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Captaincy and Leadership

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last year
Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan
Founder
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
499 Likes
513 Followers



Leadership is the most essential ingredient to the success of any team, or club. A strong leadership group can create the culture and standards in which they believe will best suit the team and club.

It’s imperative however everyone within the leadership group lives and breathes the culture and standards set because players, coaches, volunteers, and administrators within club will feed off their actions and behaviours. If anyone within the leadership group isn’t operating within the standards and or culture, it’s difficult to assume or expect everyone else within the team or club to do so.

I’ve always believed the most important influencers and drivers within a club are the President, the Coach, and the Captain of the clubs highest playing team in the club.

If it’s a community cricket club and there’s not a coach involved, it could be the President and the clubs highest playing team’s Captain and Wicket Keeper. The Wicket Keeper in the team should reflect the values of the culture of the club and sets the standards in the field.

The communication of culture and standards to all players and members of the club is vital for any success. People love to know their roles and how they can help, influence, and perform to their very best.

A lack of communication and self-interest can easily undo all efforts to build culture and standards.

What’s the right leadership and culture?

That’s the beauty of leadership and culture, it can vary from club to another and one team to another. What works for one group may not work for another.

Most importantly, the influencers and drivers need to identify opportunities, ambition, personalities, wellbeing, and skills of the people within the team and club and then be proactive to ensure inclusiveness and create their leadership group.

From there the leadership group can develop and communicate the desired standards. The culture will evolve and be a whole lot of fun and memorable for all involved and if a club, team, and a business can get it right.

Pictured : Christina Matthews - CEO of Western Australia Cricket and Adam Voges - Coach of Western Australian and Perth Scorchers. WA and the Scorches have created a terrific culture across the first class and T20 formats

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last year
Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan
Founder
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
499 Likes
513 Followers



Day one of the first Ashes Test at Edgbastan was the first day of Ashes cricket between Australia and England since the sad passing of cricketing giant Shane Warne and I can’t help but feel his influence.

Warne passed away in March 2022 and in April 2022 his good mate Rob Key was announced as the Managing Director of England’s cricket.

You only have to listen to Key talk about Warne to know of Warne’s great influence on Key. Warne’s positivity, passion and boldness to create opportunities in life and in cricket may well have had some sway in Key’s decision to appoint Brendan McCullum England’s Test cricket coach in May 2022.

McCullum like Warne loved to play positive and attacking cricket and despite not having previously coached a team he’s rejuvenated England Test fortunes with what’s being termed ‘BazBall’.

Is it Bazball or Warnie?

Warne would have loved the way the England batters played on day one. I’m not convinced though he would’ve been happy with Australia’s strategy to counter Bazball.
Conservative field placements with a deep point and deep backward square allowed the English batters to get off strike far too easily. There was little opportunity to build pressure and it was a strategy to save boundaries from ball one. If it was Plan B or C I could understand,
For Ashes Test debutant Harry Brooks, it was a dream come true. He would’ve played over and over in his mind since his junior days about taking on the Australians. Padding up, walking out to bat, taking strike, his first ball and excitedly his first run.

For years we’ve been shown the way to seize the moments. Make batters feel uncomfortable in the hope they make a mistake.

A batter wanting to score their first run in an Ashes test I would assume is one of those moments.

Brooks came to the crease and the Aussies left deep point at deep point.

No hint of asking Brooks to make a mistake of playing a big shot to get off the mark. He played a simple defensive shot to point for one.

Would he have nervously played a big shot and being caught at point or in the slips?

We’ll never know but it would’ve been great to at least ask the question.

https://twitter.com/ESPNcricinfo/status/1668596580595933185
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last year
Greg Hartshorne
Greg Hartshorne
Cricket Coach
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
24 Likes
1 Followers

A couple of examples where the captain’s decision made a difference.

1. 3rd grade semi-final Randwick Petersham v Bankstown, April 2004
Bankstown were chasing a reasonable total and at 5 down a young and talented batter, Small (not sure of his first name, not Steve) started to get on top. Our off spinner, Chad Greenburg got hit for a few fours and Small looked like taking the game away from us. My senior player Dave Townsend (a very good former 1st grade captain) gave me the nod, “get him off”.
Chad had bowled well but was tiring. I told Chad he had one more over no matter what, get us a wicket. The batter went after him, hit a couple of fours, but then missed one, and got stumped. It was risky but showed faith in him and he delivered. It was still Chad’s last over, but it changed the game, and we went on to win.

2. 2nd grade final Randwick Petersham v Sydney, April 2005
In a 3-day game, our team was up by around 70 on the first innings. Sydney were struggling a bit in their second innings until Neil Maxwell came to the crease. He was a former state player and still a high-quality batter. At 5 down, Sydney was close to getting ahead. We had an in-out field and Maxie was starting to pick off singles and 2’s at will.
I changed to a ring field, put my best fielder (Michael Watson) at cover and said, just stop the single. The fielders did a great job, drying up the singles, forcing Neil to change his game, and in trying to hit through mid-wicket, got caught. It was a key wicket, Sydney folded and that led to an outright win for us.

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last year
Greg Hartshorne
Greg Hartshorne
Cricket Coach
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
24 Likes
1 Followers

Some thoughts on the captain’s role

1. Objectives
• Ensure all players play to the club mantra. “Trust, Respect and Humility” to each other, the opposition, the umpires, supporters, and the crowd.
• Establish clear goals and encourage team members to work together.
• Get the most out of every player
• Allow the team to enjoy the journey and have fun.

2. Some typical common goals you agree on
• It all about “A weekend in March” – to make the final!
• Bat the full overs, convert 50’s to 100s, survive the first hour, never throw your wicket away, 1 ball at a time, really focus after fall of a wicket, drinks, lunch, tea breaks
• Bowl to the plan, in the “corridor of uncertainty”, “hit the top of off”.

