For the Aussies, planning is more important than winning

It is said by some that we must concentrate our attention on the present, which is absolutely correct. However, if this present has no connection to the future, and our energies are absorbed solely by achieving results today, then we consign ourselves to being ‘yesterday’s man, yesterday’s team, and yesterday’s heroes’!

A crucial part of the planning process, I believe, is to have a clear vision of what we wish to be in the future. For example, our vision for the current Australian team in the medium term is to be recognised as the best side in the world on all surfaces. This vision recognises we have some work to do over the next year, playing in Sri Lanka, Sharjah, Zimbabwe, England and the return to India. The long term vision is for World Cup 2007 — to produce a side that has skills that no other team can match.

In so doing, two major outcomes are possible. First, by working towards a vision (i.e. a futuristic picture), we can in part control the future. There is little new in such an approach — Jardine, with his ‘Bodyline’ tour of Australia, and Clive Lloyd, who created the powerful Windies sides of the late 70s and 80s, both had a vision of how they could control the game!

The second outcome is that a clear picture of where we are wanting to head to allows more effective and efficient allocation of resources (i.e. time, money, people, equipment, logistics). For instance, if we take our medium-term vision of being recognised as the best team on all surfaces, this picture allows us, during the current tour of India, to focus our information gathering about conditions and opposition, our technical discussions, our playing methods, our travel and accommodation needs, and ultimately the type of players best suited for India and Sri Lanka.

From this more macro level, the planning process then can be stepped down to the micro needs of the team and then the individual. For this particular tour of India, we have decided on a general game plan or set of principles that pertain to our batting, bowling, fielding and team work.

As a consequence when it comes time to review our most recent performance(s), we have constant reference points on which to assess why team and individuals achieved what they did through the game. While the results are important, it is the process of getting those results which is more important!

The beauty of sport is that performance feedback is immediate. We do not have to wait months or a year for results, like many organisations and those who work for them are bound to do. Such immediate feedback gives us the opportunity to factor the positive and the negative into the planning process for the next encounter. Artists, musicians, entertainers, surgeons and other similar professionals all experience the same process.

So, quickly reviewing our team performances to date, we have been reasonably satisfied that the general principles we have adopted are about right. What we haven’t done as well as we would like is to enact or execute the plans derived from those principles.

There is still some latitude for both individual and team due to the lack of ODI preparation, lack of adjustment time to Indian conditions, and lack of experience within our ranks of playing in India. It will be fair to say, though, that, come the end of game three in Mumbai, such latitude will be less likely.

Sun Tzu best summarises the principles of planning:

One who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be in danger in a hundred battles.

(Gameplan)