Cricket: Baker keen to put in hard slog to be Merseyside’s best

Nov 16 2007 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

AT A time when even first-class cricketers are enjoying some well-earned rest and relaxation, Southport and Birkdale’s vice-captain Mark Baker is working hard to become one of the best-qualified cricket coaches on Merseyside.

The wicket-keeper/batsman has just finished the second of three residential courses designed to assess whether he can be awarded the prestigious Level III coaching badge but opportunities to bring out the best in other players is something which the 24-year-old teacher has always welcomed.

“I very much enjoy working with young players and I think I establish a good atmosphere with them,” he said. “Coaching at S&B was something I was hungry to help with. If you’re qualified, I think it’s something you’re duty-bound to do.”

Perhaps so, but few club cricketers have Baker’s patience or dedication. Last summer he was head coach for the West Lancashire district and had specific responsibility for the Under-15 side. He also worked successfully to foster enthusiasm for the game at Maricourt Catholic High School, Maghull where he teaches PE.

In addition, Baker’s spent many hours in the nets with S&B’s juniors and has also run specialist wicket-keeping courses. You could say that he’s got the coaching bug, an infection that will only get worse if he gets his Level III badge early in the New Year.

Obtaining the qualification would be both a substantial achievement and a major step up a very competitive professional ladder. “I’ve already discovered that the course is very focused and very advanced,” said Baker.

“There’s plenty of homework which is also assessed but you have to be able to question techniques and develop specific long-term programmes for an individual player and for a team. A lot of it is about one-to-one coaching and deep techniques with players who are attempting to perform specific skills such as moving out to drive.”

“The assessment is done by a senior ECB coach who watches you work one-to-one with a player you’ve never met before but for whom you put together a 15-minute session which you then review together,” he explained. “The pass rate is nothing like as high as in Level I or II so they’re obviously expecting some real quality from you. In addition to their own expertise, Level III coaches should be able to manage other coaches and run practice nights.”

If Baker achieves his goal, he will be only too ready to acknowledge the help of others. Maricourt has been generous in allowing him time off to attend the courses at Loughborough, and the Lancashire Cricket Board has also provided significant support through their development officer for Merseyside and West Lancashire, Paul Bryson.

Moreover, without the assistance of his own coaches at Trafalgar Road, Baker is only too aware that he might not have got anything like this far.

“I had a lot of help from Keith Miller when I was a junior and without his coaching I don’t think I’d have been got into the first-team as early as I did,” he said, “Ken Standring and Simon Sutcliffe also gave me a lot of advice and so now I feel I should provide help to others.”

Which is exactly what he plans to do next summer even though his expertise has been a mixed blessing as far as his own cricket is concerned.

“I missed a lot of my own training sessions last season because of my coaching commitments but working with other players has helped me assess and deal with my own batting problems,” he explained, “So I’m not looking to do anything outrageously different in 2008.”