical nous played a huge part in the success of the Newcastle teams he captained. Yes, we had many wonderful cricketers but I would say Marks captaincy often gave us a head start.

I feel very fortunate to have played underneath Mark and I have tried to incorporate some of his skills and traits into my own captaincy.

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11 months ago

Ross Leipold

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

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Ross Leipold – my best captain

I would rate Wayne Andrews as the best captain I played with.

Wayne took Gosnells Cricket Club to a premier cricket semi-final and was a very calm leader who impacted our team by being relaxed no matter what the situation and allowing the team to play at its best.

Even when individuals were struggling, his ability to help them turn their fortunes around played a big part in our success.

One particular time my brother Colin was bowling against Damian Martyn when he played for Wanneroo in between test and shield duties.

Martyn had taken to him in one over hitting straight and long.

Wayne had faith in Colin’s ability to take up the challenge for another over against Martyn.

Keeping the field up Martyn went for another big hit and holed out to mid-off. Just one example of the skipper backing a player to bounce back and come out on top.

Wayne also lead with the bat scoring over 1,000 runs and taking out the Ollie Cooley Medal as the best Western Australian Premier cricketer of the year.

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11 months ago

Warren Buttigieg

Business Development Manager

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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Warren Buttigieg - my best captain

Neil Maxwell was the best captain I played with.

Playing with Balmain in Sydney Grade Cricket Maxi was hard as nails cricketer, who expected the same from everyone in his team. He created a fantastic training environment that brought out the best in each and every player. I walked onto the field 10 feet tall knowing that Maxie was our leader.

Neil instilled belief into you as a player, he had a way of ensuring that you were the best player you could be. He created the win from any position mantra that is so important in successful teams. He created teams that were always tough to play against.

I remember a wet training day on the footy field next to Drummoyne, we worked out backsides off for 2 hours in the rain and mud. Maxie’s message, training is always on!

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11 months ago

David Colley

Sydney, Australia

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David Colley – my best captain

The best captained I played with was Barry Knight at Mosman Cricket Club. Barry has become one of the most respected coaches in Sydney, but he also played 29 tests for England and was the first grade captain at Mosman in the 1970s.

He was a great player, understood the game, in every way, was able to read opposition players and was extremely competitive.

He had terrific player empathy and knew exactly when to make bowling changes and led from the front. He knew how to motivate me and some days that took some doing.

He always went quietly about his business.

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11 months ago

Jarrod Bird

TradesPerson

Brisbane, Australia

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Jarrod Bird – my best captain

The best captain I played with was Brad Ruddell at South Brisbane District Cricket Club.

Brad learned how to get inside my head and make me focus on what our team needed. As an angry fast bowler, I could be a bit loose at times but he taught me to direct my anger and focus on what the team needed.

He also trusted me and when I told him my plan for a particular batsman, he would set fields to support that plan and always congratulate me when my plan resulted in a dismissal.

Brad always led from the front and always set a good example for all team mates. He was supportive and authoritative when he needed to be. He backed everyone in the team because we had all earned our stripes to be given a chance to play first grade cricket in Brisbane.

Humility was his second-best trait. He never had an ego and when he performed as an individual, he would find a way to include the whole team as part of his success. He is a model human being and someone I will always hold a place in my heart for.

2000/2001 season he led us to a Grand Final Victory by instilling the belief in us all that we could win. We entered the semi-finals in 4th spot and played the minor premiers who were chasing their fourth consecutive premiership. We all played to a plan and beat them convincingly with a great all round effort from everyone.

We played University of Queensland in the final at Allan Border Field. They had Martin Love, Geoff Foley, Michael Kasprowicz and other Qld shield players.

What we accomplished in this final is still one of the proudest moments I have ever experienced in cricket.

The reason we beat this team was because of the ethos that our skipper instilled in is. We won because of the strength of the team and not any one individual. Literally one of the best experiences I have ever had on a cricket field.

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11 months ago

Smiley Toohey

Teacher

Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia

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Damian Toohey – my best captain.

John Colwell from Dubbo captained our Western Zone team to a NSW Country final in 1994/95.

John was a brave cricketer, backed himself and his players above all else and had the ability to make you feel you could get the job done. He was a smart cricketer and wanted his teams to play aggressive cricket.

He would've loved batting in T20's and that is exactly what he brought to the 50 over game. That season he was incredible with the bat, and we bowled second in all three games, with his bowling changes and field placements working perfectly to get the result we required. Two wins and a loss on the third day but a carnival win on quotient.

Going into the final the Western Zone committee wanted to bring back two players who had made themselves unavailable for the preliminary competition. John stood his ground for an unchanged line up. We lost the final but we did it with the team that got us there. That is representative cricket in the country, Western Zone style!

Great Western cricketer and even better bloke.

