Penney passes on fielding tips

Coach Trevor Penney passes on his expert advice at the ECB National Academy

Trevor Penney was one of the greatest fielders in county cricket at the peak of his career and is now passing on his knowledge to England players at all levels through his work at the ECB National Academy.

The Zimbabwean, who still plays one-day cricket for Warwickshire, has been employed at the Loughborough base to come in and help coach the art of fielding.

There is more understanding in the modern game of the importance of fielding and it is hoped that Penney’s expertise will help England’s players become the best fielders in the world.

Penney told ecb.co.uk: “I’ve been working with the Under 15, 17, 19 and a lot with the women’s team, which has been really good.

“I’ve also been working with the Academy players and Rod Marsh and I’ve been coming in most Thursdays for the past two months now. That has slowly built up as they prepare to go on tour.”

It is a labour of love for the 36-year-old, who believes coaching fielding was an obvious route to go down as the end of his playing career approached.

Academy player Owais Shah practices his sliding technique

“Fielding has always been the string to my bow, I’ve always loved it and practised it more than most people,” he explained.

“I worked out my own routines and three years ago, when I started living in England full-time, I went to see David Parsons (ECB National Coach) first of all. He said it was a good time for me as there was no other good fielder who had become a fielding coach.

“There are other fielding coaches who have come from other backgrounds such as baseball but he said ‘there’s no-one else like you and it’s a good time to start’. I’ve been trying to put my practices and thoughts into training schedules and it’s just gone from there.”

Penney began his first class career in 1986 and admits attitudes towards fielding have drastically changed in recent times, with players now more aware of the need to work on their fielding.

“The opinion of fielding has definitely changed and gone are the days when you could just expect to stand at first slip all day,” he said. “More people want to be good at fielding now.

“The way I work it is that people used to practice their fielding but not work on their technique like they did with batting and bowling. I’ve broken it down and we do a lot of technique work and then put it into fun competitions.

Fielding practice is now an important part of the game

“Then the players get wound up about it and they end up absolutely loving it. That promotes fielding and they start thinking ‘I can’t wait for fielding practice’.

“Before, when I started at Warwickshire, you’d get guys who would just take 10 catches and go for a shower and that’s why you could only name a handful of really good fielders in the world. It does take a lot of hard work.”

Penney has worked with the England women’s team as they prepare for the World Cup in South Africa and has been particularly impressed with their ability.

He admits it was a step into the unknown when he took his first session with Richard Bates’ players, but was taken aback by their attitude.

“When I first started with them, I had never coached women before and I was a bit apprehensive about doing things like diving and all these rough things,” he concedes.

“But they surprised me - they were fearless, no prima-donnas. They just went for it and were fantastic, it’s a pleasure to coach them.”

So what makes a good fielder in Penney’s opinion?

“You definitely have to be an athlete and be strong in the thigh and mid regions,” he said. “Some people think it’s about standing up tall but it’s a low power base.

“It’s also about reading the play but most of all it’s about wanting it. You’ve got to want the ball to come to you every time and then practice the specifics to be good when it does come to you.”