da dobrowin： The son of the man regarded by many as the finest batsman the WestIndies has ever produced is lamenting the way Caribbean players arebeing coached these days
da winzada777： Haydn Gill29-Apr-2001The son of the man regarded by many as the finest batsman the WestIndies has ever produced is lamenting the way Caribbean players arebeing coached these days.Ron Headley, off-spring of the late great George Headley, is adamantthat modern West Indian coaching methods follow too much text-bookfashion.I can see that the players have the ability, but they are notexpressing themselves because of the stereo-type coaching that my dadwould always have been against, Headley said after the unveiling of astatue of George Headley at Sabina Park on Friday.He never coached me. He guided me. I held the bat wrong, but it wassuccessful for me, said Headley, who played two Test matches for theWest Indies on the 1973 tour of England.My dad was always a great believer in allowing natural ability toflow.The younger Headley pointed out that his father also did a few thingsthat were not considered orthodox. Yet, as a feared No. 3 batsman, hesmashed ten hundreds in only 22 Tests in which he scored 2 190 runsand averaged 60.83, the highest by any West Indian with more than 2000Test runs.My old man had a two-eyed stance and he shuffled, said the youngerHeadley, who has been resident in England for several years.When the bowler was running up to bowl, he could see all the stumps.By the time he let the ball go, you couldn’t see anything. He was onthe move. That was his way. That was his natural way and you must dothings naturally, within the context of your ability.Ron Headley, a qualified coach for several years, scored more than 21695 first-class runs and 32 hundreds, most of which were made in theEnglish county championships for either Worcestershire or Derbyshire.Much of what he is saying was written in a five-page letter to theWest Indies Cricket Board almost five years ago.The 61-year-old Headley, whose son Dean represented England in Testcricket up until recently, also believes that regional authorities arenot utilising the best available resources as they seek to improve theWest Indies’ recent fortunes.We need to have coaches who are able to impart the game, to bring thebest out of each player’s natural ability. That is obviously nothappening, he said.Rohan Kanhai’s knowledge of the game is immense. We’ve got theabilities and people with those abilities aren’t being used.Headley, too, would relish the opportunity to work with current WestIndian players.I would love to have a session with some of these guys. It’s all aboutgiving the guys the confidence and looking and seeing whateverweaknesses they are, he said.I say to people that as a coach I can’t do anything for the players. Ican’t go out and bat for them and field for them. They are the onesthat have got to go out and do it.Headley also referred to the success Australia gained in recent yearsand pointed to differences in style.I love West Indies’ cricket it is not a loose statement but it needsto recognise there is a problem, he said.Until we recognise it and accept it, we are not going to solveanything. Look at all the Australians, they all bat differently. Lookat our players, they all bat the same, apart from (Brian) Lara.Somebody is doing something to them which is not natural to them.Headley added that he hoped the Headley legacy could be expanded.One day, I hope, maybe stemming from this we may see a George HeadleyAcademy right here in Jamaica and a foundation that can pick upyoungsters and give them the right coaching guidance so we can startto begin to produce, he said.
