Name Game

[DesiChap]

In Indian cricket names are certainly bigger than deeds. At least that’s the case since Greg Chappell took over from John Wright for the post of Indian coach. Now, it seems that the Board of Control for Cricket in India has succumbed to temptation again, picking an inexperienced coach like for South Africa coach Gary Kirsten over experienced names like Leicestershire’s Tim Boon or New Zealand’s Martin Crowe. On Tuesday, BCCI announced that the coach selection committee which included Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar along with other BCCI office bearers, has interviewed and selected former opener Gary Kirsten as the next Indian coach. “A offer letter has been given to Kirsten with the working conditions of the job mentioned and a two-year contract has been offered. We expect him to revert back within a week,†BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said. “Kirsten was interviewed by the coach selection panel yesterday evening. They were satisfied by the presentation made by him and we expect him to join the team before the third Test in Bangalore,†Shah said. Meanwhile, BCCI Vice-President added that the coach will be announced in the BCCI office bearers meeting to be held in Kolkata on December 2nd or 3rd. “Kirsten is almost certain to get the job but the Board wants to be careful with all the terms and conditions before making a formal announcement,†the source said. Kirsten, who turned 40 on November 23, is the second highest run-scorer for South Africa in Test cricket behind Jacques Kallis with 7289 runs from 101 Tests at an average of 45.27. He also had 6798 runs from 185 ODIs. SAME STORY After retirement in 2004, Kirsten much like many other former cricketers formed his own Cricket Academy. The academy called the ‘Gary Kirsten Cricket Academy’, a part of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa based in Cape Town. The Sports Administrator of the cricket academy, JP Jacobs, spoke about the institution. “This is basically Gary’s only job after retirement. He looks after the cricket academy here through the year, based on the different programs going on here around the year,†said Jacobs from Cape Town. “We have around 10-11 players in the age group of 18-24 a part of the academy at any point of time. They are players of various clubs in and around Cape Town,†Jacobs added. Kirsten was in Zimbabwe in June for a week-long coaching clinic with the Zimbabwe national team. He presented a powerful seminar on his own high-performance model, which he bases on his own personal experiences as a former top international. Then he conduct further batting sessions with the Zimbabwean squad for the remainder of the week before returning to South Africa this weekend. The presentation however didn’t quite impress the cricket administrators in Zimbabwe, who preferred to look beyond Kirsten. However, the same seems to have done the trick for the Indian coach selection committee. Whether his words can be converted into deeds will only be revealed if and when he takes up the responsibility as the Indian coach http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article&sectid=59&contentid=2007112820071128022924187b3b5d7cd

[praveenj]

So, we are going to be coached by someone who was turned down by Zimbabweans... great... don't really know what else selectors have up their sleeves to frustrate the cricket fans...

[Online]

give him a chance guys!

[Mr. Wicket]

So' date=' we are going to be coached by someone who was turned down by Zimbabweans...[/quote'] Doesn't say much for the Zimbabweans' taste given that they've also kicked out guys like Taibu, Blignaut, Flower and Streak.

[praveenj]

i was just wondering the number of stunners BCCI throw at us every time they take a decision.

[chanakya]

“A offer letter has been given to Kirsten with the working conditions of the job mentioned and a two-year contract has been offered. We expect him to revert back within a week,” BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said.

What if Kirsten does a Ford now?