The Teesra

Running out the non-striker — how was it that the only people in the ground who noticed were the fielding team?

Peter Della Penna’s forensic analysis of the now infamous run out † of Charlie Dean at Lord’s was pretty conclusive. Dean had left her crease early on more than 70 occasions prior to being dismissed, several times being 2’ out of her ground before the ball was released by the bowler.

But were any of the England coaches and analysts and support staff actually watching the game?

WITTW vs. WIN — is winning the most important outcome, even for “high performance”?

The ECB’s 2022 High Performance Review, led by Andrew Strauss, has attracted extensive scrutiny for the suggested new playing schedule for First Class and List A, but remarkably little for those elements of the Review that relate to creating a high performance culture away from match days i.e. coaching, pathway, player development.

In amongst the less-discussed sections of the Review is a proposal to “embed…[What It Takes To Win] WITTW into the ECB coaching curriculum.”

It certainly makes sense for coaches to help players to develop and deploy skillsets that contribute to winning.

But I have concerns, ideological and practical, on the choice of WITTW as an appropriate model within cricket.

Might we be better concentrating on What’s Important Now?

Where did you learn about coaching?

Over the summer, a Twitter correspondent asked me how I learnt about coaching.

Fair question.

I do (probably too often) post quite definitive statements to Twitter of what I believe to be the reality of coaching. I am happy to express an opinion on subjects “way above my pay grade”. Even when those “opinions” are dressed up as questions, it’s easy enough to spot what I think the answer should be.

So what are my coaching qualifications?

I have an old level 2 coaching badge (2011) and quite a lot of hours actually coaching.

And I have so much CPD on my CV that I need to prepare an edited version, or it looks as if I spend my life on courses…

But I’m not sure how much of what I believe about coaching has been learnt from gaining badges or formal (and informal) CPD, and how much has been shaped by prior experience at “the University of Life”.