It remains to be seen whether England’s coaching dragnet will extend as far as John Dyson, but the West Indies mentor is certainly making a compelling case for consideration

Alex Brown04-Mar-2009
John Dyson: making a name for himself © Getty Images
It remains to be seen whether England’s coaching dragnet will extend as far as John Dyson, but the West Indies mentor is certainly making a compelling case for consideration. In barely a year, he has transformed a fractured, underperforming Windies unit into one that has now moved within a game away of a memorable series victory over England. Odgers Ray and Berndtson – the corporate head-hunting firm recruited by the ECB to find the next England coach – must surely be taking note.Dyson’s coaching record makes for particularly impressive reading when considering the difficulty of the assignments he has accepted. In his first international posting, Dyson guided Sri Lanka through board upheavals and the devastating Boxing Day tsunami to second place in the one-day rankings and fourth in Tests by the time of his departure.The trend has continued in the Caribbean. West Indies have amassed a record of three wins, six draws and five losses under Dyson ahead of the Trinidad Test; their victories coming against such formidable foes as South Africa, Sri Lanka and England. To put that into perspective, they required 40 Tests to post their previous three victories, and those came against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and a Pakistan side missing five key players.The road to respectability has been a treacherous one for Dyson and West Indies. His appointment to the coaching post followed that of Bennett King, an Australian who never won over the dressing room. Dyson inherited a team lacking in confidence and divided into factions – themes that might very well resonate within English cricket at present.”I remember very early on in the piece sitting down for a talk with the one of the players,” Dyson recalled. “He told me, ‘Don’t expect any of the players to talk to you.’ It was a fairly daunting thing to hear.”I’d been told that the players had gone to the board and specifically requested they not appoint another Australian coach. And what did they do? Appoint an Australian coach. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, but I think that, over time, we have improved things. There are needs and sensitivities within cultures, and you have to be mindful of that. I tried to do that in Sri Lanka, as well as here.”West Indies might not yet be contending for a place in the upper echelons of international cricket, but neither are they the easy-beats of recent history. Last year, they overcame injuries to key personnel, not least Chris Gayle, and the eleventh-hour arrivals of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo from the IPL to push the Australians to the wire. A gulf in experience between the two sides cost them the Frank Worrell Trophy but, with admirable determination and persistence, West Indies have now positioned themselves to prise the Wisden Trophy from England’s grasp. A draw in Trinidad will be enough.Discipline has been anathema to West Indies for the better part of a decade, and while not yet ready for a military tattoo, the side has still made major advances. Redoubtable innings, athletic fielding and tenacious bowling have been regular features of recent West Indies performances, due in no small part to the input of Dyson’s assistant, David Williams. Team fitness has also improved markedly, for which Steve Folkes – an Australian rugby league coach appointed by Dyson late last year to the position of strength and conditioning trainer – can take much of the credit.Dyson was regarded as a gruff disciplinarian during his time with Sri Lanka, but has tailored his approach to meld with the unique style and pace of West Indian cricket. He displayed tremendous tact and pragmatism throughout the difficult, potentially divisive Stanford saga, and has managed to keep the Windies competitive while their board has lurched from controversy to crisis.”The main priority for me over the last 12 months has been to establish a positive environment for the players,” he said. “There were lots of negatives around the team previously, and I don’t fully know why that was the case.”We wanted to change the way the squad operates. We listened to what the players had to say, and there were some consistent complaints. We have tried to fix those. But there remain a lot of challenges – the regional competition is a major one, and another is that our players all live in different countries. After the last match, seven guys went to Jamaica, four others to Barbados, and the rest to other islands, Orlando and Miami. It has been a challenge keeping up reasonable levels of fitness when you don’t spend a huge amount of time together pre-series.”What could Dyson achieve with the plentiful resources of English cricket at his disposal? Odgers, Ray and Berndtson could do worse than investigate the possibility.