Australia's World Cup-winning coach on dealing with criticism from within the team and outside, and creating the right environment for a star-studded team to excel
Australia's World Cup-winning coach John Buchanan (centre) seen here with former captain Ricky Ponting and former chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch. Buchanan says Ponting shared his philosophy of leadership, of wanting to perform the very best all the time for Australia and for himself
John Buchanan has a CV that boasts of two ODI World Cup wins (in 2003 and 2007), three Ashes series wins, and a 70:19 win loss ratio in the 89 Test matches he coached Australia (16 among them consecutive wins). But asked to pick his favourite moment in cricket, the lanky 71-year-old opts for none of those. “It’s coaching Queensland to the first Sheffield League title,” he says. “You could say that, within the Australian team, we created a lot of firsts. But that [Sheffield Shield] was pretty important to me.”
A close second, Buchanan adds, would be his first Test match as a coach in his home city of Brisbane. “I’d always dreamt of wearing the Baggy Green (Australia’s Test cap) but never got to. To march out on the field and sing the national anthem in front of my family was pretty special,” he says.
Buchanan—often called Ned Flanders for his resemblance to the character in the sitcom The Simpsons—stepped down from the Australian team after the 2007 World Cup victory. His subsequent assignments weren’t much to write home about, especially with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the IPL where he was sacked after two seasons. “I didn’t deal with it [and a failed stint with Middlesex] well at that time, but later saw them as learning experiences,” he says.
Now, Buchanan channels his know-how of the high-octane world of elite sports into being a business and leadership coach through his company, Buchanan Success Coaching. Along with it, he holds the India master franchisee for Ready Steady Go Kids. an Australian multi-sport programme (for children between 1.5 and six years). Recently in Mumbai to launch it in collaboration with CP Goenka International School, he sat down for an exclusive chat with Forbes India to share his learnings on leadership, coaching an era-defining team, and his fractious relationship with a few players. Edited excerpts:
Q. You are one of the most successful national coaches ever. But your stint was initially written off, because you had never played for Australia. How did you deal with the backlash?