CCA -U14 INDIA TOUR COACH REPORT - 2012

Report of under 14 CCA India tour

Prepared By – Amit Buch, Coach

Date – 01/24/2013

To,

The president,

CCA,

First of all I thank CCA a lot for the opportunity given to me for managing the CCA boys’ tour to India in the month of December. It was a hectic schedule as always happens. We played 8 matches in span of 14 days, which can be very tiring for under 14 boys and there can be injuries and fatigued players and the end result can be, adverse and affect the result of the games they play. Luckily, I would say luckily, there were no major injuries, there was fatigue, affected and seen in the players, in the midway of the tour but they moved on very bravely, fought it out and we came up with a very encouraging result of the tour, winning 5 out of 8 games, which has happened first time in the history of CCA touring India. Full credit goes to the boys as they fought it out in almost all the games. I am sure that this result will not only encourage them to play cricket more positively but they have learned a lot about other cricketing aspects like the wickets in india, the way the other teams play, how to accommodate in the indian condition(weather), how to deal with the officials during the match, stay as a team, sharing almost everything with others, lots of things they must have learnt. So I believe, it must have been a very good learning experience for them. The boys were very disciplined off the field and most of the times, on the field also.

At this point, it will be totally unfair if I do not quote my very good friend and our team manager Mr. Rahul sharma, who did a tremendous job on the tour, not only took care of boys but he was all help to me and I am not hesitated to say that without him it would have been very difficult for me to handle the entire tour. He was a great help, off the field and on the field, very dedicated towards the game, very very neutral when asked about any cricketing things, very encouraging for the boys during hard times. I do not have enough words to appreciate him but if I describe in one sentence, I can say that I was very fortunate to have him as a manager of the team. In fact I have been lucky in the same way even in the past when Mr. Satsheel Altekar toured India as a manager of CCA team.  I should not forget all the parents or the grandparents, who boost the morale of the boys by coming to almost all the matches and helping them and us by bringing food and other beverages for them and special thanks to avinash and sankhya, who helped us in scoring and many other things. I am saying this because when U14 boys are on the tour, you need lot of help in different things.  They were very positive and neutral even though their kids were playing. I know that as parents, how difficult it is.

GENERAL TOUR ANALYSIS:

Coming to the cricketing talks and technical aspects of the game, I would say that it was a successful tour for CCA and the boys and I am happy about it but still there is lot of scope for improvement, I believe. We were winners in majority of the games but we could have played as a champion team as we had the best batting line up comparing to all the opponents. We were relying more on individual performances then team performance. First of all I would say that we did not have a balanced team. What I mean to say is, we did not have a balanced pace attack. We were lacing in that. Out of 65 wickets fell in 8 matches of the opposite team, only 6 wickets were taken by pace bowlers. Luckily we had a good spin attack in form of akhil, mohak,parth and vivek. Gauranshu also cheeped in with a wicket. But even though we had a good batting line up, we were needed to perform consistently, which did not happen. I can understand that we were playing almost consistently so some time boys were tired but we need to improve the concentration and focus level of the boys. 

 BATTING:

Over all the batting was OK. We batted in patches as it was not consistent. What I mean to say that if we have our opening batsman going at no.5, 6, or 7 due to our rotation policy, then we should have pile up more runs when we were batting first or when we batted second as we were chasing the score, if couple of our main batsman would have played with more concentration and willing to stay on the wicket, we could have put better performance in all the matches as I do believe that we are definitely much better batting side then what we scored in almost all the matches. Now for that our kids require more concentration, focus, dedication and they should be more prepared for the tour before coming  to India they need to practice regularly and at the same time they need to understand their role in the team also. I understand that because of weather conditions we could not practice much but we have the Indore facility for practice. When we are touring somewhere else like India or may be any other country, management, parents and Local coaches should take care of all these things.  The other important thing is, sometime, we are depending heavily on couple of batsman and we start believing that they will do all the things. But this is a team game, everybody has to contribute and everybody has to play their part. There is no point that after failing in the match, we start blaming the wickets in India, umpires or the busy schedule.  My thinking is very simple, instead of going deep in statistics, if we look at the overall performance, then we can see that when we scored around 180 runs in a match, we were in a driver’s seat.  So what I mean to say is, for scoring 180 or 200 runs, first five to six batsmen have to contribute. That is what I expect from the boys and that did not happen consistently for the above said reasons.  We need to be consistent and for that if we want to play good cricket, we need to practice more purposefully, with certain targets in our mind.

