Ian Leslie Pont (born 28 August 1961 in

Brentwood, Essex Brentwood is a town in the Borough of Brentwood, in the county of Essex in the East of England. It is in the London commuter belt, situated 20 miles (30 km) east-north-east of Charing Cross and close by the M25 motorway. In 2017, the popula ...

, England) is an English former

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and current International Coach, specialising in T20 as a Head Coach and developing the speed of fast bowlers across all formats. Known for a powerful throw and a brief foray into the world of baseball, Pont mainly played for

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

during his career, as did his brother Keith Pont. Ian Pont won the Nat West (1985), Sunday/Pro 40 League (1985) and County Championship (1986) titles with Essex.

Biography

Overview

Ian Pont is a well known bowling coach. With his joint baseball and javelin backgrounds, Pont brought ballistic biomechanics to fast bowling. He has simplified the technical aspects of pace bowling coaching by creating the 4 Tent Pegs Drill and ABSAT coaching now accepted by many respected coaches, as a blueprint for engineering a safe, robust bowling action whilst increasing speed and accuracy. He is an author of three books. His first book ''The Fast bowler's Bible'', is used by coaches and players at all levels all over the world. His second book ''Coaching Youth Cricket'' is recommended reading by the ECB. His third publication ''Ultimate Pace Secrets'', reveals how pace in the bowling action is generated. Whilst some feel Pont is far ahead of his time he has also been an inspiration to others to coach speed in fast bowlers and develop on his pioneering work. Creating the phrase "Pre-Turn" for cricket, he has enabled players to focus on hip/shoulder separation, which is key to generating speed.

Additional

Pont's cricket ball throw of 126.18m set in Bellville, Cape Town in 1981, is the second longest verified throw of all time. He had tryouts as a pitcher with six

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

teams including

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

and

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

in 1986 and 1987. Aside from cricket and baseball, Pont briefly joined Thurrock Athletics Club where he took up the javelin and had basic lessons in technique. It became apparent he had an aptitude and within just six weeks he had thrown the then Olympic qualifying standard of 72m. British Olympic Javelin Coach, Margaret Whitbread, mother of Olympic Gold medallist

Fatima Whitbread Fatima Whitbread (' Vedad; 3 March 1961) is a British retired javelin thrower. She broke the world record with a throw of in the qualifying round of the 1986 European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, and became the first British athle ...

, saw Pont throw and commented, "he has the most natural throwing arm this side of the Iron Curtain". Due to Pont's contract with cricket he never pursued the javelin when many felt he was destined to become a rival to Great Britain star,

Steve Backley Stephen James Backley, OBE (born 12 February 1969) is a retired British track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He formerly held the world record, and his throw from 1992 is the British record. During his career, he was a ...

. He was one of the instigators of coloured clothing in English domestic cricket in 1993 after his company Hogger Sports made the replica clothing for the ICC 1992 World Cup. He presented BBC Essex radio programme "Ian Pont's Sporting Sunday" during 1990s.

Coaching career

Pont, former ECB National Skill Sets Coach, worked with Kent, Warwickshire and Worcestershire during the 2000s. Here he spent time working with

Shoaib Akhtar Shoaib Akhtar (; ; born 13 August 1975) is a Pakistani former cricketer and commentator. Nicknamed the "Rawalpindi Express", he was the first bowler to be recorded bowling at 100 miles per hour, a feat he achieved twice in his career. Ak ...

who credited him in his book "Controversially Yours" – before being appointed Bowling Coach of his native Essex (2006-2008) where he worked and helped develop a young

Dale Steyn Dale Willem Steyn (; born 27 June 1983) is a South African former professional cricketer who played for the South African Cricket Team. He is often regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time and the best Test bowler of his generat ...

. Pont then assisted Northants (2008-2010) with their bowlers' development. In 2006/7, he was made Assistant Head Coach/National Bowling Coach of the Netherlands National team and a selector at the 2007 World Cup. He was appointed Bangladesh National Bowling Coach from 2010 to 2011, when the team won 11 of its 14 ODIs up to the end of the 2011 World Cup. In 2011 and 2012, he coached Ranji Team, Haryana in India, helping to develop both Harshal Patel and

Mohit Sharma Mohit Mahipal Sharma (born 18 September 1988) is an Indian international cricketer. He also plays for Haryana. He is a right-arm fast-medium bowler. Domestic and IPL career Following his work with pace bowling coach Ian Pont, Sharma picked up ...

. 2012 saw Pont appointed Head Coach of the

Dhaka Gladiators The Dhaka Dominators (Dhakaiyas, Dhakaiya/ bn, ঢাকা ডমিনেটর্স) is a franchise cricket team that plays in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), representing the country's Dhaka City, Dhaka Division, Dhaka. The team was o ...

, for the inaugural Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and he led the team to tournament victory at the first attempt. He remained the Head Coach of

in the 2nd edition of BPL held in 2013, which the team went on to win again, giving the franchise back-to-back titles. He is a three time ICC World Cup coach having been at the 2003 South Africa WC (with England), 2007 West Indies WC (with Netherlands) and 2011 India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh WC (with hosts Bangladesh). Pont heads up The Ultimate Pace Foundation, which is building the world's largest online fast bowling presence through UPFcricket.com. His own company, Mavericks Cricket Institute, is based in England and develops talented cricketers. In 2016, he was appointed Assistant Coach/Bowling Coach of the

Quetta Gladiators Quetta Gladiators (Urdu, Balochi: ; Pashto: کویټه ګلیډیټرز) is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 cricket franchise that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). They play most home games at the 27,000-capacity Gaddafi Stadium ...

in the inaugural edition of the

Pakistan Super League The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league contested during February and March of every year by six teams representing six cities of Pakistan. The league was founded on 9 September 2015 with five teams by the Paki ...

(PSL) based in Dubai and Sharjah, UAE.

finished runners up losing the Final to

Islamabad United Islamabad United ( ur, ) is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). It was the inaugural champion of the Pakistan Super League. The team is based in Islamabad, the capital ci ...

In October 2016, he was asked by Rajasthan Cricket Association to design and implement coaching camps in Jaipur where he oversaw the training and development of their fast bowlers. In July 2019, Pont was appointed as the head coach of the Belfast Titans for the inaugural edition of the

Euro T20 Slam The Euro T20 Slam is a planned professional Twenty20 cricket league. The first edition of the tournament was initially scheduled to start in August 2019, with matches to be held in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. It's launch has been post ...

cricket tournament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pont, Ian 1961 births Living people English cricketers English baseball players

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Great Britain national baseball team players Essex cricketers Lincolnshire cricketers Northumberland cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers People from Brentwood, Essex KwaZulu-Natal cricketers Buckinghamshire cricketers Fielding (cricket) Minor Counties cricketers English cricket coaches Pakistan Super League coaches