RCB Bold Diaries: Ben Sawyer addresses his role as head coach and the immediate challenges ahead of WPL

In less than a week’s time, we will witness what is going to be the maiden edition of the WPL, featuring the five franchises that will go head-on hoping to create history. Royal Challengers Bangalore are one of the five teams, and they will look to work their way towards the coveted trophy led by skipper Smriti Mandhana and head coach, Ben Sawyer.

Talking on the latest episode of RCB’s Bold Diaries, Ben Sawyer opened up on his involvement in the WPL. He said, “This is an amazing opportunity. I am part of such an iconic brand and the club in the first WPL, it’s pretty much a dream job. I am really looking forward to it and I have been excited for a number of weeks. It feels really nice to get started out here.”

Sawyer comes into the RCB setup with a decorated CV, including coaching roles in women’s cricket with the Australian national team, the New Zealand national team, the Big Bash League and a lot more. Adding on to how important skill training is in the pre-season camp, Sawyer said, “The first part of a camp is to determine the skill levels of the various players. Then act accordingly, helping them with their strength and fitness as it has become an important part of the games too. So many of these players are now going from franchise to franchise. Not really an off-season anymore. To get in any real strength training and any fitness, if you can, I guess that is really important.”

When quizzed about how he plans to work around players’ availabilities with a few of them set to arrive late given prior commitments, he said, “In franchise cricket, we can only get the full squad 4 or 5 days prior to the tournament. We are used to that. It is not easy. But we will have to make it work. At times these players are playing in the World Cup. I guess that is already great. It won’t be a disadvantage at all.”