Black Caps now on Mortimer's patch

BY MICHAEL DONALDSON

Roger Mortimer did not want to be interviewed for this story. He prefers to stay in the background. Which is why many people would struggle to name him as the man behind athletes such as Sarah Ulmer, Hamish Carter, Mahe Drysdale and BMX rider Sarah Walker.

Mortimer may not be big on profile, but, in the words of New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan, "he gets things done".

Mortimer came into the New Zealand cricket environment about a year ago and his brief was simple, help our cricketers turn themselves into world-class performers.

Heath Mills, the head of the New Zealand Cricket Players Association, says Mortimer's involvement is "the biggest step forward in high performance that I've seen since I've been involved in New Zealand cricket".

Another of Mortimer's biggest fans is captain Daniel Vettori, who abides by the theory that all the best players in history are "self-made and understand their own game".

So what does Mortimer do?

Athens triathlon gold medallist Carter said one of Mortimer's key strengths was to "clear away the clutter and provide clarity on what exactly is needed to be done to achieve your best performance". Carter believes Mortimer is "one of the few people who could deliver this kind of thing into a culture like cricket; he'd be good at it".

Mortimer helps athletes develop their individual performance plans; basically maps to success.

"The big thing for international cricketers is that because you're touring a lot, there's little time to work on your game. So what Roger is trying to do is put together an opportunity for someone to improve," Vettori told the Star-Times.

"Roger's making sure things are organised, he's driving players to be the best they can be.

"In the past the guys have sat back and waited for someone to help them along, whereas they are now dictating their own programme and Roger is making sure there's quality around the programme."

Vettori said a change of mindset was needed among the players before they embraced Mortimer's methods.

"But once we saw what Roger can provide and what he's willing to do to make it happen, players realised that if they want to get better, they can. And it's made a huge difference to me as captain because you worry about guys striving to improve and how they're going to do that, and now I know it's in hand."

What players are doing now is seeking out their own coaches, or going to greats like Martin Crowe and Richard Hadlee to pick their brains. Those two in particular are more involved in the team than they've been previously, but not in obvious, traditional roles.

Vaughan said NZ Cricket was happy to bring in Mortimer even though he didn't have specialist cricket knowledge.

"Roger, through his experience in Olympic disciplines with Mahe Drysdale and Sarah Ulmer, understands individual athlete preparation.

"He's not a technical coach but he understands how players need to be meticulous and deliberate in planning ways to improve.

"He's made a huge difference in bringing about a cultural change in Black Caps in creating a desire to be truly world class. It's one thing to say that, but you actually need a plan about how you're going to do it."

Vaughan said bringing someone from outside the traditional cricket environment was critical to creating change. "We didn't want to be locked in to the conservative ways we've always operated in because traditionally we've never quite made it."

Mills said there was some resistance to Mortimer from the "establishment".

"There have been some institutional barriers to what he's brought to the table but that's because people haven't seen what he's on about," Mills said.

"He puts accountability on to the players. But it's also about people in the environment who are used to dictating to the players what they do, what they don't do and when they do it ... it's not about the players being in charge, far from it, but for the players it's their careers and they need to drive that, drive who their coach is, what their programme is.

"All that needs to be packaged up in the team environment by someone who runs the team. People will say he doesn't understand cricket, but he brings in the people who do understand. But he understands winning and the constant drive to be better."

To some extent, what Mortimer is doing will influence the role of the soon-to-be appointed coach. Old-fashioned notions of what a cricket coach might do have to be dispelled "to a point", says Vaughan.

"I still believe there is a need for coaching when the players are on tour as it's really hard for players to improve themselves on tour because it's play, rest, practice and there's not a lot of room for players to technically and physically improve themselves. There's a need for coaching, tactical input, mental development, talking to players, getting the best out of them; not necessarily working on batting technique or bowling technique.

"I don't think that makes a team coach redundant, but it slightly changes the scope of what the team coach is there for."

Vaughan said NZ Cricket was still looking for the right person to get "the best out of the team we've got now, as well as planning two or three years down the road when the team will be different.

"The feedback is that the team is working really well. Roger is doing stuff here, we've got a well-established manager, the assistant coaches are working well, Daniel is taking his share of responsibility; the thing is working well. There is a missing ingredient but I don't think we should be rushing to fill that [coaching position] before next year."

- © Fairfax NZ News