Chewie
BCCI President
A Coach?s Blog
Article by Jono Choie
1 November 2010
Hello and welcome to the first of hopefully many blog entries which I will be posting as I continue through my first season as coach of Tasmania. Thanks to PlanetCricket for letting me use this space to post details about my life as head coach at Tasmania.
A bit of background first: My name is Jono Choie, known by my nickname ?Chewie?, and earlier this year I was appointed as the new coach of the Tasmanian Tigers following the stepping down of long time coach Tim Coyle. I had been a long time cricket follower back in New Zealand, supporting the Northern Districts Knights. When I learnt that the Central Districts coaching job had been vacated by Dermot Reeve, I said to myself that it couldn?t be too difficult coaching a domestic team and applied for the job. This was all despite me having no coaching experience at all. While I didn?t get the job, Tasmania were looking for a coach at the same time, saw that I had applied and decided that I must have been half decent if I had been trying for the Central Districts role. They signed me up without looking into my background at all, and so I packed up and moved to Tasmania.
Working with players such as Tim Paine, Travis Birt, Ben Hilfenhaus and Ricky Ponting especially has been an incredibly rewarding experience so far. They have aided me in coaching the rest of the team on how to improve their game, so that we can become a successful unit. Ponting and Hilfenhaus bring a lot of experience to the side, when they?re not away on international duty, and in the months since I was signed up and the season began, we have worked together to achieve a good team spirit.
As you probably are aware, we haven?t had the best start to the season. My first game in charge was a Sheffield Shield match against South Australia, who are often called the worst team in the tournament. It was only thanks to George Bailey and Brett Geeves we managed to escape that match with a draw. Our first one day match was a close one, which we lost due to some inspired bowling from Shaun Tait in the dying overs of the match. Our second Ford Ranger Cup match was a huge improvement, though at the innings interval it seemed like we were bound for a massive loss. Once again Geeves saved us, scoring 49 in the first innings, and then backing that up with his best one-day bowling effort as we left the match with maximum points. I would have posted a blog earlier, but I felt that it would be blasted with disapproving comments from Tasmanian supporters due to my poor efforts as coach. Now that we have won a match, and in such convincing style, hopefully the comments will be on a more positive note.
Our next match of the season is a Sheffield Shield match against Queensland. We will be looking to carry forward our momentum from the one-day match against them through into this game and take advantage of their weak batting attack. I have named a few changes from our last first class match, due to Ponting and Mark Cosgrove being away on international duty. In their places, Steven Cazzulino and Jonathan Wells get their opportunity to shine, while Gerard Denton takes Adam Griffith?s place. I expect them to keep the same side as the last match, and if we play as well as our last game, we should be able to walk away with a win. Wish us luck!
Article by Jono Choie
1 November 2010
Hello and welcome to the first of hopefully many blog entries which I will be posting as I continue through my first season as coach of Tasmania. Thanks to PlanetCricket for letting me use this space to post details about my life as head coach at Tasmania.
A bit of background first: My name is Jono Choie, known by my nickname ?Chewie?, and earlier this year I was appointed as the new coach of the Tasmanian Tigers following the stepping down of long time coach Tim Coyle. I had been a long time cricket follower back in New Zealand, supporting the Northern Districts Knights. When I learnt that the Central Districts coaching job had been vacated by Dermot Reeve, I said to myself that it couldn?t be too difficult coaching a domestic team and applied for the job. This was all despite me having no coaching experience at all. While I didn?t get the job, Tasmania were looking for a coach at the same time, saw that I had applied and decided that I must have been half decent if I had been trying for the Central Districts role. They signed me up without looking into my background at all, and so I packed up and moved to Tasmania.
Working with players such as Tim Paine, Travis Birt, Ben Hilfenhaus and Ricky Ponting especially has been an incredibly rewarding experience so far. They have aided me in coaching the rest of the team on how to improve their game, so that we can become a successful unit. Ponting and Hilfenhaus bring a lot of experience to the side, when they?re not away on international duty, and in the months since I was signed up and the season began, we have worked together to achieve a good team spirit.
As you probably are aware, we haven?t had the best start to the season. My first game in charge was a Sheffield Shield match against South Australia, who are often called the worst team in the tournament. It was only thanks to George Bailey and Brett Geeves we managed to escape that match with a draw. Our first one day match was a close one, which we lost due to some inspired bowling from Shaun Tait in the dying overs of the match. Our second Ford Ranger Cup match was a huge improvement, though at the innings interval it seemed like we were bound for a massive loss. Once again Geeves saved us, scoring 49 in the first innings, and then backing that up with his best one-day bowling effort as we left the match with maximum points. I would have posted a blog earlier, but I felt that it would be blasted with disapproving comments from Tasmanian supporters due to my poor efforts as coach. Now that we have won a match, and in such convincing style, hopefully the comments will be on a more positive note.
Our next match of the season is a Sheffield Shield match against Queensland. We will be looking to carry forward our momentum from the one-day match against them through into this game and take advantage of their weak batting attack. I have named a few changes from our last first class match, due to Ponting and Mark Cosgrove being away on international duty. In their places, Steven Cazzulino and Jonathan Wells get their opportunity to shine, while Gerard Denton takes Adam Griffith?s place. I expect them to keep the same side as the last match, and if we play as well as our last game, we should be able to walk away with a win. Wish us luck!
