R Dwight: Roys's appointment as cricket coach (27 May 1998)

27 May 1998

Roys's appointment as cricket coach

by Richard Dwight

Amidst the encircling gloom in the wake of our cricket debacle at the hands of the South Africans - The appointment of Roy Dias as coach, is indeed refreshingly heartening and reassuring in the main.

His selection to this most coveted and now prestigious post, will we are sure be hailed by the many followers, who have an inordinate fondness for the game here. Most, if not all of us know, that as a cricketer he was the pride and boast of St. Peter's. With his entertaining superb batsmanship he was a dominant factor during the school cricket season - School Cricket then, held centre stage and was regarded glamorous, with crowd thronging to witness matches.

This was an inspiration, giving players a sense of importance and lifting as well, the stature of those encounters. On the club and international level, he proved to be a brilliant scintillating batsman and fielder. When well into his stride, his characteristic flair for pouncing on the ball and driving through extra cover, cover or even square cutting, had a touch of West Indian class and flourish. His valiant contributions out there in the middle, in the name and cause of country is history now.

Roy with steadiness of main, given to sober, disciplined unassuming ways, is probably striving to find fulfilment in giving back to cricket, what he received in good measure, by making coaching his career. We have laboured on his traits and qualities, in order to impress on the discerning that he has the necessary credentials, to fit into the position he now holds. One must not however, run away with the idea that the country suffers from a want of accomplished, accredited gentlemen, to perform such functions so as to enhance our image and stature, especially abroad.

There are quite a few such men, but sadly these men for reasons of their own, would like to be left alone and away from it all. Alas what a pity. Undoubtedly, in the circumstances Roy is the best we have amongst those who wish to be associated, within the prevailing cricket scenario. May we say something further here, and that is, though we are no longer an infant test cricket playing nation, we are still a teenager, requiring guidance and expertise in order to ensure that we retain the world cup at the next competition in the year 2000.

The answer to this lies in our obtaining an internationally reputed, seasoned foreign coach. Not just another ordinary, average coach from abroad, but a widely accepted one, to work along with the local coach here. It's certainly not going to be easy to find a good coach from abroad. Particularly, in the light of the created environment, leading to the abrogation of the contract before the period of expiry by the former two coaches.

Roy, though not an immediate contemporary and colleague of his charges, is a Sri Lankan. And there will therefore, be the temptation to adopt the 'Hey fellow well met chum approach,' which we believe, he will be quick enough to recognise, be wary of and guard against. Needless to say, he will do well, to sort out and find for himself the happy mix of being close and yet aloof from the team, to be with the side and not of it.

This we do believe, will be the acid test for our new coach. Familiarity they say breeds contempt and, if he is to command the respect, regard and the undivided attention of those who come under him - Then he must earn it more by example than by percept, with discipline and sobriety being the watchwords. Compromising in any form will more often than not lead to embarrassment and mess things up. Roy has gone on record of having said "Don't expect results overnight." He was here stating the pretty obvious, for as the new coach no one expects him to perform wonders immediately. Even if he felt that way, he shouldn't have voiced it. Especially at a time when our cricket is down. Rather than being negative, he should have said something more positive like, Dont worry we'll bounce back. There is nothing serious about this, we guess he must have made a passing reference, from the point of conversation.

What is urgently now required is to whip up enthusiasm and motivate our players to believe in themselves, just the way they did and were rearing to go, prior to the 1996 World Cup.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)