The Kirsten Blueprint: Why attitude, and not just talent, is key to reviving Sri Lankan Cricket

Gary Kirsten knows a thing or two about rebuilding cricket teams into match-winning units, for example, MS Dhoni’s World Cup-winning ODI side and the famous South African team, which dominated cricket in the past decade. Since taking over as head coach, Kirsten faces his toughest challenge yet: reviving Sri Lankan cricket.

Sri Lanka slumped to an early exit from the co-hosted T20 World Cup after failing to win a single match in the Super 8s, leaving fans and their cricket in disarray. Kirsten now has to revive their lost pride and put them back on the pedestal. But for that, he needs to do a few things.

A team audit to begin with

Since taking over in his new role on April 14, Kirsten has held a team audit to understand his players and see where they stand in world cricket. Appreciative of the talent his players possess, Kirsten said talent alone is not enough, and for anyone to become great, they must also have good work ethics and attitude.

"The formula - we will progress as we go along," Gary said during an extensive Q/A round with the local media. "I have certainly been spending the first week doing a bit of a team audit, just to get to understand where everyone is at. You can't only rely on talent. You need a good work ethic and a good attitude."

"For me, what's important around that is that we have a lot of depth in the group across the different formats. So you are able to rotate players when you need to. You can't expect one guy just to be playing all the time. He'll blow up quite quickly,” he continued.

What excites Kirsten?

Listen up, Sri Lankan cricketers and fans, the head coach Kirsten details what he’s most excited about looking forward to.

"I think the next component to that is every team needs individuals in the team that are willing to step up and make those hard performances when the team needs it," he said. "And each team, when you've got a good group of those guys, they win games out of nowhere and perform when you really need it. Those are the individuals I'm really excited by. Now that's going to take time for me to understand and learn,” he continued.

World Cup Preparation

While Sri Lanka will travel to the Caribbean for a full-fledged tour in June, they will host the Men in Blue later in July-August. However, their greater goal is to win back the coveted crown – the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup trophy, scheduled in Africa in October next year, where the playing conditions would be different and challenging.

Reflecting on helping the team and the nation realise its dream, Kirsten explained his blueprint for success.

"It's going to be very different conditions to what a lot of the guys are used to, so how do we plan for that? It's about making sure all our bases are covered in the skillsets of the team," Kirsten said.

"Do we have guys with great air speed? Do we have guys that can swing the ball? Do we have guys that can bowl with bounce? Do you have top spinners? And do you have six batters who can bat on those kinds of conditions?” he added.