The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : A remarkable experience for English coaches

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 18, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

A remarkable experience for English coaches

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE, FEB. 17. They came to learn their lessons in spin but in the end found themselves on a podium dispensing wisdom on the finer points of cricket coaching. Jack Birkenshaw, John Brierley and the lone lady in their midst — Jane Powell — arrived in India as part of a tour programme charted out for the Lord Tavernos' 50th anniversary coaching scholarship from England and after a meeting with the KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel, they found themselves criss-crossing the State to interact with junior players and coaches.

"It has been a remarkable experience. We came here to learn about spin bowlers and also about how your batsmen play spin so well but in the end we were dealing with coaching the coaches," Jack Birkenshaw said.

The former England player is aware of strengths of Karnataka cricket and was the Leicestershire manager when Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath played in the County circuit. "The people here seem very calm and composed and it is the right temperament to be a spinner.

"I guess if all the talent here is harnessed well then may be you have a good chance to upset Australia," Jack said.

Jack, John Brierley and Jane Powell may have found their tour goals change overnight but they were indeed unanimous in their appraisal of the talent base in Karnataka especially in areas like Pollibeta in Coorg, Mangalore, Hubli, Dharwad and Belgaum.

The need to standardise coaching and to set clear benchmarks were stressed by Jane Powell, a sportswomen who has represented England in cricket, hockey and in badminton.

Meanwhile the KSCA president Ramprasad added that the trio may be considered for another coaching stint sometime in the future but he did add a conditional clause to it by saying, "the feedback from our coaches will be considered and then we will decide on getting them back."

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