G'day all, and sorry for the two-day break in this diary. Thing being, I had to do some hectic travelling -- at the end of which, I realise that it is far, far easier to get you the entire blueprint of our military capability, than it is to paint a picture of the BCCI's finances, and to show you how much it earns, and spends.

Never mind, we'll get there yet. Meanwhile, I find my thoughts turning to technology, as an aid to sport. Or more particularly, to cricket.

The first time I spoke to a board official on the subject was about four years ago -- and the official in question was Jaywant Lele. It's a funny thing about the guy -- he acts like he hates Rediff's guts, he goes out of his way to give us a hard time over the littlest things. But when he comes face to face with Faisal or with me, he is locquaciousness personified, ever ready to talk at length on pretty much any subject.

Anyways. In course of a chat, I asked him why, when the rest of the world was going high-tech, Indian coaches could still be found with pencil and paper, scribbling notes to themselves. 'Arre,' he replied in his inimitable fashion, 'tum log hamesha kyon ye computer-womputer ke chakkar mein pade ho? The computer is a fashion for you people, that is all you talk about all the time. Cricket bat aur ball se kela jaata hai, not with computers. Arre you tell me, when South Africa came here last, that Woolmer brought this big dabba with him, carried it all over, you media people wrote about his computer and said nice things. And what happened? South Africa lost, no?'

A seemingly sound argument, but one that misses the point by a country mile. Lele, as is usual with him, sees one tiny corner of the picture here. What he misses is the fact that the Proteas have made incredible progress in a very short time since their re-entry. That countries like Australia have, with the aid of computers, refined their game to such an extraordinary degree that increasingly, it looks like they just can't lose. That even countries like New Zealand have made tremendous strides once they went hi-tech.

But who is to tell the board this? After all, 'cricket bat aur ball se kela jaata hai', no?

Talk to our national players about the coaches they have had, and you will find that their reactions range from indifference, to downright contempt. 'They yell at you after the game, but they don't have any suggestions to make before,' is a commonly heard complaint. 'The coach yells at you, says 'Why have you given so many runs?' -- but all he has is questions, never answers,' is another. 'After a match, the coach tells me, you should have scored more singles, you should rotate the strike -- but no coach has told me why it is that I am not able to get the singles, what I am doing wrong, what I should do to put it right,' is yet another.

We have had quite a few coaches in recent times. And each time a new one is announced, we media people promptly ask various players what they think of the latest appointee. 'Oh, it is very good for us, he is very experienced, we can learn a lot, we are sure he will get us back on the winning track....' is what we get. And then, if the player knows you well, he will say, 'Kya farak padega, yaar? They are all the same, they will tell you to bat better and bowl better and field well, and that is all they will ever do, nothing is going to change.' And an instant later, he will add, 'Don't quote me, huh? I don't want to get into trouble with the board and the coach. '

White's appointment is being greeted with the same on-record enthusiasm. The only difference is that this time, there is no off-record cribbing -- the mood among the players seems uniformly positive.

What is interesting is the reason behind the positive mood in the team. Players I spoke to point out that what they have lacked all along is someone to help them think things through. A Srinath, for instance, finds his line going awry in his second spell. And wants to know, is it that his back, or ribs, are hurting and subconciously, he is favouring that region and in the process, his bowling hand is falling away? A Sachin would like to know how come the shot he plays through point on the up, which during his best seasons was one of the most distinctive weapons in his batting armoury, is now the cause of his downfall. A Rahul Dravid needs to know just why he finds himself run-less to the leg spinner who pitches just back of a length, outside leg, turning sharply in to leg and middle. And so on. Each player has little technical niggles he wants help to sort out, and that help, they say, has not been forthcoming.

"Often," one senior member of the side told me yesterday, "all it takes is one little adjustment, for things to come right again. But you can't figure out the adjustment while you are actually playing -- what you need is for someone to watch you during matchplay, make a note of what the problem is, then sit down with you and talk you through the problem. You can then get into the nets and with your coach watching, try making some changes to the way you bat or bowl, to rectify the defect."

It seems a simple enough matter -- some observation, some feedback, some monitoring while the player takes corrective remedies. Yet, more than one player says that the lack of this kind of input, on a regular, ongoing basis, has been a major cause for the trot of bad performances in recent times.

It is in this context that the players look at Wright's appointment -- they think that at long last, they have a coach who can actually apply his mind to what they require. And for this, they say, technology is a very important tool.

Interestingly, when Wright met the members of the BCCI prior to his appointment, he made it an important pre-condition of appointment to be allowed to spend a reasonable amount on technological aids. His idea of reasonable amounts, that is -- not the board's.

The first thing he did, on signing up for the job, was to go down to Bangalore and acquire, from a private company there, a software package that he believes will help fill the technological bill.

During the ongoing hiatus, that software is being used to back up data. Videos of old games are being loaded into the computer, the software is then harnessed to collect the data regarding each player's performance, over various parameters.

From India's home series against Australia on, however, Wright will be backed up by a first division player who is also a first class umpire, and who will be in charge of feeding data into the computer, live, ball by ball, Tests and ODIs alike. Information the coach will then use to refine on-field strategy, and also to work with the players on various aspects of the game.

I spent part of my two days away from office checking out the software and the arrangements being made. I'll leave the specifics of the package to my diary of tomorrow -- for now, I'll end with the confession that I am hugely impressed. Any reasonably intelligent human being with a reasonable grasp of the game AND a willingness to use available aids can bring about a one hundred per cent improvement in the side.

For now, cheers, see you tomorrow.

Prem

Mail Cricket Editor