Sunrisers Eastern Cape coach on what makes champions on and off the pitch

On a cattle farm near Alexandria in the Eastern Cape, members of the Sunrisers Eastern Cape sat around a campfire as they prepared for the fourth instalment of the SA20 cricket tournament.

They started with a small, smoky fire, and each one of them was given a chance to add wood, slowly stoking a massive blaze that drew them all together as their coach fired them up for the campaign they were about to embark on.

“The orange ember at the bottom of that fire signifies the orange jersey of our team and the fire in our hearts and the hearts of our fans. Sometimes that fire may go out —we may lose a match along the way — but as long as there remains a single orange ember, we can find a way to reignite that flame,” said Sunrisers head coach Adrian Birrell.

He related this at a business breakfast hosted by BLC Attorneys at the St George’s Club in Gqeberha on Tuesday, where he shared leadership insights from his experience at the helm of the SA20’s most successful side.

A month ago, Birrell guided the Sunrisers to their third SA20 title and their fourth entry into the final. Despite the team’s success, the Makhanda native was reluctant to take credit, praising his players and the faithful fans of the Eastern Cape.

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“It is such an incredible honour for me to lead this side. One of our biggest focuses was to secure local players to represent the Sunrisers. That secures us the support from the local fans, which in turn motivates our players and gives them the will to win.”

Birrell’s cricketing career began when he was a schoolboy, playing for St Andrews College, from where he went on to represent Eastern Province. However, he admits that he is a far better coach than he was as a player.

He coached the Irish national team in their 2007 Cricket World Cup campaign, leading them to the Super 8 stage of the tournament. After that, he was the assistant coach at the Proteas, before becoming head coach at Hampshire County in England. He has been the head coach at the Sunrisers for the past four seasons.

Introducing Birrell at Tuesday’s event, BLC managing director Sonja Tifloen said their firm was built on strong leadership, and they often looked to South Africa’s sporting leaders for inspiration, as sport had always been the country’s “biggest unifier”.

Recalling the final against Pretoria Capitals, Birrell said there were a few nervous moments, especially after Dewald Brevis scored a century for the Capitals.

“I always tell my guys not to let personal milestones distract from the bigger picture. Hats off to Brevis, he played a hell of a knock, but I believe his wild celebration after scoring his 100 was the distraction that cost him his wicket.”

After Brevis fell, the Capitals scored only three runs in the last two overs, but still posted a formidable 158-7.

‘Pull the trigger’

Birrell instructed his batters to keep the required run rate under 12 per over, but with four overs left and captain Tristan Stubbs and Matthew Breetzke at the crease, the required rate had climbed to 14 runs per over.

“There was a time-out, and I called them in and told them, ‘Guys, you need to pull the trigger.’ Breetzke looked at me and simply said, ‘Coach, I’ve got this.’

“I’ll be honest, I was not completely convinced, but I am very glad he proved me wrong,” Birrell laughed.

The Stubbs-Breetzke pairing led the Sunrisers to victory with four balls to spare and six wickets in hand.

Birrell said his biggest challenge was bringing together players from different teams and countries and creating a team culture in such a short period.

“The pre-season campfire on my farm has become a ritual. I always identify a few players within the team, the catalysts, that I know have the personality to bring the rest together, and they play a vital role to stoke that fire before the first game of the season.

“On top of that, we select a team for efficiency and not power. We don’t hit the most sixes, but we minimise the dot balls.

“We sweat the small stuff. A lot of people will tell you singles and doubles don’t win matches, but when you’re defending a total, and the opposition needs single digits from the last over, that’s when you regret all the singles you did not take.”

Birrell said he puts less stock in analytics than he does in his own experience.

“I don’t doubt the value of analysts, and their data is helpful. But matches and tournaments are not won on paper or computers. They are not even won by individual people, but by teams coming together.”

And as he winds down his coaching career and focuses more on his cattle and honey farming operations, Birrell hopes that his experiences on the pitch can be carried over to other players and coaches, as well as leaders in the business world.

“Sure, the Sunrisers won the season, and I helped them achieve it, but I’ve worked most of my life to get here.

“Young players, new coaches and business professionals need to realise that success does not come overnight. They should not despise the hard yard, but stay the course and keep going,” said Birrell. DM