3. Some Key strategies
• Discuss team and individual goals, and how to achieve them. Ensure they’re realistic and measurable. Talk about them often. Make sure everyone knows what is expected.
• Talk to every player individually, regularly. Encourage and give feedback. Listen to their feedback, give them as many opportunities as you can.
• It’s a team game, so to succeed you want everyone to contribute. Let the others take the glory but be ready to step up and take responsibility when necessary.

4. On the field
• Ensure everyone knows the bowling plans.
• Watch the fielders constantly, make sure they are where you want them. Make subtle changes, it keeps players involved.
• Never be afraid to make major changes, rather than just letting the game roll on. Try things.
• Talk to the bowlers between overs, encourage, reinforce the plans.
• Find someone who you can talk to, who can see things you might not. Usually it’s the keeper, first slip or mid-off).
• Encourage – “It only takes one ball”, “one wicket brings two”.

5. The umpires
• Talk to them when they arrive at the ground, get to know their names, invite them to afternoon tea, talk to them after the game, take them a drink. They're good people, interested in cricket.
• Above all, treat them with respect. Everyone makes some mistakes. Accept it and move on.

6. In the change rooms
• Encourage everyone to stay at the end of the day. Be positive, even after a loss, talk about the game, especially the good bits, recognise the good performances, avoid blame or failures. Everyone is going to make mistakes. Learn from them.
• Remember it is a game. We play to enjoy (and to win) but mostly to have fun and enjoy time with our mates. Nothing wrong with having a few scars. And there is always next week

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last year
Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan
Founder
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
499 Likes
513 Followers

Former Australian Cricket Captain Ian Chappell shared is thoughts on the role of a captain in an interview in 1992.

Ian Chappell - To me, captaincy is two parts. There is captaincy, which is on the field, the pinning up of the batting order, the handling of the bowling and the changing of the field, and there is leadership. That is time spent with players off the field. I am not talking about the time spent on cocktails. I am talking of time spent with the players. If the players have a problem, I have to listen to the problem and act upon it. If they have a fight against the board, I had to fight that fight.

Captaincy is not an 11 to 6 job. It is hell of a lot more than that. I think there are a lot of good captains around. Also, I think there are bloody awful leaders around. They cannot lead a backside. I think the amount of time spent with players off the field is what reaps the reward. That to me is the art of leadership, to get the best out of men.

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last year
Jim Robson
Jim Robson
Sydney, Australia
13 Likes
4 Followers

I was not good enough to be a first class player but in November 1979 I was fortunate to be chosen as captain of the Australian Universities team to play the England Test team at Adelaide Oval. It was a serious 4 day match as England were due to play Australia in the First Test a week later.

We were very weak “on paper” and I got a call from the Australian Cricket Board that the toss with Mike Brearley should be a “pretend “ toss and that England had to bat first no matter what. I assume they thought we would be dismissed for a very low score if I decided to bat first.

As captain I had a “secret weapon” in leg spinner Geoff Kirkwood. I knew him v well as he came from my club, University of NSW. He was a colourful personality. Kirky was outstanding at drinking, smoking and playing the piano. Whilst he had trouble holding down a first grade spot due to our NSW squad spinners Mark Ray, Paddy Grattan-Smith and Steve Campbell I knew he had the X factor. Yes he had a great top spinner and England were known to be very poor against leggies in that era.

Being aware of these factors I brought Kirkwood onto bowl very early. Our opening bowler Peter Clough had set it up by bowling quickly at Boycott and Brearley and I was confident when Kirky came on. My big decision as captain was to get him to bowl without anyone in the deep on the leg side.

Sure enough with no one in the deep batsmen such as Botham, Gooch and Randall attempted to slog him when he bowled too short. But they could not pick his top spinner….it skidded onto them too quickly and they just mishit his short ones to midwicket or square leg

Kirky finished with 5 wickets off 16 overs and we dismissed England for 179. In response Dirk Wellham batted superbly for us and we took a first innings lead. This was deservedly Kirky’s match and he was the lead story on the back page of every Australian newspaper. Brearley and I batted poorly in this match but I felt I “out captained” him due to my successful tactics with Kirky.

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last year
Mark Patterson
Mark Patterson
Sydney, Australia
14 Likes
3 Followers

When captaining a cricket team, it is always very important to watch and take notice of the batters grip and the plane in which the bat comes down when they look to play either a defensive or attacking shot.
I remember watching a grade final at Coogee Oval and No 8 and 9 were batting and they needed 50 dd to win.
After watching the batsman hit every ball square and slashing a few behind point the captain and bowler decided to all the fielders on the off side much squarer and also put in a fly slip about 10m in from the boundary.
2 balls later ball was pitched up outside the off stump and the batter played a big slash and got a thick outside edge straight to into the hands of fly slip.
The fielding team went on to defend the score and win the premiership.
The message I took from watching what happened was always be thinking and backing yourself as captain

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last year
Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan
Founder
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
499 Likes
513 Followers

I remember a one-day game at Hurstville Oval.
St George was batting first and one of our openers was a very attacking batter. In the early stage of his career, he liked to hit more boundaries than singles especially in a 50 over game.
The opposing captain set a 7/2 field in the first over including 2 slips, third man, point, deep cover, short cover and mid-off.
On the leg side was a mid-on and fine leg with plenty of open and inviting space.
The bowler played his role perfectly with the first ball being outside off stump through to the keeper. The second ball was well pitched up on off stump and our opener eyes lit up as he played across the line to the open space and was out LBW.
A clearly well thought out plan and terrific risk v reward captaincy.

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