Bangladesh cricket - Best of luck Ian Pont

 The Bangladeshi pace bowlers wished to polish themselves under the watchful eyes of Lankce Klusener. The Bangladeshi cricket fans were highly delighted when they heard that Lance Klusener would be the next bowling coach. But sadly, Lance Klusener declined and thus, the expectations of the fans were dented.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had requested India’s Venaktesh Prasad and England’s Andrew Caddick but their response was negative and for which for more than six months the Tigers were left without a bowling coach.

But at last the BCB did manage a bowling coach for the Tigers. The gentleman is from England named Ian Pont. He is an unknown figure to the Bangladeshis. He is not a star but the guy has enough experience under his belt.  

  

Pont’s full name is Ian Leslie Pont. He was born in 28 August 1961 in Brentwood, Essex, England. Pont made his senior cricket debut in September 1981, playing for Nottinghamshire against Gloucestershire and Glamorgan. He made his first-class debut the following year against Middlesex at Lord's. He played three Benson & Hedges Cup matches for the Minor Counties in 1983, whilst playing for Buckinghamshire, returning to first-class cricket in July 1985, this time for his native Essex.

He continued playing for Essex over the following three years, also fitting in a spell playing for Natal in South Africa in 1985/1986. Whilst in South Africa, he recorded the second longest throw of a cricket ball of all time, throwing 138 yards in Cape Town. He played a few first-class matches for Essex in 1986 but 1987 started out very differently indeed.

In 1987, Pont had trials with six Major League Baseball clubs as a pitcher. Recording speeds of around 100 mph, he gained a one-month extended trial with the Philadelphia Phillies. At spring training, he was a starting pitcher for the Phillies in one exhibition game, becoming the first, modern-day professional cricketer to play in a professional baseball game.

He spent two more seasons playing first-class and List A cricket for Essex, after which he returned to minor counties cricket, playing for Northumberland in 1989 and Lincolnshire in 1990 and 1991. He played List A cricket for both teams.

After retiring from active cricket, he concentrated on his business interests. He was an early pioneer in coloured clothing, supplying the kit for all teams in the 1992 Cricket World Cup, and in the AXA Equity Law League in England in 1993, the first time cricket was played in coloured clothing in the UK.

Ian Pont is now an international coach, working with players in the United Kingdom and overseas on pace and accuracy. The specialized coaching used is known as ABSAT (Advanced Biomechanics Speed & Accuracy Technique). His book, ‘The Fast Bowler's Bible’ was published in 2006. Pont has recently been ECB National and Regional Skills Set Coach and the fast bowling coach of his former club Essex and was the national bowling coach of the Netherlands for two years up until the 2007 World Cup, when he was lost in the reshuffle of staff when the head coach was changed after that tournament. Pont is currently working as a technical fast bowling consultant to Northamptonshire County Cricket Club and is Head Coach of the International Pro Camp based in Potchefstroom, South Africa that runs every December.

Pont's latest discovery is The World's Best Slower Ball known as The SLOB (Slower Obsolete Delivery), which is hailed as a breakthrough as it drops like a stone into the batting crease when appearing to be a beamer. His much-awaited second book Coaching Youth Cricket is published by Human Kinetics and came out in June 2010. The book is recommended reading for all Level 1 qualified coaches.

Ian Pont seems quite an efficient man. Pont has the experience on coaching and is a great thinker of the game. He knows how to manage the young and promising pace bowlers and develop their skills. One thing Lance Klusener would have lacked and which is experience. But in case of Pont this won’t be.

Again, there is no guarantee that a star player would be a good coach. More often we have seen that less recognized cricketers had been better coaches. Dav Whatmore , Bob Woolmer are classic examples of such coaches who weren’t stars during their cricketing career as players but as a coach they had been highly successful.

I have always backed for experienced coaches and it was I who backed for coaches from Australia and England. In that sense the appointment of Ian Pont as the bowling coach is a good one.

Best of luck Ian Pont.

Note: Information about Ian Pont has been taken from Wikipedia

Thank You

Faisal Caesar