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11 months ago

Mark Bury

Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia

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Mark Bury – my best captain.

The best captain I played with was Tom Spencer at Manly Warringah District Cricket Club in Sydney.

Tom supported me no end as a bowler and had great faith in me. He instilled a lot of self-confidence in me and in return I did my very best to deliver for him and the team.

He gave us all a role and knew how to work his bowlers to help the team win.

I remember a great victory over St George when he knew before I did, I’d had enough in my first spell and said he needed me to come back for a 2nd spell to give ourselves a greater chance to win the game.

I learned so much about captaincy from Tom. The importance of communication, the roles players play and also the need to have a plan irrespective of whether your batting or bowling.

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11 months ago

Troy Bosden

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Bill York, was the most underrated spinner to play 1st grade cricket in Sydney and was an exceptional leader for the Fairfield Liverpool Cricket Club.
Nothing ever fazed Poppy….enjoyed every game under the man, it was never dull.
TB

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11 months ago

Mark Van Epen

Gosford, NSW, Australia

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Mark Van Epen – my best captain

The best captain I played under was Keith Stimson at Balmain.

He was captain of the 3rd grade team at around 50 years of age. He played many years of first grade as a successful left hand bat and captained the 1st grade team for a number of seasons leading them to the 1st grade premiership in 1967/68. His oozed experience on the field and in the dressing shed.

He was always calm and read the game well, knowing when to attack, when to defend and when to try something different. He had the respect of the players through example and knew how to get the best out of his players.

Keith’s two best leadership qualities were reading the situation of the game and man management.

One specific example of his leadership was in a game against Uni of NSW in which we had 6 overs to get 55 runs to win outright. I wasn’t confident we could do it, but Keith was always positive and looking for a way to win.

I was an opening batsman and Keith batted 6. Keith said, “Mark you and I are opening, and we are going to get these runs”. After 5 and half overs we got the runs at 0-56, I was 5 not out and Keith was 51 not out.

Keith was a life member of the Balmain District Cricket Club and the new Sydney Cricket Club. He passed away in 2018, aged 92.

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11 months ago

Andrew Knight

Business Advisor

Brisbane, Australia

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Andrew Knight - my best captain

I played under some very astute captains however, undoubtedly the best captain that I played under was Former NSW and Queensland batsman Peter Clifford.

Peter was always thinking 2-3 overs ahead of most players on game days, however he was also thinking about his team winning matches 2-3 games ahead. In Peter’s side you knew your role and what was expected of you. If you got it right, he told you – if you got it wrong, he told you! There were no grey areas, however you had the opportunity to grow and develop as a player. He always wanted players to improve, and he backed those players who wanted to improve.

He was also prepared to try something different, sometimes to the surprise of his players, however he had built up credits with his players and they had confidence in him that he had seen something different, or an opportunity was available. It was no surprise when it came off and more often than not it did.

An example of this came during a semifinal in Premier 1st grade. South Brisbane had our Toombul side in all sorts of trouble. I hadn’t been having a great year with the bat and was playing more as bowler than a batsman and was slated to come in at no 9. At 4 for less than 40 he told me to pad up and go in next. Why, who knew? Cliffo had a thought. Soon we were 7-70 and as minor premiers not looking great. He came up to me at the lunch break and said, “just bat”. Hardly inspirational stuff! I knew that he had confidence in me. Time to repay the faith. Well, some 7 hours later I was the last player out. We had recovered a bit. All out 303 – I finished up with 157. We ended up making the Grand Final and winning the premiership 2 two weeks later.

Sometime later, I asked him the question as to why he put we in at 7 that day, his reply – “You were hitting them well during the week, I knew it would be your day”. As I said earlier, he had seen something and seized the opportunity!

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11 months ago

Delissa Kimmince

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

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Delissa Kimmince – my best captain

The best captain I played with was Meg Lanning.

Meg just always showed so much faith in her players. If I stuffed an over up and went for runs she would always give you another chance and for me that instilled a lot of confidence.

On top of that she was always very calm and level headed.

The semi-final against South Africa in the World Cup in 2020. I had to bowl the 3rd last over and she just told me to bowl my slow yorkers and keep it that simple and that just made that over so clear in my mind and allowed me to execute what was required

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11 months ago

Jim Robson

Sydney, Australia

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Jim Robson - my best captain

The best captain I played under was John Rogers at UNSW Cricket Club in the 1970s.

John was such a good captain, and it was because he had these attributes.

1. Good captains need to be good man managers. If they have this skill, they can be very successful, Mike Brearley for example. Talented players who weren’t good man managers have often not been successful captains.

