The few meetings I have had with Australian coach, John Buchanan have left me impressed. Without an international cricket playing background, he has emerged as the most successful.

Australian team coach ever, and the very fact that in some quarters he is rated as better and having achieved more than Bobby Simpson, is quite remarkable.

John is an academic first and a cricket analyst and coach later. That he is looking at an academic career once his contract with Australia ends, is indicative of his approach to his career. He has made his point as being the best in the business, though there have been no shortage of doubters and detractors in his own country.

But notwithstanding this, he has gone about his task in his own meticulous manner. It is one thing taking over as the coach of a winning combination, but maintaining the zest for success and coming up with different ideas than his predecessors, is another.

I suppose it would not be fair to describe John as a non-player turned coach. To love and respect the game one must be obsessed with it. And this obsession can only come about if one has played it. Maybe not very successfully. But then once the game becomes an addiction (is this a more appropriate word than obsession?) then it is not unusual to become a student.

While successful players might not necessarily make fine coaches, it is almost certain that students can make excellent ones, provided they keep themselves abreast with the latest developments in the game. At the highest level, players do not want to be coached in the strict sense of the term, but to receive guidance in areas where they are going wrong. There is also the mental side of the game that of late is being given the importance it deserves.

The stress on physical agility and stamina have to be commended because with the game being played almost non-stop, players have to be equipped in this score. This is why all teams have ensured that there are specialists taking care of this department of the game.

But where someone like John comes in is, to set targets for his wonderful players and keep the motivation level high. It is terribly important to stoke the hunger for success as then players realise that they cannot allow their standards to drop even one bit.

There is the tactical side which embraces the strengths and the limitations of the opponents. True, a captain like Ricky Ponting, arguably the most exciting and best batsman in the contemporary game, is aware of the strengths and limitations. But then being preoccupied with his own game, that of his colleagues and on-the- field strategies, he has his hands full all right. It is the little details that John looks into and keeps each player aware of what surprises to expect.

If there is a public perception that in comparison to the likes of Greg Chappell (one of the international greats), Bob Woolmer and Dave Whatmore (who have represented their respective countries), John would be out of place, he has shown that he is as good, as canny and always one step ahead. It is unlikely that he delves into the technical matters — be it in batting, bowling and fielding — but probably has a quiet word to a player which could go something like this, "You know "Pup" (Michael Clarke), I think you should show the way your bat is coming down to "Punter" (Ricky Ponting) and I will have a word with him."

As a coach if you have not been a star in your playing time, you are automatically devoid of ego. But then you have to win the respect of your players by the quality of your inputs.

One can never forget that the players are mostly high quality ones with professional pride and too much at stake for them to allow a decline in their performances. At the same time they are vulnerable and because of the pressures need counselling and encouragement.

John must have worked out the right product mix that has made men like Ponting and Adam Gilchrist praise his contribution to Australian cricket’s commitment and sustained excellence. Maybe Shane Warne would like John’s successor to be someone who has played at the highest level. But what gurantee that he would have John’s other attributes and most important of all, academic mind.

Warne is a force with the ball in hand, but is not known to have said anything that is important to the game. It is not without reason that he was never made the regular captain of Australia. And it must be said about John that it was he who took Steve Waugh to meet Edward de Bono in London. Remember Greg Chappell introducing the concept of de Bono caps in the Indian camp? So this experiment is something taken from John.

John Buchanan has much to be proud of and most of all that one need not have played international cricket to coach guide internationals.