Laying down new markers

For the final three years of his term as Australia's coach John Buchanan felt his main role was setting out markers for training and collecting them when it was over. Six months after his final engagement with the team at the World Cup he can't even do that.

Buchanan is at the Gabba, his right arm in a sling, as he prepares to manage an orientation-to-coaching programme that forms part of his new but familiar life. There will be no lucrative overseas posting as a reward for his groundbreaking global achievements, which ended after his second World Cup success. Instead his hands are wrapped firmly around the task of helping coaches and children, although the same grip does not always apply to his bike handlebars.

The previous week he took a corner too fast while cycling and his elbow and ribs thudded into the ground, cracking with the impact. While it makes him grimace at times, the pain does not stop him from gliding between groups of adults as they complete skill drills designed to give children an interest in cricket.

Watching novices fail to complete basic activities is an immeasurable change from fine-tuning the world's finest squad, but Buchanan is comfortable with the intensity drop. He decided after the Ashes loss in 2005 that he would exit at the 2007 World Cup and doesn't regret stepping down.

"I sat up initially and watched a Twenty20 game in South Africa," he says. "It was to get a bit of a feeling for the game and also to assess did I really want to be there. The answer was clearly no." He had been in charge for more than seven years.

Back at home in Brisbane he has accepted assignments that range from speaking to corporate groups, writing a book that is due for release soon, and being an ambassador for Cricket Coaches Australia and the Australian Sports Commission. They are more relaxed roles and Buchanan is moving more easily without international stress. As he works with the ungainly group he laughs freely, instigates banter and shouts encouragement like it was his gang. It is a different face to the serious one that turned up to deflect questions after Australia's poor days.

Buchanan believes he is returning to anonymity, where he will be able to focus on the kind of programmes that helped him step towards state coaching and, eventually, the national job in 1999. "When I started I was John Who and I guess I'll be John Who again," he says. Like his comment about being the man who merely put out markers, he is underplaying his achievements.

Of course everyone knows he was working with players who were already exceptional, but his unorthodoxy pushed them to levels that were previously unattainable. Australia won 77% of Tests under Buchanan and the record may develop into a coach's version of Bradman's batting average.

Buchanan could travel anywhere and spread his sometimes convoluted words to other nations, but has chosen to give back to the game that allowed his methods a chance. Educating and training coaches, from those in the community to the high-performance managers in all sports, are some of his new goals. Helping children become more active is another.

"I'm a very firm believer in the business of providing kids with an active and fun-filled environment," he says. "Our social organisation at the moment means kids are less exposed to physical activity than when I was growing up. There's a decline in physical education provision in primary schools. Coaching and coaching activities can play a significant role in children's development." Some of his former internationals were prone to teenage outbursts, but swapping elite athletes for more genuine babies is a noble act for such a qualified practitioner.

Until his arm heals Buchanan won't be able to be hands-on and his managing duties will be similar to his role with Australia. Telling Ricky Ponting to tighten his grip on the bat wasn't his specialty; challenging his players to find ways to improve individually and as a team was. Now the same techniques will be used in his growing business of coaching coaches.