Q&A: Camp Talk with Bennett King

Bennett King is heading into the third and final week of his first camp as head coach of the West Indies cricket team. Over the first two weeks, King and his coaching staff have had the opportunity to assess the players both in a training and competitive environment.

The day after the second of two practice matches was played, King rapped with journalists about his first impression of working with the West Indies teams, preparations for the Australia tour and more?

The togetherness of the group and how they've committed to some of the standards that they've put forward right at the beginning of the camp. So from my point of view, the professionalism that they've shown me to-date in setting up some of those standards is quite impressive. We need to take those standards on the field.

On anything that has not been to his full satisfaction...

We tried to have an open book when we first came in. What we've got is what we've got, which is a certain level of fitness, a certain level of technical proficiency, a certain level of discipline, a certain level of tactical awareness, a certain level of mental awareness and discipline.

On a scale of 1-10, how do you rate this unit?

I guess for them they think it's a 10, but I probably have a different reading of it.

On the impact of Sir Garfield Sobers on the camp?

His knowledge and the way that he plays the game are certainly aspects which I think are current in this day and age, and to be honest, I would have thought that if Sir Garry was 21...and sometimes I think he wishes he was...and he was playing now, he'd probably still be ahead of his time so some of the things that we've spoken about are certainly areas that we want to move forward into. His input, albeit at a gradual level, has been significant I think.

On the role of Assistant Coach David Moore...

He is multi-faceted in terms of what he brings to any employer. He's got a very good understanding of coaching methodology, he's a Level 3 coach; has a very good understanding of players and a very good relationship with players; he brings a certain level of IT as well - certainly one of his major roles will be in terms of analyzing the games as they move forward with the vision and the data that we collect; he also has strength in terms of educational competencies, so coaching competencies, which he was very instrumental in Australia in setting up Level 1 ? 3, but his methodology was the thing that really attracted me to him, so it's broad ranging.

He also has an outstanding offer to the players in terms of he was actually a university lecturer as well, writing curricula, so he has a good understanding of what the players are going to need moving forward with their life after cricket as well. In our interviews to date, the players have all indicated to us that they want to move forward educationally as well, through UWI and other external educational environments and David has been instrumental in organizing interviews with those people to sort out how best the players are going to move forward, in a holistic way.

On what he sees as the main areas of concern after watching the team in the two practice games...

I'd like to see them better in every area of play, you name it, all of it. Certainly though what we've seen is an improvement from when they came into the camp to where they were after just one week. Some of the people who are sitting here with us now, and you can ask them some questions about where they were when they first came in and where they are now because we've certainly seen some improvement in the players who are sitting here and the ones who aren't sitting here as well.

On when the strength and fitness co-ordinator will be selected...

Good question. Not sure at this point in time. We've just got a list of candidates and we're trying to narrow it down and that process will move forward I would say over the next week to two weeks in terms of interviewing potential candidates.

On the problems identified with facilities in the region...

Even here at UWI where the facilities are quite good, we have been hampered to a small extent in terms of what we would ideally like. I think a thing to remember in this whole process that we are going through at the moment is if the West Indies would have kept doing what they always did, they would have got what they always got and it's a really important matter to look at. So it was important through the involvement that we started it somewhere, and hopefully starting at the highest level and if we can see improvement throughout the highest level, we can ignite some interest and ignite some proactivity in other regions in terms of improving some of those facilities, coaches, some of the things that we think are integral.

But it has also thrown up a new challenge for me because it has helped me in terms of my coaching because where I have been previously, you've had a lot of things at your beck and call and it's certainly challenged me to be more creative and more lateral in my thinking about, well, how am I going to get some of those areas that I want improved the way that I have improved them in the other place where I was, here where I haven't got the same facilities.

So for me already, it has expanded me and made me, I believe, a better coach in terms of thinking. But it's a huge problem, and look, money is a problem everywhere, it's not just in the West Indies, it's actually everywhere. Everyone's tightening their belt everywhere. Where I was previously, our budget was slashed 42%.

On the main criteria for selection...

Certainly we want to have the best players playing for the West Indies in this form of the game. I met with the selectors on the criteria and over the next two or three years we hope to come to some better criteria in terms of picking people, so that if players aren't selected, they've got a specific area in which they can target in terms of improving so that they can get selected.

I'm a selector now which is an unusual position for myself to be in because we didn't have this sort of situation where I came from, but it certainly helps me to identify with the players and work out some programme to say look, if you want to keep moving forward here are some specific areas that you need to work on because you're a little bit weak in them and they're holding you back.

So my ideal way is that players who come into these camps get an exit interview but with that, they get some sort of programme that we can say you're hitting the ball at one pace too much and we need to work out a way for you to get some practice at hitting the ball at different paces so that you can rotate the strike and get two's and find gaps, and being a little bit more specific in setting them some drills that they can actually work on when they're home...if they've got the facilities.

More on the most important things, for him personally, in relation to selection criteria...

Being specific I think just at the moment is probably not quite appropriate. I hate that word 'potential' because to me it means something that hasn't been seen, and I'd rather be able to see it, but certainly there are some skill aspects that I think are key. Cricket is a skill-based game and it caters for everybody and that's one of the beauties of it, that's why a lot of people play it and that's something, the skill side of it is really important. And skill can be learnt and attitude can be improved.

On whether he would like to have another practice match when final 14 is chosen...

Yes I would, now with the situation we've got at the moment, there is a possibility that we will do that, but I'm not going to tell you when. I'm going to make you come out here every day.

On plans for the team when they get to Australia...

We've got the itinerary for the programme, all their training times, all their dates, all their preview meeting times, all their review meeting times, all their recovery sessions, they're all in place as we speak. We've had them in place for probably about a month.

Geographically we're all over the place so we're in Melbourne first up and we're there for three or four days and then we go to Hobart and we play the Australia 'A' side so we've just gone off the matrix that the Cricket Australia sent us and then we implemented all our training and recovery sessions and seeing some of the history of Australia as well.

I think it's important for the players to learn a bit about the countries that they're going to, so that they understand the culture there a little bit better. Certainly for this camp towards the end of it we've got a session with some HR people so that the players can understand culturally what happens within different cities and some issues that are probably important that the players understand before they get there with what's happening there at the moment.

On whether he is getting an opportunity to watch current Australia matches...

At the moment no, but as we speak we have been working on how to get information about the sides that we will be playing. Visually we have got some good information; we just have to work out how we can put it together in a movie clip. What they do in other places is that they've got a history of vision and a history of an analysis machine that helps make visionary statements about how people play and how they bowl.

At the moment it's going to take us a fair while but once we start getting a history together and that information, we will be able to make informative movies for these players about who we are playing in the space of five minutes. But at the moment it will probably take us a couple of days because of how we've got to compile it. But as I've said, we've got information; we've just got to work out a way how we get it together now. David Moore is doing the analysis.

On whether it helps that the team's first assignment is in Australia...

Not really, I don't see that so much as being an advantage. Maybe it is. You're going to get good facilities so it's a good opportunity to really stretch the boys and make them work and see what their levels are because of what's available but it's not really an advantage.

The advantage for me is that we'll probably know some of the players who we're going to play against better but on the down side I don't know many of the Pakistanis so I'll be looking for the players who have played against them before to give me information there.