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Newly appointed National Under-19 coach Naveed Nawaz is expecting a huge amount of professionalism from the future World Cup players as he commences his new assignment with a National level team after the women’s Twenty-20 World Cup starting late June.
And, he considers the extremely short period of time left ahead of the World Cup is no hindrance to develop the team as the foundation for a good team has already been laid. Nawaz is currently assisting Sri Lanka Women’s Cricket team who will play in the Women‘s Twenty-20 World Cup.
Naveed Nawaz told these in an interview with ‘Sunday Island – Sportstar’ last week.
"We have eight months to go for the World Cup. And I will be working with a squad that had been already chosen. And Roger (Wijesuriya) had done a fantastic job with them," said Nawaz who had no complains about the little time he has to prepare a team that has suffered a huge 4-1 defeat in a tour of Bangladesh.
Under-19 Coaching –
"We have two or more tours to come. And we will have adequate preparation before the World Cup," Nawaz said.
Nawaz will join the Sri Lanka Under-19 squad after the ICC Women’s Twenty-20 World Cup next month. It will be Nawaz’s first National level assignment with a junior side. And the former Sri Lanka national player, who had been a coach of some 300 youngsters at the ‘Fingara Cricket Academy,’ said that he expected total commitment from the players.
"I am expecting a huge amount of professionalism from them. I expect players’ total commitment," Nawaz explained.
Nawaz considers inculcating in players the value of playing for and towards victory of the team rather than the personal goals is an integral part of coaching. Stating that prominence should be given to this aspect he stressed that ‘team is the biggest thing.’
Strategies –
He has been a Coach at SSC, NCC and Moors SC in a span of five years and SSC has won some accolades when he coached their teams during the 2007-8 season.
Asked as to what strategies he would adopt to make the current Under-19 squad a formidable outfit, Nawaz said that fine-tuning the match-winning individuals is the most important thing.
"We have talent in this squad. Even at SSC there was enormous amount of talent. The important thing is to fine-tune players to be match-winners. Ordinary performances will not help teams. The aim is to build match-winning players with character."
"This age group is a very important age group. It is in this period that they decide whether they should continue cricket or not. It is important that they be groomed to be match-winning players who could wear national colours one-day," Nawaz stressed.
Playing Career –
Nawaz said that he has a special liking in grooming young cricketers as he also had nurtured the aspiration of a cricket career at this particular age. Nawaz added he was aware of the talents of players in the squad when queried about his knowledge about the current squad.
"I have been a keen follower of junior cricket. I have the basic knowledge as to who are the players who should be there," said Nawaz.
A product of D.S. Senanayake College, Nawaz played a solitary Test and three ODIs for Sri Lanka before taking to a career in coaching. The 35-year-old is taking the reins from Roger Wijesuriya who coached the team for the last three years.
