MELBOURNE: Former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie is moving from Adelaide to central Zimbabwe as the head coach of Kwekwe-based MidWest Rhinos cricket team.
The 36-year-old Gillespie along with his wife Anna and three sons will be based for seven months in Zimbabwe for his second stint with the Rhinos.
It was tough for him to take the initial Rhinos deal as his youngest son for just nine weeks old when he moved with his family to Zimbabwe last year.
"When I said that I wanted to give coaching a go, I'm not sure what she (Anna) really thought of it, but she supported me 100 per cent," Gillespie said.
"I'll never forget, pretty early in the piece in Zimbabwe (last year), I came home from a day's play and we were sitting on the couch chatting. Anna saw I had this big grin on my face and said, 'You love what you're doing, don't you'? and I said, 'Yeah, I really do'.
"That's when it hit home for me, that I was doing something I really love doing. It reinforced my decision to bite the bullet and do some coaching in Zimbabwe."
The Rhinos coaching experience opened a world of opportunity for Gillespie. He became bowling coach for Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kings XI Punjab, under former teammate Michael Bevan, and will reprise that role next season.
"I coach with a bit of a gut feel he said. I like talking to my players just as people and not specifically a coach-to-player relationship. There are times when you need to be firm and lay down the law, but by and large we're all in the business of trying to improve," Gillespie was quoted as saying by The Age.
"We're all going in the same direction. I suppose I'm just learning to trust my instinct a little bit more rather than try and be seen to be doing the right things by the coaching manual," he said.
Rather than worrying about gow to skittle batsmen, Gillespie will be concentrating on all disciplines - batting, bowling and fielding.
"Now I'm pretty much watching every ball that's bowled. It's a bit more tiring than I thought it would be, to be honest," he said.
"It's still important as a coach to have that player's perspective, because at the end of the day they're the guys out there doing the job. I look at it and try to find ways how I can prepare these guys the best I can, for them to be the best they can be," he said.