Flipping cricket coaching on its head

Starting out as a coach in grade cricket in Sydney more than a decade ago, Trent Woodhill has since been at the helm as coach or a consultant at NSW youth level, England's country circuit, T20 franchises, New Zealand's and Pakistan's national teams as well as personal mentor for the likes of Steve Smith and David Warner.

Over the course of his journey Woodhill has seen the coaching role evolve considerably across different formats and various levels.

Today he says the structure of coaching has essentially flipped 90 degrees.

"When I started, coaching was vertical and now it's horizontal." Woodhill told cricket.com.au. "What I mean by that is that before, you had someone in charge at the top and you would filter your way down.

"The world has changed now to a point that you get questioned all the time in different formats; people want information that is concise, and it is difficult to attain all that with just one person as the players are playing all year around.

"So it is important to build a team around you, so the information needed can be delivered instantaneously from different sources – so it is horizontal."

It has now become the norm for a team at state level, international level and franchise cricket to have large numbers of support staff. But according to Woodhill the secret of having a successful coaching team is to ensure roles are not overlapped.

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Woodhill, who served as Greg Shipperd's deputy as the Bushrangers won the shield in 2014-15, explained the difference in the role of a head coach to that of a batting coach.

"We broke it down in two phases. 'Shippy' talked about decision making, match situation and learning while I talked about execution and mechanics."

Woodhill cited Peter Handscomb's dismissal in a Sheffield Shield match in Alice Springs as a perfect example of how the cohesion between the head coach and batting coach operated in practice.

"Handscomb got out caught at deep-square, pulling with two men back in the last over of the day. I spoke to Peter purely about why he failed to execute the shot," he explained.

"Shippy meanwhile got into his ear about the pressure of the situation and why he had to try get through to stumps.

"So that is difference in head coach and batting coach. If both give opinions about execution or decision-making, chances are they will be different and that's going to muddle the player's mind."

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Another significant change due to the shift in coaching structure is the fact that head coaches can still be efficient at performing their roles despite not playing at the highest level of cricket. Currently, Trevor Bayliss (England), Mike Hesson (New Zealand), Graeme Ford (Sri Lanka) and Russell Domingo (South Africa) are at the top of the hierarchy despite not having played a Test match between them.

The role of the head mentor then becomes more closely affiliated with man management, and creating the best environment in which the players can perform to their maximum potential.

"(Coaches) are not trying to climb the ladder as much now," Woodhill said. "(Head coaches) are trying to get information around them and building a team around them.

"Look at Trevor Bayliss for example, he surrounds himself with cricketers that can provide very good information. Paul Farbrace, Paul Collingwood, Ottis Gibson, Mark Ramprakash – he always has guys who can help him out with something he may not know so that way he provides that relaxed feel."

Having coached in the IPL for the past eight seasons, Woodhill can relate to pressure coaches can feel when they have not played cricket at the highest level.

"When I first started in the IPL I was nervous around players such as (AB) de Villiers or (Virender) Sehwag.

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"(But) it’s almost (as if) the higher up the food chain I went, the more I realised the players are more interested in how I can help, not what I did (previously).

"And when they sit down with me they are not trying to figure out what I did as a player, or dealing with a perceived ego, and that makes them relax.”

According to Woodhill, coaches that have played at the highest level are often likely to initially look to provide solutions based on their own experiences rather than attempting to understand issues that may be unique to individuals.

But on the flipside, Woodhill also acknowledges how sometimes those experiences can provide a perfect example for a player struggling with a mental or technical issue.

"And this comes back to the horizontal coaching," he added. "If you have a collective unit, as most the teams do now, you are less likely to get stuck (without an option), and that is the evolution of coaching."