Peter Hayter finds that Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie is so happy in the Broad Acres, but …
Turn the clock back to Jason Gillespie’s darkest hour on these shores and anyone asking him in that moment if he fancied coaching England could only have been taking the mick.
Then, back in 2005, “Dizzy” was having quite a time of it. Struggling with form on the field as Michael Vaughan’s team began to turn the tide of Ashes history, the Aussie paceman with the long flowing locks and the goatee beard admitted his life was being made a misery by the football-style chanting of some of the Barmy Army asking him: “Where’s your caravan?”
“You can’t win,” he said at the time. “People call you effing this and effing that. Then they ask you for your autograph and, if you say no, then all of a sudden you are the worst bloke in the history of the world.”
Gillespie’s relationship with England supporters had already improved significantly by the time he took on the coaching role at Yorkshire, due in part to a series of genuinely funny video cameos with Phil Tufnell as the 2009 Ashes series was taking place.
Now, thanks to him helping deliver their first Championship for 13 years, supporters of the White Rose county from club president Geoffrey Boycott down regard him as one of the best blokes in the history of the world.
But any remaining concerns over broaching the subject of whether he might fancy a crack should the job occupied by Peter Moores become available – a notion already proposed by Vaughan himself –prove groundless.
“Look,” says Gillespie, instantly removing all doubts about where his first loyalty might lie, “it’s very nice of Michael Vaughan to suggest that and I’m flattered. And while it’s incredibly satisfying to have been part of the effort in winning the County Championship I’m hoping this is just the start of a period where we can pick up more trophies and the prospect of helping to develop players through our youth system excites me.
“I’m more than happy where I am. I have a job for which I jump out of bed every morning. As for other opportunities down the line, maybe the chance to coach at international level, I’ll sit down and look at it.”
But what about coaching the Poms, Dizzy? No objection on, let’s say, ethical grounds.
“Once you go into coaching, you look at the opportunities and you judge whether they make sense for yourself and your family. I wouldn’t have any problems at international level coaching any side.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m a proud and passionate Aussie, but it would depend on whether the opportunity would be a good fit and whether I felt I could contribute in a positive way.”
You can understand Gillespie taking sensible precautions in his choice of words. Traditionally, Australians do not take kindly to those of their own who cross the Ashes line as the unfortunate Kent paceman Martin McCague found out when, after he threw in his lot with the Poms at one of the lowest points in England’s recent Ashes fortunes, they called him, “the rat that joined the sinking ship” and hounded him all round the 1994-95 tour Down Under.
And if Sam Robson makes it as far as next summer’s rematch, and he will do well to after the seasons enjoyed by Yorkshire’s Adam Lyth and Alex Lees, watch this space.
But for now, bearing in mind one championship does not a career make and that if he achieves another everyone will want him, including Australia, we’ll take what Gillespie says as a yes.
Vaughan is not the only one who likes his style but put the reasons why most succinctly. Calling him a mini Darren Lehmann, the fellow South Australian who graduated from Headingley to mastermind England 5-0 whitewash last winter as national coach, he commented: “He just gets the game.
“He doesn’t over-complicate it. He never stresses a bad day; he accepts it as the nature of cricket. He has basic plans and puts the onus on the players to make decisions. He doesn’t look at stats too much and puts the trust back in the individual, no matter how old or young. His view is that as soon as you are picked for Yorkshire, regardless of age, you are expected to perform.”
Gillespie stresses that Yorkshire’s deserved success is certainly not all down to him, paying huge tribute to skipper Andrew Gale in particular, saying: “As a leader of a club, he is one of the best I’ve seen.
“This has been a real team effort. I’m the youngest of our coaching staff and I still have a lot to learn about dealing with players and coaching.”
Liam Plunkett will testify to Gillespie’s knack of keeping things simple, crediting him with the clarity of purpose that enabled him to bowl himself back into Test cricket.
“We asked him to to run in and bowl fast and try and create indecision from the batsman,” says Gillespie. “We felt that guy who can bowl 90mph was going to be an asset if he was allowed to bowl 90mph and not line and length at maybe 82-83mph.”
As for the truth of Vaughan’s closing statement, Gillespie is in total agreement. He revels in reeling off the ages of the top six which helped pile on 532 in their victory by an innings and 152 runs (their fourth win by an innings of the season).
“Adam Lyth was the oldest at 26, Lees is 21, Gary Ballance 24, Joe Root 23 and Jack Leaning 20,” he purrs.
He loves the fact that nine of that XI came through the county’s academy system, proving itself the blueprint all other clubs must not strive to follow, their young side packed with schoolboy talent winning this season’s Yorkshire Premier League and Cup double and kids like Matthew Fisher, who in the 2013 Yorkshire Bank 40 became, at 15 years and 212 days, the youngest player to appear for a first class county in a competitive match growing up fast thanks to such exposure.
“My feeling is that there should not be a ceiling for a young guy at the academy,” he explains. “He shouldn’t feel that the highest level an academy player is going to play while he is there is academy cricket. Our 2nd XI is half academy players and if you are good enough you deserve a go at first team level whatever your age.”
But he is also encouraged that, as he and the club plan how to make this the beginning of the trophy gathering not the end, senior players like Ryan Sidebottom and Tim Bresnan appear determined to make sure they keep the young talent at bay a while longer.
“When people ask, ‘how do we keep this going?’ more of the same would be an easy answer but it is not the right answer.
“I’d like our lads to challenge themselves to be even better and they are already talking about how, after a little break to get away from the game, they want to hit the ground running when we all meet back for strength and conditioning work in November.
“Once they get started on the skills, they are already discussing how they are going to improve their game and what they will need to do if they want to be successful next year and beyond.
“It was wonderful to hear from Ryan Sidebottom, at 36 years of age, asking us as coaches if we notice anything that can help him improve his game.
“For someone who has had such a fantastic career and is still performing very strongly to still seek ways that he can be a better bowler, a better cricketer and a better team-mate speaks volumes for where we are as a squad and where our players are as individuals.”
