Cricket is a sport beloved by millions of fans worldwide. Additionally, the cricketers play in the position that fits them perfectly and pulls off some of the awe-inspiring feats on the field.
However, all the credit goes to the players themselves and their coaches for the work they do behind.
A good coach is important for every team for guidance, devising the best strategic plans, and deciding the player’s position. The framework they come up with will ultimately lead to victory or loss.
Therefore, to celebrate these figures who have contributed so much to the sport, we have compiled the list of the best cricket coaches in the world.
12 Best Cricket Coaches in the World (2024 Update)
The list has been created referencing various trusted sources from the internet like Crickettipmaster, Sportsbrower, etc. However, before jumping into the details, let us give a quick peek at the table below.
| Coaches Name | Country |
| 12. Mickey Arthur | South Africa – Australia |
| 11. Darren Lehmann | Australia |
| 10. Ravi Shastri | India |
| 9. Andy Flower | Zimbabwe |
| 8. Michael Hesson | New Zealand |
| 7. Ducan Fletcher | Zimbabwe |
| 6. Gary Stead | Australia |
| 5. Dav Whatmore | Australia |
| 4. Trevor Bayliss | New Zealand |
| 3. John Wright | New Zealand |
| 2. Gary Kirsten | South Africa |
| 1. John Buchanan | Australia |
12. Mickey Arthur
We will start our list of the best cricket coaches with former South African-Australian cricketer Mickey Arthur. As a former cricketer, he played domestic cricket in South Africa.
Arthur played professional cricket from 1986 to 2001. After his retirement, he began his coaching career as a head coach for the Griqualand West cricket team in 2003.
Then in 2005, Arthur took over the position of national coach. However, he only played in domestic cricket, and he had tough luck leading the South African into international cricket.
However, in 2006, under Arthur’s coaching, the South African team rejoiced back-to-back victory in Test and one-day series. This helped the team to shoot at the top of the ODI rankings.
Besides coaching the national team, he coached the Australian cricket team, Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Karachi Kings, Pakistani cricket team, and Dynamites. Arthur has been coaching the Sri Lankan cricket team since 2020.
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11. Darren Lehmann
The next cricket coach is a former Australian cricketer who transitioned into coaching, Darren Lehmann. An aggressive left-handed batsman, he started his coaching career as an assistant coach after retirement.
Lehmann enjoyed only limited success during his playing career. Likewise, his lack of fitness and physical condition limited him from playing, which led him to retire in 2007.
As an assistant coach, he toured with the Cricket Australian Centre of Excellence. Lehmann is well-known for coaching two franchise teams of IPL. From 2009 to 2012, he coached Deccan Chargers and coached Kings XI Punjab in 2013.
Similarly, Lehmann also coached the Australian cricket and Australian domestic teams, Queensland. However, he stepped down from the national team’s head coach after the ball-tampering scandal broke.
But Cricket Australia cleared him of all accusations. Although he was named head coach of Northern Superchargers in 2019, he resigned in January 2022, citing COVID-19 restrictions.
10. Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri is a former Indian cricket player who played between 1981 to 1992. Shastri is also a former captain of the Indian cricket team. He began his coaching career in 2017.
Shastri was a useful all-rounder who was elected Champion of Champions in the World Championship of Cricket in 1985 held in Australia. However, his playing career was cut short after a recurring knee injury.
At age 31, Shastri was forced to retire. However, after his retirement, he did commentary for BCCI in matches. Then in 2014, he became the director of the Indian cricket team for a short period of eight-month.
Later the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) appointed him as a head coach. Shastri was re-appointed as the head coach for the senior men’s team in 2019. The coach was in charge of the team until the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup.
9. Andy Flower
Number 9 on our list of top cricket coaches is Zimbabwean former cricketer and captain of the Zimbabwe national cricket team Andy Flower. He is one of the greatest batsmen produced by the country.
During his playing career, Flower was ranked as one of the best Test batsmen in the world. But unfortunately, his national cricket playing days were cut short due to political reasons.
At the end of his career, he played for Essex and South Australia. Flower started his coaching career in 2007 as an assistant coach for the England team.
Then from 2009 to 2014, he was the coach for the English cricket team. He is the second foreign coach in the team’s history. Similarly, Flower also served Multan Sultans and St. Lucia Kings’ head coach.
Currently, Flower is the head coach for the IPL franchise team Lucknow Super Giants. Previously, he has also worked with the Kings XI Punjab but as an assistant coach. He became the first Zimbabwean ICC Hall of Famer in 2021.
8. Michael Hesson
Michael Hesson is a cricket coach from New Zealand who took the helm of his country’s cricket team and many international teams. The 49 year old coach is widely regarded as one of the best modern-day cricket coaches.
Hesson is often given credit for the success of the New Zealand team in the international platform. Along with Brendon McCullum, he built a strong Kiwi squad that was able to advance to the 2015 World Cup finals.
The team achieved success and dominated India and West Indies in their home series. Consequently, Hesson served his national cricket team longer than any other coach.
Similarly, he has also served as a coach for Argentina, Kenya, and Otago in NZ domestic cricket. In 2018, he was appointed as a coach representative on ICC Committee, which he later resigned.
Hesson has also served as a head coach for the IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab. He also worked as a Director of Cricket Operations for the IPL’s Royal Challengers Bangalore, from which he stepped down in 2021.
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7. Duncan Fletcher
Duncan Fletcher is number 7 on our list of best cricket coaches. He is also a former Zimbabwean cricketer and transitioned into a coaching career with a first-class cricket team.
While in his playing career, Fletcher was captain of the Zimbabwean team. Duncan led the team to victory in the 1982 ICC Trophy and qualified for the 1983 Cricket World Cup held in England.
