“I am working on changing the cultural mindset of the players” –Dav Whatmore

[Ahmed_B]

In an interview by Utpal Shuvro (Prothom Alo) immediately after the Cardiff victory over Australia, Dav Whatmore has talked about a lot of issues regarding Bangladesh Cricket including His own coaching philosophy, the mental growth of the players, the probable prospects, Bashar’s captaincy learning curve, the domestic cricket structure etc.

Here is one important part of his comments (I am trying to translate the theme) when he was asked about the ability of our younger talents to take the right decision at the right time:

“Yes I agree that players like Ashraful & Aftab are still too young to be able to always decide the right thing to do in the matches. I have been thinking about this a lot as well... trying to make them able to decide for their own throughout their cricketing life. And why only in cricket?... I am trying to build them up in a way so that they can always decide for themselves. What they should eat, what they should not, what they should do on trainings and when etc. It doesn’t always have to be the right decision. Rather I am working in a way so that they make it a habit to decide for themselves in all aspects of their lives and also bring that habit of theirs into cricket. The subcontinental culture doesn’t always encourage this but I wouldn’t also say that is always bad. But if someone can realize the value of taking his own decisions from a very early age, then he also makes faster progress in cricket as well.”
-Dav Whatmore

Even though it is not all recent I feel it’s worth discussing
Read the whole Interview here in Bangla:
“Players need to learn to take decisions in every aspect of life”



Edited on, July 9, 2005, 4:50 PM GMT, by Ahmed_B.

[RazabQ]

Hmm so Dav is making some good points about our culture of "taking it easy" but honestly I am happy that our younger poeple are in sheltered environment because it ensures they grow up right. I think if we get the rest of the society more professional, the family stuff won't be an issue.

BTW, loved Dav's comment on the Richie Benau matter. After clarifying his ibelief on the tabloid nature of the paper Benaud's piece was printed on, he closed with this comment when pressed what he though of the purported Benaud piece itself: "total junk"

[chyicarus]

well obviously in our sub-culture we remain dependant on our parents as long as we get married, get a job, or move out of the house; in many cases still our parents/relatives/family members continues to have a strong hold of our lives.
We need to change some aspects of it. Making a dramatic change is obviously wrong and will cause problems but certain aspects needs to be focused on.
In this case- Dav is talking about our independant way of thinking. I'm 25 yrs old, and I too sometimes think that i depend on others way too much and its a mental battle to overcome that dependancy. I can hear exactly where he's coming from with his statement. Well said Dav!