Renowned coach, Eric Simons, has prioritised the need to focus on cricketers as individuals before the collectives can be addressed.

Although there are various layers to unpack when attempting to divulge into what constitutes all-round coaching abilities, Simons had emphasised the vitality that, as coaches, egos are not fed, but rather that they make personal strides towards “coaching the individual”.

“You need to realise that it is about the cricketer and the team. [There is much] importance about understanding the cricketer before he understands you,” Simons tells Cricket Fanatics Magazine.

“There is an importance in seeing the individual and not the team, but ultimately it’s about the person you are coaching; the modern cricketer is very individualistic.

“You need to understand how to move that individual. To move a group, you need to move an individual.

Coaches who “think they have the answers” are a symptom that flirts with failure, which also correlates with setting aside one’s ego, Simons explains…

Are you enjoying this article? Read the full story in Issue 14 of the magazine and see everything Eric Simons had to say.