After coaching for Western Province and Glamorgan, Fletcher took over coaching the England cricket team in 1999.
He is credited for the English cricket team’s success in the 2005 Ashes series under his management. Fletcher led the team to victory bringing the Ashes cup home after 18 years.
Similarly, he also won the 2007 Commonwealth Bank Series. He served the team from 1999 to 2007, during which he changed the face of the English cricket team.
For his contribution to the 2005 Ashes series win, Fletcher was honored with the Order of the British Empire. After leaving the English team, he became the head coach for India in 2011.
The Indian cricket team also enjoyed 8 international series victories under his coaching.
6. Gary Stead
Another coach to make it on our list of the best cricket coaches is Gary Stead. He is a former cricketer and currently is the head coach for the New Zealand cricket team.
During his career, Stead was a top-order batsman. He played in the first-class cricket team, Canterbury. After playing first-class cricket for 8 years, he was called up for Test debut.
Stead only played five Test matches. Then, he transitioned into a coaching career after his retirement. His first coaching job was for New Zealand’s women’s team.
In 2018, Stead was appointed as the head coach for the New Zealand cricket team. With him taking over the job, the team advanced to the World Test Championship finals for the first time.
Furthermore, they made a historic win against India in the game. Stead was credited for leading the New Zealand team to a successful era.
5. Dav Whatmore
Dav Whatmore is a Sri Lankan-born Australian coach and a former cricketer. He began his coaching career in 1988/99 with the Sri Lankan cricket team.
Whatmore played seven Test matches and an ODI during his playing career. Before his Test and ODI debut, he played first-class cricket for Victoria.
After that, he decided to retire from the playing career to pursue coaching. As a head coach for the Sri Lankan team, he won the 1996 Cricket World Cup.
After coaching the Sri Lankan team on two separate occasions, Whatmore moved to coach Lancashire. There also, he won National League two times and a NatWest Trophy.
Similarly, he has coached for Bangladesh, England, India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Singapore, and Nepal. Likewise, he has also coached the IPL franchise, the Kolkota Knight Riders.
Whatmore has one of the most colorful coachings resumes if there is one for the cricket coaches. In 2021, he was appointed head coach for the Baroda cricket team in India.
4. Trevor Bayliss
We have placed Trevor Bayliss on our number 4 as the best cricket coach. He is an Australian cricket coach who played first-class cricket in a career spanned from 1985 to 1997.
Bayliss had a short playing career during which he played for the New South Wales state team. After retiring from playing, he became a development officer for the New South Wales Cricket Association and started coaching.
The first international team which he coached was the Sri Lankan national team. Bayliss stayed with the team from 2007 to 2011. Then from 2011 to 2015, he was in charge of the BBL franchise Sydney Sixers.
Similarly, Bayliss also coached for England, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies, and India. He was also credited for the English team winning the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
In 2020, he was appointed as the head coach for the IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad. Before this, he was part of another IPL franchise Kolkota Knight Riders, for whom he won the IPL championship twice.
3. John Wright
We have yet another coach from New Zealand making it on our list of the best cricket coaches. On our number 3 is a former international cricketer and captain, John Wright.
Wright played for the first-class cricket team and New Zealand cricket team. John scored more than 5,000 Test runs during his playing career and was the first player from New Zealand to achieve the feat.
In 1993, Wright retired from his playing career. Then, he began his international coaching career with the Kent County Cricket Club. In 2005, he took over the head coach position for the Indian national team.
Wright had a successful run while coaching the Indian cricket team. Therefore, he is given the most credit for starting the team’s winning streak on an international platform.
The Indian team also underwent huge improvement under his coaching. Similarly, he enjoyed several wins in Test Series and reached the 2003 Cricket World Cup final.
He left the Indian cricket team in 2005 after a successful run of 5 years.
2. Gary Kirsten
On our number 2 is a former South African cricketer Gary Kristen. One of the best players during his career, he took his first coaching job in 2008 for the Indian team.
Kristen made history during his playing career by becoming the first-ever Protea to play in 100 Test matches. Similarly, he was the first Test batsman to make hundreds against each of the other 9 Test nations.
His playing career spanned from 1993 to 2004, Kristen still holds the record for the highest innings by a South African in an ODI.
After taking the position of the Indian team coach, within three years, he became one of the best coaches that took over the team. He led the team to win its first bilateral series and defeated Australia at home.
Under Kristen, India won the Test and ODI series against New Zealand after 40 years hiatus. Furthermore, he led the team in a successful campaign in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup after 28 years.
Then, Kristen joined the South African team, Hobart hurricanes. Later, in January 2022, he was appointed coach for the IPL team Gujarat Titans.
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1. John Buchanan
The number one coach who takes our title of the best cricket coach is John Buchanan. He is a former Australian cricketer whose playing career only lasted briefly.
Buchanan began his head coach journey in England. He coached for the Oldham and Cambridgeshire in the domestic league. Similarly, he also coached Queensland for five successful years.
In 1999, Buchanan was appointed head coach for the Australian men’s cricket team. Almost immediately, his coaching proved to be the best. The team recorded 15 wins from 15 games played.
Furthermore, he won the 2003 and 2007 ICC World Cup and won the 2006 Champions Trophy under skillful coaching. Along with Ricky Pointing on the team, Buchanan helped create a strong Australian team that dominated the cricket world.
In 2007 after winning the World Cup, he retired from his post. He then worked as a head coach for IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, English team’s consultant, and New Zealand’s Director of Cricket.
Conclusion
The coach plays an important role to led the team to victory. Without anyone holding the helm and proper management, a team cannot perform. Therefore, these cricket coaches deserve all the credits they get.
Thanks to their skills and mental strategies, the sport has become more enjoyable. Moreover, they have contributed to bringing the sport to the glorious state it is in now.
