"Your Most Favorite Cricket Coach." : Contest-8
On 5 June 1954, a Kiwi cricketer was born who later played a big role in advancing not only New Zealand but cricket all over the world. Former legendary cricketer John Wright is celebrating his 66th birthday today. We will remember some of the achievements of this former veteran's career, which brought many teams including New Zealand to a new level of success as a coach.
Wright, who made his Test debut for New Zealand in 1978, was instrumental in establishing the Kiwi team as a Test nation in the 80s. In the first innings of his debut Test match against England, Wright batted for nearly six hours and played a half-century innings to give New Zealand its first Test victory against England.
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Wright scored 5,334 runs in 82 Tests for New Zealand at an average of 37.82, including 12 centuries and 23 half-centuries. Speaking of first class career, Wright scored 25,073 runs in 366 matches at an average of 42.35, including 59 centuries and 126 fifties.
Even after retiring, Wright did not go far from the cricket field. He started his coaching career with the Kent team and then became the first foreign coach of the Indian cricket team in the year 2000.
Working with legendary captains like Sourav Ganguly, Wright changed the face of the Indian team. During his five-year tenure, Wright won Team India a number of big titles, including the Kolkata Test won against Australia in 2001 and the NatWest Trophy won in England.
The Wright-Ganguly pair were unbreakable, the effect of better communication between the captain and the coach being evident in both the team's dressing room and the scoreboard. The pair wrote in the Wisden Anthology 1978–2006: Cricket Age of Revolution book, "The new and strong team India, captain Sourav Ganguly and coach John Wright, committed to building India became more than what was written on paper." Was going However, the efforts of the Indian team also played a big role in making it great. ”
It was not that Wright's former Indian coach was lacking. Coaches like Bishan Singh Bedi were quite tough and Ajit Wadekar prepared lethal spin bowlers to pile up the opposition team on home pitches but Wright solved the unsolved mystery of 'victory' for Team India.
With the arrival of Wright, there were many important technical changes in the Indian team. Fitness in his time did not mean just fielding drills and four rounds of the field. Wright told the Indian players not only helped Team India win on home spin-assisted pitches but also taught Ganguly's team to win overseas. Wright taught Team India the method of victory with methodical training.
In 2005, Wright got a chance to work with his national team after his tenure with Team India ended in 2005. In his short two-year stint as coach, New Zealand won the first Test match against Australia in 2011 after 26 years on Australian soil.
Also, it was during Wright's tenure that the Kiwi team could reach the semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup. In 2012, he stepped down as the coach of the New Zealand team. Wright is currently serving as the chairman of Derbyshire County Club.
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