Full name Ian Douglas Frazer Role Cricket Coach Name Ian Frazer | 1986-1990 Victoria Batting style Left-hand bat | |
Born 7 September 1966 (age 57) ( 1966-09-07 ) | ||
Ian Douglas Frazer (born 7 September 1966) is an Australian cricket coach, sports scientist and biomechanist, and a former first-class cricketer. From 2005 to 2007, Frazer served as the biomechanist for the Indian national cricket team and assistant to the then-team coach Greg Chappell.
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Biography
Ian Douglas Frazer was born in Lilydale, Victoria (a suburb of Melbourne), Australia on 7 September 1966. He received cricket training at the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy in 1988. He began playing first-class and List A cricket for the Victoria cricket team in 1986 as a left-hand batsman; his career lasted until 1990. After the end of his playing career, Frazer worked for some time in business and computing technology before collaborating with the Australian cricketer Chappell to develop the cricket training programme "The Chappell Way".
Stint with India
In 2005, Frazer was chosen by Australian cricketer Greg Chappell, who had been appointed the coach of the Indian cricket team and praised Frazer as the leading sports scientist and expert in biomechanics, to serve as his assistant and the team's biomechanist. During Chappell's tenure, Frazer worked to enforce Chappell's training regimen to increase the physical fitness and performance of the players, and defended Chappell amidst controversy and criticism from the media. Frazer supported Chappell's stance emphasizing the introduction of younger players into the national team in favor of older, more experienced veterans.
Despite some praise from players such as Ajit Agarkar, Mohammad Kaif and Harbhajan Singh, Frazer was criticized in the media over the ambiguity of his role and the job he was supposed to be doing. Critics accused him of doing no more than conducting basic practice. While Chappell said that Frazer's inclusion was important for his coaching vision, Frazer's lackluster first-class playing credentials were cited as insufficient by outsiders while calls increased for the appointment of a specialist bowling coach. Frazer resigned along with Greg Chappell after the Indian team's poor performance in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.