Oh, to be a top-level sports coach in South Africa… When the team wins, it’s due to the great players. When they lose, it’s the coach’s fault.
But in some team sports such as rugby and soccer, the coach plays a huge role. He decides on the tactics to be utilised, and picks the team (selectors are normally just sounding boards).
That is why Allister Coetzee and Shakes Mashaba have come under considerable fire for the poor form of the Springboks and Bafana Bafana this year. A lot of the decisions taken by the likes of Coetzee and Mashaba are subjective – they may prefer a certain style of player (such as the physical and direct Willem Alberts) to carry out a particular game plan, and pick accordingly.
The sport of cricket, though, is quite different in that sense. Shane Warne famously said that the only coach a cricket team needs is the one that drives the players to the ground as he criticised Australian mentor John Buchanan after being dropped for an Ashes Test, and although flippant, one can understand where Warne is coming from.
Cricket is the one team sport that is more of an individual pursuit compared to others. It’s ultimately a battle between the batsman and the bowler. Of course, field placings are discussed and worked out, and strategies are implemented to get a particular batsman out.
But especially when it comes to selecting teams, cricket is largely based on facts and stats rather than choosing a particular batsman because he has the best-looking cover drive or a spinner because he gets the most turn.
That is why the current spat between coach Paul Adams and the Cape Cobras players is so strange and mysterious. As has been reported in the media, it is understood that topping the players’ list of grievances is that Adams is not technically and tactically adept, and that he lacks the man-management skills to take the team to the next level.
Adams was appointed as Cobras coach in June 2012 at the age of 35, having previously coached the Western Province semi-professional team, as well as been an assistant at the SA A and Impi franchise sides.
The former Proteas spinner tasted immediate success, sharing the 1-Day Cup title with the Lions and then the Titans in the following season (due to rain on both occasions), and winning the Sunfoil Series outright two years in a row.
Then Adams guided the Cobras to the lucrative Ram Slam T20 trophy in the 2014/15 season, which saw the Cape side qualify for the T20 Champions League, after being losing finalists in the Ram Slam the previous season too, while they lost in the semi-final last season.
The 2015/16 campaign was the first one without a championship for the Cobras under Adams. They came close, though, as they lost the 1-Day Cup final at Newlands against the Highveld Lions, which was their fifth consecutive appearance in the showpiece match.
In addition, as the Cobras pointed out in a press release on Thursday, Adams has helped a number of players become Proteas players under his watch – Rory Kleinveldt, Dane Piedt, Dane Vilas, Stiaan van Zyl and Beuran Hendricks are among them – while Wayne Parnell was brought back into the national team this year after blossoming since arriving at the Cobras last season.
So, having won titles across all three formats and developed international cricketers, how can Adams be considered as not technically and tactically adept?
A lot of the 39-year-old’s issues with regards to results last season related to a lack of quality top-order batsmen who scored runs. Wicket-keeper Vilas was the Cape team’s top run-getter in the four-day competition, and ended second on the national list with 761 in 13 innings (69.18 average), behind opener Heino Kuhn of the Titans on a mammoth 1 126 in 20 visits to the crease (62.55 average).
Next best Cobras batsman was four-day captain Omphile Ramela with 592 runs in 14 innings at an average of 42.28, while veteran Justin Ontong was in a similar range with 527 (average: 37.64). So, when you have just two of your regular top-six batsmen (one of whom is your wicket-keeper) with an average of above 40, you are bound to struggle.
The likes of Van Zyl, Andrew Puttick, Simon Khomari and Keegan Petersen all didn’t get going last season in first-class cricket, which played a big role in the Cobras winning just three out of 10 games, with five defeats and two draws.
And we are not even mentioning the absence of Proteas stars such as Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn and Dane Piedt for most of the season.
All of these factors resulted in the Cobras board awarding Adams a new two-year contract at the end of last season, and he completed a “value-based leadership course” during the winter to continue his growth as a manager and coach.
Now, following a board meeting on Thursday night, where a report from “mediator” Paddy Upton was presented, the board decided to delay their decision until they speak to Adams and the contracted players on Monday.
While the facts of the matter will only be revealed at a later stage, Adams’ record speaks for itself. And he is known to be an approachable person with an open-minded personality, which would count in his favour if one was to assess his man-management skills.
We’ll have to wait and see what the outcome is on Monday, but is this perhaps an under-handed attempt to get rid of Adams for whatever reason to pave the way for someone else to take over?
What makes the row even more peculiar is that both Adams and limited-overs captain Ontong have said that the players who recently came forward with grievances never mentioned it to either of them during the season.
The most telling line came from Ontong this week when he told The Times: “As a captain, I’m disappointed. None of the players came to me saying they were unhappy with the coach.
“We had a bad season, but it’s also about players taking responsibility for their own performances – we all didn’t perform very well. You can’t just pass the buck and say the coach was to blame.”
There has been a long history of player power in local sport. We’ve seen it at the Springboks and the Golden Lions, and now it appears to have arrived at the Cobras. While the players are valuable assets, they cannot be allowed to hold unions and coaches to ransom.
South African sport would be on a slippery slope if the players can get a coach fired, even when the results indicate otherwise.
@ashfakmohamed