John Wright wants New Zealand players to be accountable

By CricketCountry Staff

 

Outgoing New Zealand coach John Wright said on Tuesday that one has to be accountable for one’s actions.

John Wright served as the coach of New Zealand for 20 months © Getty Images

By CricketCountry Staff

Wellington: Aug 7, 2012

Outgoing New Zealand coach John Wright said on Tuesday that one has to be accountable for one’s actions.

John Wright saw the Black Caps going down 2-0 against West Indies in his last assignment as the Kiwi coach.

Wright said that players have to be hard on themselves.

“That’s a particularly important part of that process. You have to have self-responsibility and be accountable for your actions in the middle and you just can’t come off and wave it away with phrases like ‘it’s the way I play’ and ‘I didn’t quite execute’ etc, etc. It’s a brutal game at the international level and you have to be very brutal in your self-analysis and really honest,” Wright said.

Wright also said that one cannot expect a warm welcome in the dressing room if one hasn’t performed up to the mark.

“The other aspect is it’s always very helpful if your teammates are brutally honest with you and if you play a particularly inappropriate shot at any stage then you know if you go back in to that changing room you’re not going to get exactly ‘the welcome’ and that’s the sort of environment you need to create,” he said.

“Ruthless self-analysis combined with pretty strong standards and peer pressure from your fellow teammates and that’s something that I think is an area we can grow in,” Wright was quoted as saying by New Zealand Herald.

Wright stressed that players cannot afford to repeat mistakes.

“I think we’ve got to look at two aspects and I was reflecting on it today. It’s basically the players have to understand that it’s no use to make the same mistake over and over again. You’ve got to learn from your mistakes and the other issue is strike rotation.”

“I think that’s one of the key skills that the players have to practice and learn because getting the singles will get you to the other end and it doesn’t allow that pressure to be built up by facing a number of dot balls,” he added.

Wright was however comfortable with the idea that the Kiwi batsmen have had an experience on wickets that are similar to those in India and believes that it will help them on their tour to the subcontinent.

“I would hope now that the batsmen have had a bit more cricket and in the conditions that are going to be similar to India. So now they’ve had more time at the wicket they’ll be able to have a good look at this tour and hopefully get some time just to better their game and get up there,” he concluded.