'Good fast bowlers know how to endure pain'
Troy Cooley talks to Siddhartha Vaidyanathan on how fast-bowling coaching has evolved over the years
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I loved bowling fast and was inspired by a generation of bowlers like Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding.
I suppose in those days the coaching was very limited. It was like an attrition type thing - if you made it, you made it; otherwise you broke down.
I got through the injury, started playing again, had a good season, and broke down again. So that was hard. And each time I broke down I came back a little bit more tentative. I wasn't as free as when I first started. You start to worry about a few things and that played massively on me. I suppose it started to restrict my freedom. I didn't have a lot of coaching until Dennis Lillee came and bowled at us. That's when I got any specific coaching, but Dennis was still playing at that stage.
In one aspect, yes. But there was also a flip side: that they always used to coach only one way. Science and research have helped us now. Earlier all coaching came straight out of the MCC coaching manuals. They used to tell you to get side-on because it was the only way to swing the ball and it was the strongest position to get into. So everyone, regardless of the limitations of their bodies and their individualities, was coached massively in the side-on position. But the coaching process wasn't long enough. To change a potentially bad action you need time.
It's not so much over-coaching as it is incorrect coaching. You've got to have a pretty good understanding of what you're going to do. You've got to have a very good basis for changing an action. Today you have a lot of information on individuals and what suits each. Now there are many actions between side-on and front-on. If you haven't got that skill and knowledge and haven't got the time to back-up what you're going to coach in the transition period, you're doing the athlete an injustice. Maybe some coaches don't have an understanding of what's required for an individual.
I'd list five basic steps that a bowler must have as a starting point.
All the champions I've worked with have had one common quality: they always knew they were going to be picked for their country, they always knew they were going to do well and there was nothing that was going to stop them |
It's very dangerous to model an action on somebody else. We're talking of people who are built different, who move differently. Some are tall, others are bulky. You must be able to look at individuals. You can help put a good environment around a skill, build in fitness and strength. I see a person, not a model.
Absolutely. All the champions I've worked with have had one common quality: they always knew they were going to be picked for their country, they always knew they were going to do well and there was nothing that was going to stop them. Take the top ten fast bowlers in the world and you'll find they all bowl very differently but their basic make-up is pretty similar. You'll see fitness, strength, stability, attitude, a solid action ... and most importantly all good fast bowlers know how to endure pain. You need to know what pain you can bowl with and what pain you need to stop at.
As I told you, 17% of the fast bowlers are sitting out at any point of time. So there is a very high injury-rate and you've got to have back-up. I was once sitting with Lillee and Rod Marsh and Rod said, "Dennis wants ten fast bowlers at any point of time." And I said, "I can't handle so many. It's too much." But he was right. You need to be able to get seven or eight good quality players, mould them into a strong unit and grow as a unit. In the early stages of development, bowlers have certain qualities. And if you can put a team together that can work together on a day's play, the captain can look around and say, 'He can bowl in any situation.' You need to build a pack that can survive together and then grow together.
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is an assistant editor on Cricinfo