John Buchanan: Buchanan thinks globally and acts laterally

John Buchanan
Author:  Sharon Phillips
Issue: Volume 28 Number 1

What can an elite cricket team learn from reciting poetry, practising Pilates and reading books with titles such as Who Moved My Cheese? Plenty, according to the Australian national cricket coach, aka 'performance manager', John Buchanan.

In the world of high stakes, competitive international cricket, Buchanan makes no excuses for seeking out any way to gain an edge for the team.

And if that means taking players outside their comfort zones so that they can approach situations from a completely different angle, then he will do it.

'With the poetry I had members of the team research topics and then present them in the dressing room in various ways, either through poetry or rhymes,' Buchanan explains from his hotel room in Auckland - the team's base while it compete in the one-day series against New Zealand.

'The dressing room is a very symbolic place. It is traditionally a comfort zone for the players.

'I wanted to challenge the notions of that comfort zone, but to do so in a familiar environment within the confines of the team.'

Buchanan says Pilates was introduced to help players better understand body movement, while the book Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson (2003, Putnam Publishing Group, New York) uses an analogy of mice in a maze to help people recognise and cope with change.

Buchanan says that when he introduces such activities he hopes that players choose to participate. 'I couldn't force people to do things. Individuals will make up their own minds.'

But he reveals that the key to the success of such an approach is fostering a degree of trust between himself and the players.

Buchanan also admits that the cultivation of that burgeoning trust took a bit of a battering in the early days of his coaching tenure - ironically, during his first New Zealand trip with the team.

'We were in Dunedin and I noticed that there was an albatross rookery nearby. In New Zealand they tell you that everything is only 20 minutes away, so I thought this would be a good thing to do with the team.

'Of course, it was a lot further away than that. We had two buses for the players and about half way into the trip I had a rebellion on my hands. We pulled over and decided that those who wanted to continue could come with me on one bus and the others could take the second bus back to the hotel.

'Unfortunately, when we got to the rookery it was closed for the season. I tried to impress the players who had stayed with me with the views of sea lions and seagulls, but it wasn't quite the same,' he says wryly.

In spite of that early setback, Buchanan continued to forge relationships with each individual on the side, and to offer new opportunities and challenges to the team as a whole, including on and off-field.

It did not hurt that from day one the team continued to notch up amazing statistics under Buchanan's tutelage. Since 2000, Australia has had less than ten defeats in the 60 Tests it has played, has not lost a home series and has defeated each Test nation on its home soil at least once.

Buchanan has been variously described as 'meticulous', 'a man possessed of great vision', 'an innovator', a 'technophile' and a man with 'finely honed man-management skills'.

But the former TAFE teacher of 'life skills' (that's just a fancy way of saying extended physical education, he says) denies that his is the definitive voice in coaching.

'I have never seen myself as an expert,' he says. 'I have knowledge of a few things, but not as much as a lot of people out there. It would be foolish for me to suggest I'm the fount [of all knowledge] because I'm not.'

As for the many people both here and overseas who offer comment and suggestions on match results and the development of the team, Buchanan says it depends on how informed the comment is, but he tries not to be instantly dismissive.

'A lot of people have the team's best interest at heart and it is important to listen, to weigh up what they say and not to immediately dismiss them - they may provide a valuable insight.'

It is this philosophy of continuous improvement that has seen Buchanan issue feedback sheets to players on which they can make comment on what he does.

He also regularly brings in experts from other fields to talk to the players. These have included premier rugby league coach Wayne Bennett, tennis player Lleyton Hewitt, Australian swimmers and Edward de Bono, the world's pre-eminent teacher of 'lateral thinking', a man who Buchanan has said has helped him to 'come at situations from a completely different perception'.

Among them is the notion that cricketers can only play from one side of their body.

Buchanan envisions a day when players will be able to throw, bowl and bat equally well with either arm. He sees a time when baseball-style signals are introduced to help communication between team-mates.

'This is a challenge for the future,' he says. 'I don't think it will happen in my time as Australian coach. It is too late with our guys, but we need to be looking at how we play the game differently. We need to be thinking about the idea of the athlete cricketer.

'In the Lees, Symonds and Bichels we are seeing the beginning of a new cricket athlete.

'We need to be going around the schools, searching for that capability. Tim Neilsen (former Australian assistant coach) is now Head Coach at the Centre of Excellence and he'll be pushing those questions out there too.'

In encouraging players to take 'the road less travelled', Buchanan says he is attempting to ensure that every player becomes their own best coach, understanding their strengths and weaknesses and clearly understanding their own style of play.

'They need to be mentally fresh and sharp, which enables them to make good decisions. They need to have a game plan for the opposition or for the conditions. My role is to listen and to balance the needs of training for skills versus their recovery. They're the ones who make the decisions on the field.'

Buchanan says this is particularly true of the captain, who has a unique role in cricket. 'When you think about other sports such as football or basketball, the captain is immersed in the game. The coach sits above that and makes calls, player changes and strategic decisions.

'These are also shorter games. Imagine how those roles would be if they played for seven hours, stopping after every ball and for drinks, or over five days and including teas and lunch.

'With cricket, the captain is immersed for an average of 1.5 seconds on play, then the ball is dead, and they can reassess and control the flow. They are, in effect, playing coaches.

'The coach's role in cricket is to provide other input at points such as breaks in play. The coach is an observer and plays a complementary role.

'Twenty years ago we didn't have coaching in place in this sport, so in that sense it is very much evolving.'

Buchanan says that establishing an effective working relationship between coach and captain is integral to the model's success. 'That doesn't mean you always agree, but it does mean that you respect each other's roles.'

When John Buchanan first stood before the Australian cricket team at his First Test in Brisbane six years ago, he took players through his vision for the future.

He said the team had played well, but could play better. He challenged the players to look at other teams, such as the 1948 Invincibles, and then to think about how they could make their own mark. He asked all the players to understand their place in history and to think about the past and the present, and to imagine what the future could be.

Now, six years later, as the team looks to the 2007 World Cup, he is again asking the players to re-examine and reinvent themselves.

'The danger is that a kind of malaise sets in. The players are mentally jaded at the moment. They've played a lot of cricket and it is important that the mental decision-making and the communication among bowlers, batsmen and captain is sharp.

'We need to constantly reassess everything, from technical to physical and from mental to tactical.

'One of the areas we'll be concentrating on is running between wickets. We've started talking about it and sensitising people to it, but the team really only comes together at a time when there is an international series on. These new concepts need to drip feed, bubble and ferment their way into what we do.

'We don't want to confuse or complicate things.'

And will Buchanan be there to help stir the brew? After all, his contract with the Australian Cricket Board expires in 2005.

'I still want to be involved and would like to remain with the team until the World Cup. We've developed a blueprint on a whole range of issues leading up to the competition and I'd like to see those things fulfilled.'


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