When ‘twelfth man’ Fountain showed West Indies the way

It was the dawn of a new millennium and the West Indies were touring Australia barely a month after the tragic demise of their coach, the great Malcolm Marshall. Englishman Julien Fountain, then just 30, was appointed coach for the high-profile tour.

The Caribbean outfit struggled in most departments throughout their stay Down Under, but their fielding was excellent. It was during this tour that Fountain had to practice what he preached day in and day out.

The team was hit by a number of injuries and Fountain had to take to the field wearing the Windies maroon as the 12th man during a match against the Prime Minister’s Xl at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. And guess what, he came to the party by running out Anthony McGuire with a direct hit from the boundary.

“The boys were overjoyed,” Fountain, who is now the fielding coach of Pakistan, recalled during an interview with DNA at the Sher-e-Bangla on Wednesday.

The ‘boys’ happened to be Courtney Walsh, Brian Lara and Carl Hooper among others. “They were glad to see that their coach could do what he wanted them to,” Fountain added.

The 42-year-old, who took up the Pakistan assignment the same day as Dav Whatmore, is thrilled to be working with such “an
incredibly talented bunch of players”.

Fountain played cricket for Somerset, but it’s his baseball exploits which often get highlighted. Well, given that he was barely 19 when he first represented Great Britain in the American sport, it doesn’t come as a surprise.

Fountain, who has also worked as the fielding coach of England and Bangladesh, has used his ‘pitching’ (the ‘bowler’ in baseball is called a pitcher) skills to create a ‘butterfly’ ball. 

Whilst on assignment in Bangladesh, Fountain and then bowling coach Ian Pont used their dual sport backgrounds to design a completely new slower ball for pace bowlers. “It’s all about the release,” Fountain said, gesticulating emphatically.

“The cricket ball has a great seam and it can be used intelligently. The aerodynamics of the ball would make it deviate and literally flutter in the air.

“The ball would then suddenly drop. I call it the butterfly ball,
but because we were in Bangladesh, we called it ‘projapoti’,” he added.

So how have the first few days with world cricket’s most maverick bunch of players been? “It’s been brilliant. I’m enjoying their company,” he said. And does he believe in punishments? After all, he’s likely to face a lot of defiance. “Look, Dav and I are keen on building a high-performance unit.

“We are going to have our ups and downs, but I don’t punish anybody.

“I believe in positive encouragement.” And what if someone defies him? “They won’t. No one messes with me,” he winked.
Good luck is all one can say!