Express & Star

Paul Farbrace: Regrets? World Cup was not about me

Every England cricket fan can remember precisely where they were and what they were doing on July 14 last year, at the moment Jos Buttler ran out Martin Guptill to win the World Cup.

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Like many others, Paul Farbrace watched the drama unfold in his living room.

“The last three balls I was on my feet, running at the TV!” he exclaims.

The difference for Farbrace is that, for most of the preceding four years, the prospect of not being sat on the dressing room balcony at Lord’s would have been unthinkable.

Together with head coach Trevor Bayliss and captain Eoin Morgan, he had been a key architect in England’s transformation from white ball also-rans into the best one-day team in the world.

But barely two months before the World Cup was due to start, he stepped down from his role as assistant coach to become Warwickshire’s sporting director.

The obvious question, then, is whether those scenes of celebration at Lord’s brought the 52-year-old any pangs of regret? The answer is emphatic.

“Absolutely none at all,” Farbrace replies. “Watching the final, of course I would have loved to have been there.

“But - and here’s the most important thing - it wasn’t about me.

“That is something I learned from Trevor (Bayliss) very early on. I remember we did an interview before the World T20 final in India in 2016.

“I was thinking brilliant, great, we can talk ourselves up a bit.

“Rob Key (the interviewer) was going through our achievements and saying it must be great to have our experience in the dressing room.

“Trev immediately cuts in and says: ‘Nothing to do with us mate. We are just lucky enough to throw a few cones out in the morning, a few balls. It is players who go and play the game. It is them that win games, not coaches.’

“That stuck with me. As much as I did not want to walk away from an England team at the start of an Ashes summer, before a World Cup, it is not about the coaches. It is about players.

“I’d spoken to Morgs (Morgan) a lot previous winter, asking if I got an opportunity to move on, would it be selfish? Is it the wrong thing?

“His view was no, not at all. He explained I had done my bit, played my part, now it was up to the players to finish the job off. That is exactly what they did.

“Coaching is the next best thing to playing but, ultimately, it is all about the players. I heard Jose Mourinho say the same thing the other day after a Spurs win. Even he has cottoned on to that!”

Farbrace wasn’t exactly short of offers. The one he eventually took came the Bears, who were themselves searching for a replacement for Ashley Giles following the latter’s departure to become managing director of the England team.

Paul Farbrace

For Farbrace, who had spent three years as Sri Lanka’s head coach before becoming part of the England set-up and was weary of constantly being on the road, it was a chance too good to turn down.

“Coming away from the England team at that time was tough,” he says. “But the view was at the end of the World Cup there would be a lot of movement among the coaches, which there was.

“I wanted to find something which allowed me to be a bit more stable, a project I could get my teeth into. To get that in English cricket at a club like Warwickshire was fantastic.

“It was quite a straightforward decision. It also allowed me to be involved in a project where we can build something exciting for the future.”

Yet while the timing of his England exit might have been unfortunate, neither could joining a club on the eve of the county season, with most of the plans for the campaign already in place, be described as ideal.

There was also the question of how Farbrace, used to being very much a hands-on coach, would adapt to taking more of a backseat in a role where he is involved in almost every aspect of the club.

From the outset he acknowledged his first season at Edgbaston would be something of a watching brief, though he now admits maintaining such a position wasn’t always easy to maintain, particularly when the Bears floundered in both white ball competitions.

“I was so used to being in the changing room and involved on the playing side of things, to be more detached made it frustrating for me at times,” he explained.

“It started off well, I enjoyed watching. But once the T20s started I found myself frustrated, because we started off well in that tournament but then played some pretty poor cricket.”

The winter, then, has offered the chance to properly shape plans for the 2020 season and beyond.

“This period is allowing me to get a better understanding of what the coaches are looking at and being more in line with them as to what the thinking is,” he explains.

“During the season was not the time to be having those conversations. We have the chance to get to know each others philosophies. I think we are more aligned now.

“You can make far more rational decisions when you are not competing in matches day-in, day-out. I think we have a clear view of what our aspirations should be for this season and the next few years.”

Farbrace is brutally honest when assessing Warwickshire’s performance during 2019, not allowing an often lengthy injury list, which included Ian Bell and at one stage most of the seam bowling attack, to be used as excuse.

Though the Bears were able to maintain Division One status in the County Championship, in their first season back in the top flight, they still finished bottom but one and failed to make it out of the group stages in either white ball competition.

The winter has already seen significant change with Will Rhodes replacing Jeetan Patel as captain. Still aged just 24, Nottingham-born Rhodes is the county’s youngest skipper for more than a century and his appointment underlines the fact Warwickshire remain a team in transition.

Perhaps last year’s biggest positive was the four academy players handed first-team debuts. Their number included teenage batsman Rob Yates, a player Farbrace believes has England potential.

The focus for now is on steady progression, with a top five finish in Division One this summer’s target.

“I think that is realistic,” said Farbrace. “We are not going to go from second bottom to winning the Championship in the space of one season.

“I think if we can finish in the top five of county cricket we would be putting ourselves in a good position.

“That said, if we get off to a good start there is no reason we can’t aim for the top three.

“Last year there was a lot of talk about consolidating our position in Division One. I don’t like that. I think that is a soft word for just staying in there.

“I think we should be challenging but I think it is going to take us a year or two to get the experience into our group and to get into the habit of winning.”