BOWLING & FIELDING:

Our BOWLING dept. was weak as far as pace attack is concerned. Our pace bowlers took 6 wickets in 8 matches giving away 360 runs with an average of 60 runs per wicket. And pace bowlers gave away 79 extras in form of wides and NO balls. They bowled 64 overs. Average runs given per over are 5.62 .   You can understand what I mean to say. Boys need to understand that they are playing on different wickets and that’s why they need to bowl in the right areas and correct their basics. That is why when I come there, I insist more on basic skill improvement. It is unfortunate that in California we do not have turf wickets but that is why they need to learn to play on different tracks. They need to be more discipline in line and length. And when they will be able to do that? When they correct their basics. It is a long term process and that is why they have to practice regularly and more purposefully. It is the duty of overseas coach and the local coach to teach them the correct basic and see to it that they do it regularly, round the year. If they do it regularly, you will see the difference after 6 months. Once they are use to it then they will improve fast.

ON THE OTHER HAND, our spinners were almost up to the mark. They bowled well and because of that we could produce good result in almost all the matches.  Again I would like to comment that They were not accurate as they also bowled 85 wides and NO balls but took 58 wickets in 197 overs given away 633 runs with an average of 3.21 per over and gave away 10.91 runs per wicket. You can see the difference and judge, what we need to do. They are good in taking wickets but they also need to bowl in right areas and one day cricket is all about restrict runs and taking wickets. They took wickets but they also need to check the flow of runs by not bowling wides. If spinners bowls wide, it is criminal. They should have more control. They also need to do their basic right. I know it is very difficult as in California they practice only in the weekends but on the other end, they play lots of matches so local coaches will have to take care of constantly telling them to bowl correctly. What I mean to say by basics is they need to stick to their basic action and what they are good at. You cannot experiment in the matches and you need to understand the nature of the wickets on which you are playing and against whom you are playing.  They need to be very patient as spinners should be ready to get hit by the batsman.  They need to bowl one line in one day games. Do not distract by action from the batsman or from the outside pressure, in short they have to be very patient. Here the question of captaincy also comes. A spinner should have a good field set by his captain. Which was some time lacing and I do not find fault of the captain because when you are playing friendly games or when you are practicing and you are doing some kind of open nets, coach comes in to play.  Coach is not only there to teach the batting or the bowling skills but at the same time he should be able to tell about the match tactics fielding placements and also the bowling changes. And the most important part to play for the coach is to make the captain neutral and balanced with all the players in the team.

FIELDING was good this time, as specially the ground fielding. The ground fielding was very good in almost all the matches and wicket keeping also was good. NANDAN did a good job behind the wickets. Maulin was not up to the mark in keeping as I was told that since last couple of months he was not in the practice. CATCHING was not up to the mark as we drooped quite a few catches in the outfield so we need to be careful in that department. Again the question of regular practice comes.   Still we can improve in this dept. if we plan some more fielding sessions during the season.

FITNESS needs to be improved. Boys are talented and they are good in skills but they need to practice regularly and even when there is no professional coach, the local coach should take the fitness sessions and it is the responsibility of the boys also that they should do some fitness on their own. As specially when they know that they are going to tour  to India or anywhere. It is a question of self-awareness . 

I hope that this analysis will help to improve cricket in CCA. I have no doubts that we have so much of talent and talented boys but we need to be organised more and involve our self-more and if we do that, which we all can easily do that if we want, then I am very optimistic that we will improve and enjoy more. When I was there and the tour was not on the cards, once I told hemant buch that we can do very well in U.14/15 category. So we have a talent and many of our boys can play cricket in USA at highest level but we need to nourish them right from the beginning. This is the right time to teach them the cricketing discipline on the field and also of the field. I am very nhappy that they have done well but I am sure and I want them to do even better and play like a champion.  AT THIS POINT, I WOULD LIKE TO ADD THAT THIS TIME I HAVE NOT GIVEN REPORT ON INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS. I CAN GIVE YOU IF YOU WANT BUT IT IS OF USE ONLY WHEN SOMEBODY IS READY TO WORK ON THAT. AND THIS WAS A TOUR WHERE WE PLAYED MATCHES AND WE COULD NOT ARRANGE ANY SKILL DEVLOPMENT SESSION DUE TO TIME CONSTRAIN. EVEN THOUGH IF ANY BODY HAS ANY QUESTION REGARDING WHAT TO DO NEXT, THEY CAN MAIL ME AND I WILL EXPLAIN THEM IN DETAILS. AND IF CCA WANTS INDIVIDUAL REPORT, I CAN GIVE THEM OF ALL INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS.

    GOOD LUCK TO ALL.

Thanking you all the parents and CCA

AMIT BUCH (COACH- CCA)