In Cricket or even other sports we have mostly seen that the successful players don’t eventually turn out to be successful coaches.This is mainly because of lack of man management skills and experience of coaching at the junior level. Playing and Coaching are two completely different things. Legends like Waqar Younus who had a disappointing stint as a coach of Pakistan and Anil Kumble whose team Punjab Kings had been unable to make into playoffs of IPL from the last 3 seasons are examples that Coaching is a different art from playing. In this article we will talk about those players who didn’t play a single international match but we’re very successful as coaches.
Trevor Bayliss – The current Director of the IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad has played for more than a decade for New South Wales but couldn’t make it to the highest level. He first coached the Sri Lankan team in 2007 for four years. Then he became coach of franchises in the different leagues. In the IPL he first became the coach of KKR and KKR won the IPL two times when he was their coach.He also coached Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League. Sydney Sixers also won the BBL under his guidance. In 2015 he became the coach of England. England won their first World Cup in 2019 when he was their coach. But after the 2019 Ashes where England couldn’t win on their home turf,Trevor resigned as the head coach. He then became coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.
Graham Ford – The batter from South Africa who represented Natal B in domestic cricket had a disappointing career as a cricketer. He turned to coaching at the young age of 31. He was assistant to Bob Woolmer who was the head coach of South Africa in the 1999 World Cup. He later became the head coach of South Africa. He has also coached Srilankan side two times, first in 2012 and then in 2016. In 2017 he became the head coach of the Ireland cricket team and in 2021 he stepped down from that position.In 2007 he was also offered the role of head coach of the Indian team.
Mickey Arthur – The South African batter who played more than 100 first class matches has been a coach of various international teams. He first took up the coaching role in 2005 as the coach of South Africa. In 2010 he resigned as the coach of South Africa due to differences between him and Cricket South Africa.He had a short and unsuccessful tenure as the coach of Australia. In 2016 he became the coach of Karachi Kings in PSL and then in the same year he was appointed as the head coach of the Pakistan national team. Under his tenure Pakistan lifted the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy.In 2019 after a dismal show in the World Cup he was removed. In 2020 he became the coach of the Sri Lanka National Team.
John Buchanan – The former coach of Australian National side was a player from Queensland and had a poor record as a domestic cricketer. But he became one of the most successful coaches . During the early 2000s when Australia had become almost invincible and were the ultimate team to beat he was the man behind the team. Under his regime Australia lifted the 2007 World Cup. Though many former players including Warne and Gavaskar were critical of his role, but he continued to prove his worth time and again. In 2011 he became the Director of cricket of the New Zealand team. In 2015 he resigned from the position. He also coached KKR in the IPL for 2 seasons.
Mike Hesson – The current Director of Operations of Royal Challengers Bangalore has been a professional coach for over a decade. He was an average player and didn’t play much first class cricket.First he coached Kenyan National side and then he became the head coach of the New Zealand national team. New Zealand performed exceedingly well under his tenure as they became runners up of the 2015 World Cup. New Zealand became a formidable side under his tenure. In 2018 he resigned from the post and turned to IPL. In 2019 he was a part of Kings XI Punjab management. From 2020 he joined RCB as the director of cricket operations. And in 2022 he also became the head coach of RCB. He is the longest serving coach of the New Zealand national side.
