I guess this is why exactly Woolmer is Woolmer.
Woolmer arrives to up Namibia's performance
CORRY IHUHUA
THE Namibian cricket team received a welcome fillip yesterday with the arrival of Bob Woolmer - a vastly experienced coach who will aid the team's final preparations for the World Cup.
Woolmer, who is the International Cricket Council's High Performance Manager, will be present today for the team's second One Day International (ODI) against Bangladesh.
Namibia lost to Bangladesh in the first clash on Saturday when they went down by 60 runs.
Woolmer, a former South African national cricket team coach, arrived in Namibia yesterday and already started working with the players ahead of today's match.
The ICC has asked Woolmer to help prepare the emerging cricketing nations of Namibia, Canada, Holland and Kenya for the upcoming World Cup in South Africa.
Woolmer will, in particular, focus on reversing Namibia's downward trend in recent matches which included five straight losses against provincial sides in the Standard Bank Series in South Africa Namibian Cricket Board President (NCB), Laurie Pieters told The Namibian yesterday that Woolmer will work on the "all-round game" of the Namibian side.
"He will give advice and tips on key problem areas that the team is faced with at the moment," he added.
Woolmer, who teamed up with coach Lennie Louw and Technical Director Dougie Brown in yesterday's training session, will aim to get the side on a winning track by specifically working on their batting.
Pieters said although it will take some time for the national side to adjust to the highly competitive game played by Test playing nations, the Namibians side should be given a chance.
"All what we need to do now is to support the team, because they will gain confidence and perform better when they are supported. We can possibly criticise on some issues that need to be corrected, but we should do that in the spirit of understanding that our team is on a learning curve which will take time to perfect," he said.
Captain Deon Kotze welcomed Woolmer's presence, saying his experience and insights would be invaluable for the side.
As far as their batting is concerned, Kotze said, "it was not a technical problem, but it was more to do with the players' mental attitude in that area. "
"We are batting brilliantly at training, but we don't show a similar attitude in real match situations. We in fact worked hard in that area over the past few days and I am hopeful that we will be able to deliver," he said.
He said the Namibian side "is with no doubt more superior than their counterparts [Bangladesh] on the fielding side, while on the batting front, Namibia can be as good as them - only if the players prove it.
"We need to prove that we can bat better. In bowling, we are good, but we also need some discipline," he added.
" Bangladesh is an extremely disciplined side when it comes to bowling, but it does not mean they are the better side in that. I think we are just on par in that department as well," he said.
The second limited overs match between the hosts and Bangladesh starts at 09h30 at the TransNamib ground in Pioniers Park this morning.
The other three remaining matches will be played at Wanderers on January 25, 26 and 29, all starting at 09h30.
Source:
Woolmer started working with Namibia before 2nd One day