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by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

The International Cricket Coaches' Conference (ICCC) and Seminar scheduled to take place during the ICC Champions trophy tournament in Colombo promises to offer coaches, administrators and cricketers in the Asian region what they have been lacking in contrast to their brethren in other major cricket playing nations.

The very mention of renowned names like Bob Woolmer, John Buchanan, Barry Richards, Steve Rixon and Tony Greig all pantheons of their own making, alone makes this two-day event, scheduled for September 25 and 26 at the Ceylon Intercontinental Hotel a mind-boggling affair.

Woolmer, considered by many as one of the best cricket coaches in the world will be the course director and Greig, the conference director.

What this conference hopes to achieve is to update tehe Asian coaches on the latest techniques of coaching, especially with the electronic media playing a much bigger role in technology today.

How starved coaches in this part of the world have been and how eager they are to learn can be guaged by the response ICCC chairman Thilanga Sumathipala has received so far.

Addressing the media at Ceylon Intercontinental Hotel yesterday, Sumathipala said that coaches from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, Singapore and Malaysia have confirmed their participation.

"As only a limited number can be accommodated between 80 to 100, we have restricted entry to a first-come first-serve basis. We also want to accommodate a big group of people," said conference co-ordinator Mohan de Silva.

Sumathipala said 15 coaches from Sri Lanka had confirmed and the organisers ICCC were offering the Sri Lanka Cricket Board coaches a concessionary rate on the participation fees which is Rs. 7,500 for the conference and Rs. 2,500 for the seminar.

The organisers don't expect to cover the entire cost of hosting such a star-studded conference, but they at least are hoping that the fees levied would be sufficient in covering part of it.

It costs them US$ 20,000 (approx. SLR 2million) to have the five renowned coaches appearing at this conference.

A forum of this nature for international coaches has been one area which has been overlooked in world cricket although other areas such as umpires, match referees, captains and players have been covered adequately by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The ICCC is the first ever unprecedented conference of this nature and the areas it will cover are: traditional game v new technology, advanced technology to develop techniques, introduction to modern techniques, the most effective way to develop young cricketers, issues facing coaches/coaching, what are the basics - technology and coaching, the fine art of wicket-keeping, batting and bowling, real approach to a champion team, a point of view from the current world champions Australia, a captain's perspective, the role of captain and manager, relationships with media, moulding the complete cricketer, a pathway to achieve excellence and, today's skills for tomorrow's technology.

"The need of the moment is to nurture the budding generation of cricketers that Sri Lanka is gifted with by utilizing the latest techniques and skills in coaching. This conference is the first step in achieving that milestone," said Sumathipala.

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