For the classes, not the masses

If Better is Possible by John Buchanan
(Hardie Grant Books, 239pp) A$35

If John Buchanan was a North American he would be celebrated as a sporting guru and his catchphrases would be commonplace. Instead he is an Australian who is under-appreciated in a culture that values doing. In the country's macho team games it's not hip to be a nerdy, hands-off, planning-focused coach, especially if you failed as an athlete.

After seven years as Australia's mentor Buchanan was unable to win respect from some elements in the cricket establishment, and one figure close to the national set-up still sums him up by the Ned Flanders-style moustache, even though it went three years ago. Buchanan may not have been able to change perceptions of himself, but he has achieved something much bigger in altering the way cricket views the managing of teams.

If Better is Possible is his manifesto and it will be absorbed by coaches, corporates and players desperate to understand his world-leading approach. It will probably be ignored by the masses as being too dry, though small chapters have been used to try and overcome the problem - most are about five pages. They range in topics from "culture of success" to "John who?" and "mental toughness", and carry snippets about the side and about the broader philosophies behind the success of Buchanan and his teams.

While he admires the way Duncan Fletcher prepared for the 2005 Ashes, Buchanan does not, like his former opponent, dump on players in his book. Buchanan cared - and cares - about them too much to coach-and-tell, even when it comes to Shane Warne, a regular and at times vitriolic critic.

The most damaging Buchanan gets is in writing two paragraphs about Warne's 2003 drugs ban, which is only enough to excite a tabloid paper. The rest is spent analysing what made him such a wonderful bowler. Perhaps the only thing that would make any of the players uncomfortable is the revelation that Adam Gilchrist and Shane Watson don't mind a good cry, but he uses their tears to justify why men need more emotion in their lives.

The greatest example of the detail in Buchanan's work is his outline for the 2007 World Cup. He wanted Australia to be "the best-skilled team the world has ever seen". Not only did he demand new standards in bowling, defensive fielding and professionalism, he wanted the most athletic side and a "full expression" batting approach.

In bullet points, he wrote that bowlers had to average 55% of dot-balls during a game, develop signals for particular deliveries, and try to force the opposing batsmen to run around them during their follow-throughs. Runs needed to be scored from 60% of the opportunities, while each player had to improve his personal bests in speed, agility and power tests. Everything had to be organised before the World Cup.

"We certainly didn't achieve all our aims and goals - but we were always driving towards them," Buchanan said. In the lead-up to the tournament, the Chappell-Hadlee and CB Series were lost and injuries to Brett Lee and Andrew Symonds reduced the skill level in the Caribbean, where the team was nevertheless undefeated. However, the document was devised shortly after the Ashes were lost in 2005, showing Buchanan's expertise in development and foresight.

Buzzwords are essential to his teaching and sections from Sun Tzu's The Art of War are used as often as lists. Secretly he would hope his phrases - "Understand your strengths and use them as often as possible. But also understand that to have them as your only means leaves you vulnerable to defeat." - will be quoted by the robot mentors that look after teams thousands of years hence. In his era the sayings never caught on, unlike his coaching methods.