National Men’s Head Coach

Candidate Brief

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BACKGROUND

The future of Irish Cricket is incredibly bright following the recent awarding of ICC Full Membership and Test status to Cricket Ireland. The strategic vision of the organisation is to become a Test nation, not just in name (now achieved) but in the broader sense of what it means to be a ‘Test’ playing country - our Strategic Plan 2016-20 defines this is great detail.

Cricket Ireland is the governing body for the game at both performance and participation levels throughout All-Ireland, representing the interests of both the men’s and women’s game. Our success over the last decade has resulted in the rapid growth of the organisation while our growth in playing strength has attracted some of the top teams in the world to play Ireland, with teams such as England, Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Bangladesh all playing ODI’s on these shores in the last few years. However the new head coach will need to balance the focus and team development across all three formats.

Ireland has an opportunity to compete in a proposed 3-team programme of Test cricket with additional one-off opportunities to play some of the top 9 countries. In one-day international cricket, Ireland has an immediate focus on the ICC World Cup 2019 Qualifier which will take place in the first half of 2018, whilst we will continue to schedule as many bilateral ODI’s as possible in 2018 and 2019 until a proposed World Cup League commences at the beginning of 2020. In Twenty20, we intend to schedule as many International T20 matches as possible and improve our global ranking of 18th, ahead of the next World T20 Qualifier, likely late 2019/early 2020.

Cricket Ireland has access to a warm-weather outdoor cricket performance centre in Spain recently developed, and at home is currently developing an outdoor high performance centre in Dublin. However whilst this facility is being developed grass facilities are currently rented from clubs all-Ireland and several key partnerships exist in this regard.

Cricket Ireland is seeking a full-time National Men’s Head Coach, initially on a three-year fixed term contract (until November 2020).

The position is headquartered in North Dublin, but the nature of the role demands a national brief across both sides of the border as well as significant time travelling overseas.

The successful candidate must be eligible to work in the European Economic Area (EEA) and, if not currently in possession of one, will will need to apply for an appropriate employment permit, which can take up to 3 months.

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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

The Head Coach will be responsible for developing a world leading Ireland cricket team which delivers sustained success in all conditions and formats, inspiring current and future generations of cricketers and supporters with their approach to the game.

Reporting into the Performance Director, the Head Coach will have responsibility for the performance and management of the Ireland Men’s and Wolves (A-team) in all three forms of the game.

The Head Coach will lead and line-manage a team of key support staff (assistant coach & fast bowling lead; batting & fielding consultant coach; lead strength and conditioning coach; performance analyst; lead physiotherapist; specialist consultant coaches; and the team operations manager (who also has a dotted line to the International Teams Admin Manager), and will be responsible for defining their roles, their performance, providing a structured staff development programme, and annual appraisals.

The Head Coach will be jointly responsible for reviewing, maintaining and enforcing the disciplinary codes within the Ireland Men’s teams (with the Performance Director and Team Operations Manager).

The Head Coach will be a member of the National Selection Panel and Cricket Ireland Cricket Committee.

KEY SKILLS

The Head Coach will be an accomplished strategist with clear and ambitious plans for how they will develop and build further success for Irish cricket moving forward. They will need to demonstrate that they can create a winning culture and mind-set in all forms of the game, capable of beating other Full Member countries.

The Head Coach will be an outstanding communicator and people-manager, who will create a vital coach-captain relationship and be able to deal with tough, contentious and confrontational situations. Their focus will be on managing competitive, highly skilled and self-reliant Ireland senior teams; an elite performance environment that demands exceptional standards of professionalism; and be able to deal with all situations relevant to leading a high performance team.

It will be part of the Head Coach’s role (along with the Performance Director and National Academy and Performance Manager) to ensure that there is a structure in place which allows the Ireland performance squad and senior and emerging academy players to develop as cricketers and individuals.

The Head Coach will need to inspire confidence, and demonstrate that they can develop and improve existing talent technically, tactically, physically and mentally, whilst identifying and integrating new talent into a team culture that is both challenging and supportive.

This will include delivering senior team, small group and 1:1 coaching sessions, and preparation sessions leading into a series/tournaments.

The Head Coach will develop, monitor and oversee Individual Performance Plans (IPP’s) and include measurable KPI’s within them using the Athlete Management System (AMS) - an

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electronic database and communication tool for managing and monitoring player status and progress.

The Head Coach will demonstrate great planning and organisational strengths and will be responsible for setting out and then executing short, medium and long term plans for the development of Ireland teams, using the AMS. Central to these will be the ability to manage the playing and coaching resources at their disposal to the greatest effect across the three forms of the game.

The Head Coach will demonstrate an innovative approach and a commitment to being at the cutting edge of the latest developments in cricket and elite coaching. They will need to foster strong working relationships across key personnel within Cricket Ireland, including coach development, medical and sports science, to ensure that Irish cricket becomes synonymous with world leading practice in all areas of the game.

The Head Coach will need to build a good close working relationship that results in high level performance outputs from the expert staff.

The Head Coach will need to develop effective working relationships with the Inter-Provincial teams, drawing on the expertise and experience of coaches from around the country, and supporting them.

The Head Coach will demonstrate the networking ability and key relationships with competitor nations and key stakeholders, for the purpose of building good training and competition partnerships.

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Essential

Accomplished coach with a track record of working with senior elite cricket teams, who can demonstrate sustained success in their coaching career

Coached for a significant period at first-class level Track record of success at first-class level achieved over an extended period of time. Hold a minimum ECB Level 3 Performance Coach (or equivalent) Successful record in high performance planning and monitoring, as well as designing and implementing Individual Performance Plans and programmes in elite environments.

Desirable

International coaching experience International playing experience Track record at international level achieved Hold a minimum ECB Level 4 Master Coach qualification (or equivalent) A Degree (or equivalent) in sport, sports science or coaching A strong working understanding of key technologies relevant to monitoring, tracking, measuring and analysing individual and team performance.

The selection panel reserves the right to consider Desirable Criteria during the short-listing process should candidates remain on an equal footing using simply Essential Criteria

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WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Performance Director Chief Executive International Teams Administration Manager Support staff: Team Operations Manager; Assistant Coach/Fast Bowling Lead; Performance Analyst; Strength and Conditioning Coach; Physiotherapist (consultant)

Chairman of Selectors and 3 national selectors Inter-Provincial Head Coaches Cricket Operations Manager National Academy and Performance Manager CI Cricket Committee CI High Performance Advisory Group ICC High Performance Manager Competitor nations

REMUNERATION

The package will include a salary commensurate with qualifications and experience, and include an accommodation package, a bonus scheme, healthcare, pension, company car, laptop and mobile phone.

PROCESS

The closing date for applications will be 9th August, 9am local time. Letters of application and full CVs should be sent by email to recruitment@cricketireland.ie and will be confidential.

For a confidential discussion about the role, please contact Richard Holdsworth either by email at recruitment@cricketireland.ie or by telephone on +353 18947916

Preliminary interviews will be held on August 30th, 31st or September 1st 2017.

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CRICKET IRELAND

Unit 22-23 Grattan Business Park Clonshaugh DUBLIN 17 Republic of IRELAND