2. Good captains have total control of the team and they “run the show”. The coach and teammates might offer a view off the field, but the captain has total charge on the field. They may occasionally ask for some advice from his vice-captain on the field. Nothing looks worse than the captain talking to two or three other players and his bowler as they talk about field placements at the start of a new over. I’ll never forget seeing Bill Lawry in conference with Froggy Thomson, Geoff Dymock and Tony Dell in 1971. My head was spinning.

3. Good captains respect and communicate with all players in a positive manner.

4. Good captains realise every player has their own idiosyncrasies and supports all of them. Now I am old and cynical, but I still marvel at the outstanding job Mark Taylor did with so many high maintenance players in his team.

5. Good captains… just like good players… do everything they need to do to win. Sometimes they need to be very attacking, sometimes very defensive. You should always play according to the teams needs for success.

John Rogers had all these attributes and was incredibly inspiring and caring at the same time. He turned 80 this year and at his birthday party were two other outstanding captains John Benaud and Mick Pawley. Listening to these three in conversation was like listening to Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin in discussion in 1945.

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11 months ago

Anthony Barranca

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

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Anthony Barranca - my best captain

One of the best captains I had the pleasure of playing for and with, is a man by the name of Mark Hullet.

He had a great cricket brain, but it was how he managed the team and more so the individuals within the team, a real man manager.

I’ll never forget when we were playing in our first grand final and we were all in a tight circle and he made it clear that the 11 blokes that were going to take to the field that day could share in something very special together and that the odds of the same 11 guys to get the chance to do it again was extremely unlikely.

“This side will never be the same 11 ever again”!

It really made me think about the opportunity ahead and that I would do anything for the other 10 men taking the field. He was right, we won, and those same 11 blokes were never a team again even though we won 3 premierships in 4 years.

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11 months ago

Mark Tranter

I.T Manager

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

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Bob Black was awarded a Legend of Sydney Shires Cricket in 2009. Not only being a fantastic cricketer and baseballer himself, but Bob was also a leader and a great tactical captain across the top 2 grades in our club.

Playing under Bob in the 1980s and 90s he wasn’t big on announcing a batting line up prior to a game. He would rather chat at training or on the phone during the week, and it was clear what role you were to play. 1:1’s was important for an individual which assisted you buying into the team’s success.

Off the field, "Boston" (as we called him - a reference to Fenway Park) would let you know the real facts and sometimes you may get your nose out of joint for a short time but if you were smart, he was asking you to step up.

https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/886/mark-tranter/blog/1849/mark-tranter-my-best-captain

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11 months ago

Andrew Gode

Business Owner

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

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Andrew Gode - my best captain

The best captain I’ve played under was John Rogers at Valley.

He was just so calm and reassuring and so certain on what needed to be done. Wonderful man manager

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11 months ago

Peter Procopis

Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

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Peter Procopis - my best captain

Craig Glassock (Manly Warringah) was the best captain I played with during my Grade Cricket career.
Everything Craig did during the cricket season was directed towards his team winning matches. He drove a team-first culture both on and off the field.

Players were expected to play whatever role was needed on the day. Team-focussed performances were rewarded via public acknowledgement and in selections and more 'selfish', statistical-based play was frequently challenged and counted against players in selections.

Craig was well ahead of his time insofar as the focus he placed on our fielding was concerned.

He led from the front as the best Keeper-batsman in NSW for a few years there.

We regularly completed long, hard, match-specific fielding sessions. Each player was also expected to do their own specific fielding practise in positions they usually fielded in during matches.

Like many others, I felt empowered as a player by Craig's encouragement. He was particularly good at helping players believe in their ability and back themselves when playing in his first grade side.

His own batting and keeping was always confident. He always looked to progress the game and we never played for draws.

That leadership made things very clear and simple for his players.

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11 months ago

Darren Wotherspoon

Cricket Coach

Gosford, New South Wales, Australia

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Skid only played a few more games before he retired and it was a huge regret that I didn't come to Sydney earlier to get more time playing as Skid as captain. He was always there for me and it was the chats with him that convinced me to go to Manly in 2005 to play under his brother-in-law, Shawn Bradstreet.

Skid was the only person whom I saw Scott Hookey couldn’t intimidate. Hook had absolute respect for Skid and Hook was very intense. Hook's sister said to me one day at work that Scott feels he owes his life to Skid. I worked with both of them, and the respect Hook had for Skid tells a big story about the man that Skid is.

In 2005 I left the Bears to go to Manly and play under the best captain I experienced, Shawn Bradstreet.

https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/1001/darren-wotherspoon/blog/1842/darren-wotherspoon-my-best-captain

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11 months ago

Keiran Knight

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

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Keiran Knight – my best captain

The best captain I played with was Neil Maxwell.

Encouraged us to play attacking positive cricket. Max new his players and their ability. His knowledge of the game and when to use his quicks or spinners. He was a hard taskmaster but held himself to those levels of expectation.

