Chris Harris, former New Zealand all-rounder, who is in India as cricket expert in a channel for the World Cup, works as a medical representative these days but won't mind a coaching job - specifically, India's fielding coach. A cult figure in New Zealand cricket, Harris - veteran of 250 ODIs and 4,379 runs in a 12-year career - redefined the art of fielding in the 1990s along with names like Jonty Rhodes and Guy Whittall. And he won't mind sharing his experience in a coaching capacity with an international team.
"I've done a little bit of coaching. I don't know if it's a dream, but I would certainly love to get involved with an international side in a fielding capacity," Harris told Cricketnext. And he stressed: fielding coach only.
"There are so many great coaches now and most of the good coaches want to be head coach or bowling coach or batting coach. But I would love to have an opportunity to take one of the sides and work on fielding," the Kiwi said. Being in India, he didn't miss sending a reminder to BCCI, in case the Indian board was looking for a fielding coach.
"I would certainly love to come over here and help coach the Indian side in their fielding because I think it's probably one area that India could see some improvement. Their batting is obviously quality and they have got some quality bowlers. We have seen that they can bat, they can bowl, but I think they can always work on their fielding," the former Black Caps player insisted.
When asked to reflect on the standard of fielding compared to when he used to play, the four-time World Cupper said it has considerably improved over the last decade. "It's improving all the time, and we've seen that in this World Cup. There has been some brilliant fielding, but I think there are always those little things that you can do," he said, adding that attitude matters when it comes to becoming a world class fielder.
"To me, good fielding is about attitude, it's about wanting to be a good fielder. There are a lot of cricketers out there who hate fielding. So if you hate fielding, it's very hard to be good at something you don't like. So you try to encourage people to enjoy it more and realise how important fielding is. There's an old cliche in cricket: catches win matches. And I firmly believe in that," he said.
