The ‘Whatmore effect’ which changed Kerala cricket’s fortunes

Undoubtedly, one of the decisive factors in propelling Kerala into the Ranji Trophy semifinals for the first time, 61 years after the state started playing in the prestigious domestic tournament, is David Frederick Whatmore, one of cricket's most acclaimed coaches. Whatmore, who took over as Kerala’s coach last year, made an instant impact and guided the team to quarterfinals for the first time in history. This season too Kerala have continued to produce results under him and taken a step further by reaching the last-four stage.

Kerala captain Sachin Baby throws light on the Aussie guru’s coaching mantra and how he managed to turn a struggling team into a winning unit with purpose, passion and pride.

Captain's take

More than being overwhelmed, we were a bit apprehensive about the appointment of the legendary Dav Whatmore as our new coach. Most of the foreign coaches I met during my Indian Premier League stint were curiously reclusive. Language too was a barrier for them to communicate openly and have discussions with players. I had similar concerns about our new coach as well. But immediately after taking charge, with his approach and coaching methods he proved such speculations were totally unwarranted. And there began the ‘Whatmore impact’ on Kerala cricket.

My first meeting with him was at the SRMC ground in Chennai where our preparatory camp was held. He came across as an extremely genuine and friendly person. Before we could introduce ourselves to him, he came to each player in the team and greeted us saying his full name. A brief personal introduction followed, which he listened with the utmost attention and consideration. It made a huge impact, for the players recognised the coach as one of them.

Apart from giving valuable coaching tips, he was also silently instilling good manners and basic etiquettes in us. There was an incident which had a positive impact on me. During our training sessions, we used to throw bottles carelessly on the field itself after drinking water. Dav would pick the empty bottles lying scattered across the field and put them in the garbage bin on the sidelines. It led us to change our behavior as we felt bad about ourselves upon seeing him doing that.

One great thing about Dav is that he did not try to shake up the team’s shape and strategy or the training regime. He did not force any player to change his technique. He is not someone who lays emphasis on technical aspects of the game. He encourages players to play their natural game by creating an environment where we can express ourselves. He makes us work really hard to improve our skills and perform to our best ability. During training sessions, he could be seen putting more efforts than the players to get the best out of them.

Before every match, he would study strengths and weaknesses of opponents and present it at team meetings. He would tell us in detail about the players we should be wary of, their past performances and playing techniques, often with the assistance of video clippings. He would also come up with tactics and ideas to counter them.

Dav always gives us full freedom to air our opinion while deciding the team combination and batting order. He is open to change and ready to accept suggestions, if found valid and reasonable. That was how Vinoop Manoharan was promoted to the opening position in the last couple of matches. Dav is always particular about assigning key positions to new players. Importantly, all his tactical masterstrokes have clicked and yielded results.

He has never chided me for making wrong decisions as captain. I have never seen him deflect blame for losses onto the players. We don’t sit down for a postmortem after matches. If we perform poorly, he would ask us to leave it behind and concentrate on the next match.

There were some issues within the team ahead of the ongoing season. When Dav joined the squad, he asked us to forget everything that happened in the past and focus on the game. He convened a special team meeting after we lost to Hyderabad and Delhi in the Vijay Hazare one-day tournament. In an emotional and powerful speech, he reminded us of our abilities and reenergised us, which reflected in our performance in the entire season.

To put it in a nutshell, the ‘Whatmore effect’ and the stance adopted by Kerala Cricket Association were crucial in making the team work as a cohesive unit with a hunger to win.

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