One match against Parramatta we won on first innings prior to tea but we didn’t bowl or field overly well. He got stuck into us at the tea break and we sent them back in to follow on.

Max was pretty fired up and took the new ball. Parramatta were 4 for 1 at the end of the over. We won outright in 13 overs. We all jumped on his coat tails and followed his example.

We then knew the standards we were setting as a team.

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11 months ago

Evan Atkins

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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Evan Atkins - my best captain

Barry Davison was my captain in 3rd grade in 1983. He led a young team like the pied piper and he was inspirational with his batting, making some opposing spinners cry with his sweeping and lofted off drives.

His field placements and bowling changes during that season as I think back were beyond a lot of the players cricketing comprehension. We really had no idea what he was doing, we just followed the leader.

Looking back, he was so far ahead of the game I didn’t appreciate the minutia at the time, but it was amazing.

Lenny Pascoe was a different kettle of fish. 1985 we were a very young first grade team finding our way. Justin Kenny, Mark Chapman, Phil Weatherall, Kevin Tuite all very inexperienced and happily following Len around, a few of us in our first seasons.

We played UNSW at Caringbah and Geoff Lawson had just jumped off a plane from a successful Ashes series and very keen to play grade cricket. Friday night there was a huge storm in Caringbah and there were holes in the covers. When the covers were removed there was a one metre circular wet spot just short of a length at the northern end. You could squeeze you finger into the patch up to the first joint on your index finger. Anyway, the young Sutherland side were on tenterhooks as Len went out to for the toss. He walked back towards the rooms motioning that we were batting. He closed the dressing room door and announced to the team that he had won the toss but decided to bat on a wet wicket to see how his young batsmen would react and handle the situation

I played most of my first-grade cricket under John Dyson. After the ban he and Steve Rixon had post the rebel tour to South Africa, Dyso decided to go to Sydney Uni so he could captain a first grade side while Stumpa took the reins at Sutherland.

As a wicket keeper I followed Dyso to Uni and the way he blended a side together with stalwarts like Mick O’Suilivan and John Grimble was amazing.

The Uni side was young with some serious talent but he had the nous to bring that side together into what was a happy well-functioning side.

We both returned to Sutherland, and he mentored players like Jake Kenny, Phil Weatherall, Glenn McGrath, Mark Chapman to maximise what they had as cricketers. As a 40 year old he played some inspiring knocks against the likes of Holdsworth, Killen, Alley and a few slower nemesis’s I won’t mention.

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11 months ago

Adrian Jones

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

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Adrian Jones - my best cricket captain

Although I was lucky to play under several excellent captains it would be hard to overlook the man who led our team during an extremely successful era and winning four premierships I was involved in at St Kilda Cricket Club.

Tim O’Sullivan was a terrific manager of ambitious cricketers. He did have a team of considerable talent which included a minimum of 4 state squad members at any one time. Sadly, they were mostly batsmen but that’s ok!

Not all players were playing for Victoria so when they all available to play club cricket Tim was able to manage the team and specifically the batting order so that all the batsmen were given the opportunity to score runs but also maintain a team ethos of playing for each other and also looking to win games of cricket which is what we all craved.

He was a good, clear communicator that ensured that everyone was on the same page going into a match but also that he would be the decision maker of how the team played.

He was also a thorough listener….and he needed to be!

He would often receive ideas and advice from players of significant experience within the playing group and he would need to weed out certain pieces of advice that may have had ‘self-interest’ attached or were too negative and not taking a team forward to get better, even by the smallest of percentages.

And despite being able to manage all these situations Tim was at his best on the field in the heat of battle usually when the circumstances were at their most challenging.

He scored a match winning century in tough conditions against Hawthorn-Waverley CC in a semi-final when no other batsman could even slightly look settled at the crease. Despite poor weather he also encountered a change to the playing conditions with play being held up on occasions that may have caused him to take risks too great to try and boost the run rate. That innings stood out clearly during that game and lead us to the first of four premierships the following week.

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11 months ago

Bill York, was the most underrated spinner to play 1st grade cricket in Sydney and was an exceptional leader for the Fairfield Liverpool Cricket Club. Nothing ever fazed Poppy….enjoyed every game under the man, it was never dull. TB

Andrew Gode - my best captain The best captain I’ve played under was John Rogers at Valley. He was just so calm and reassuring and so certain on what needed to be done. Wonderful man manager

Bill York, was the most underrated spinner to play 1st grade cricket in Sydney and was an exceptional leader for the Fairfield Liverpool Cricket Club.
Nothing ever fazed Poppy….enjoyed every game under the man, it was never dull.
TB

Andrew Gode - my best captain

The best captain I’ve played under was John Rogers at Valley.

He was just so calm and reassuring and so certain on what needed to be done. Wonderful man manager