In the mood for Moody

THE head hunt for a national cricket coach finally ended with Sri Lanka signing up former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody to succeed John Dyson.

Moody who takes charge as head coach from June 18 will have his contract running till the end of May 2007 which means that his priorities among other things will be to try and win the World Cup in the Caribbean.

It is a feat achieved only once by Sri Lanka in 1996 when Dav Whatmore, another former Australian cricketer like Moody was in charge. Colombo-born Whatmore had two stints as coach. He was back two years later and almost won a second World Cup for Sri Lanka by taking the team to the semi-finals in 2003.

Whatmore's achievements as national coach are legendary in the history of Sri Lanka cricket. Those who succeeded him have not come any closer although under Dyson the team lifted itself in the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings to second in one-day internationals and fifth in Tests.

Dyson and Bruce Yardley, another former Australian cricketer who succeeded Whatmore in 1997 did not last long to face the challenges of a World Cup tournament.

Moody, at 39 years the youngest of the four and more contemporary with modern day cricket and technologies has the enviable task of strategically planning out a path for Sri Lanka to win the World Cup in 2007. He has a lot of time in his hands to do so.

He takes over at a juncture where Sri Lanka cricket administration is caught up in a bitter feud for supremacy between two rival factions. But such things should not deter him from concentrating on the task at hand. Moody's priority is to make the national team perform at its peak and maintain the standard till the next World Cup.

Unlike his predecessors, Moody has been designated with the task of overlooking the #'A' and the under age squads so that he gets a clear idea of what kind of talent is flowing through and what is available for him to put together a champion unit. His involvement with Sri Lanka cricket is huge which, is a good thing.

He will get a first hand knowledge of what changes that needs to be affected to make the domestic cricket structure more viable and competitive so that the large gap that exists between domestic and international cricket can be bridged to a point where there will be a steady flow of players coming through, ready to walk into the national side at any given time.

Sadly that is what is lacking in today's cricket and it is reflected by the paucity of top class cricketers who could put pressure on the national side.

Moody being more current and having played under past Australian captains of the calibre of Allan Border and Steve Waugh and gone through a system that has made his nation the number one in the sport, is in a position to make the necessary changes that are needed to uplift Sri Lanka cricket.

Like Whatmore, Moody does not have any links with Sri Lanka. He was born and raised in Adelaide before moving to Western Australia.

However Sri Lanka holds some fond and disappointing memories for him as a player. Ironically the two centuries he made in Test cricket was against Sri Lanka (106 at Brisbane) and India (101 at Perth), the two countries who was headhunting for him. His short Test career ended in Sri Lanka in 1992, three years after his Test debut when sacrificed as an opener he made only 71 runs (average 11.83) from six innings.

He however made a memorable comeback to the one-day team in time to play in, and contribute measurably to, Australia's 1999 World Cup win before a nagging back injury forced him out of competitive cricket forever two years later.

Moody has been described as #'young, ambitious and well respected in West Australia and Worcestershire'. His greatest service to Western Australia and Worcestershire was to lead them to all manner of domestic silverware.

Peter Roebuck, the former Somerset captain and leading cricket columnist wrote: "Moody listens without losing authority, appreciates innovations but does not forget that the basics do not change. Without being uncomfortably theoretical, he is a student of the game. To my mind, the tall Australian will mature into an excellent coach."

Mind you Roebuck wrote these words in his regular column to an Indian newspaper at the time India was also head hunting for a coach and had Moody listed as one of their candidates. As we all know India settled for Greg Chappell, the former Australian captain. Going by Roebuck's citations of Moody, Sri Lanka seems to have got the better man for the job. Time will tell.