Coach Bob Woolmer is full of innovative ideas that will=20 have the old guard choking on their gin and tonics
CRICKET: Ahitisham Manerjee
PIONEERS in sport come in many guises. Occasionally=20 they are even unaware that they are breaking new=20 ground. The South African under-24 cricket squad,=20 having just completed a highly successful month-long=20 tour of Sri Lanka, appeared to contain “rule-breakers”=20 of both the witting and unwitting variety.
It wasn’t only superior basic skills that put them in a=20 different class to the keen but amateur local boys. It=20 was superior invention, creativity and imagination. It=20 was taking the game forward. It was the first dawning=20 of “new age cricket”.
At the helm of the revolution is national coach Bob=20 Woolmer, but it is the players themselves that are=20 proving the face-slapping obviousness of forward=20
It is not only Sri Lankan cricket that suffers from the=20 retardation of retrospection. How many times, in how=20 many countries, have great players uttered those=20 extraordinary words at the end of their careers: “I=20 want to put something back into the game”? Make sure=20 everything stays the same, that’s the way. Don’t want=20 any progress. Nasty business. What ever happened to=20 taking the game forward?
“Do this because it’s what I did and I scored over 3=20 000 Test runs.”
“Yes, sir, but in your day the fast bowlers tired=20 quicker, fielders were less agile and the equipment was=20 different. And to be honest, sir, I’ve seen pictures of=20 you in your prime and you look like an overweight=20 accountant, actually, sir. So do I have to do it your=20 way?” No.
Test cricket has had 250 years to evolve so innovation=20 mainly takes the form of fine-tuning but there are=20 still far too many accepted norms that are never=20 challenged. One-day cricket, on the other hand, has=20 only been around for 25 years and almost every=20 department can be reviewed and improved.
Re-evaluating accepted notions about cricket starts=20 with the basics. Why are young batsmen taught to get=20 their feet to the pitch of the ball? Woolmer does not=20 coach, per se, but encourages a young batsman to learn=20 for himself that if he puts his foot to the pitch of=20 every ball then the swing of the bat will be inhibited=20 and he will not be able to drive with optimum power or=20 control. Simple really.
Why are some fast bowlers still taught to get side-on=20 at the point of delivery? Admittedly it is the ideal=20 position for screwing your spine up, but Malcolm=20 Marshall had more sense than that — and he took a few=20 Test wickets as well.
After re-examining basics, the time comes to look again=20 at concepts. Who said you had to “lay a platform” at=20 the beginning of a one-day innings? And why the hell do=20 people still believe that?
“It’s time to change,” says Woolmer. “If you have 11=20 players who can bat then you already have your=20 platform. If you can score at five or six runs per over=20 from the beginning then you score 250-300 without=20 putting the pressure on the lower order to score at=20 nine or 10 per over. We should no longer be afraid of=20 losing early wickets.”
Intrinsic to “new age cricket” is all-rounderism. It=20 doesn’t mean you have to be able to bowl 10 overs and=20 bat in the top six. Far from it. But there is no place=20 for clueless tailenders and batsmen who can’t bowl a=20 hoop down a hill. Score 20 at number 11 , if needed,=20 and deliver four overs for 16 runs when required, but=20 fill your quiver with arrows for you will need more=20 than one. And always, always, be prepared to try=20 something different.
Woolmer is more often hurt by criticism than not, but=20 certain righteous cries of indignation are so absurd as=20 to leave him nothing worse than amused. The=20 puritanical, horrified objection to the reverse-sweep=20 is one such example.
“It is often the safest shot possible when a spinner=20 has set an orthodox field,” he grins, “but some people=20 just hate it … probably because they never played it=20 in their day. I never played it either … but I wish I=20 had. I wish I had known half of what I know today when=20 I was playing.=20
“But there was noone trying to take the game forward,=20 asking how we could improve. It seems a natural thing=20 to do to me.”
The bad news for reverse-sweep haters is that the=20 reverse pull has been born. Oh yes, seriously. And it=20 works. Sri Lanka’s under-24’s looked on at the South=20 Africans’ net practice like the first people to witness=20
So how far can it go? How many times has a bowler=20 suffered the outrage of an outside edge scudding to the=20 boundary for a crucial four? “Nothing you can do about=20 that … all part of the game. Just the way it is …”=20 Really? What happens if you can make sure your team=20 scores more runs like that than the opposition?
“Nothing is guaranteed when you are experimenting,”=20 says Woolmer, “but why not develop a bat with rounded=20 edges that would send the ball at unpredictable angles?=20 At the moment a batsman can change his bat whenever he=20 wants to. Such a bat, more like a baseball bat, might=20 be just the answer for the final stages of an innings=20 when a captain is under pressure to set a run-saving=20
Talking of fielding … Just a decade ago it was=20 innovative to research the left- and right-handed=20 fielders in the opposition ranks and then take quick=20 singles to their “wrong” side. It worked too. But what=20 happens if …
“A cover point fielder who can throw with both arms,”=20 Woolmer laughs. “Fanciful? Maybe not. Footballers can=20 kick with both feet. I think it’s a matter of practice=20 and training, preferably from a young age. It would=20 give you a bit of an edge, wouldn’t it?”
Few of the current young squad are aware that they are=20 playing a major part in changing the face of cricket=20 because the enthusiasm of youth makes enjoyment the=20 primary concern. But Woolmer, while obviously still in=20 possession of his own youthful exuberance, is very much=20 the witting pioneer.
South Africa gave the cricket world the “third umpire”=20 and currently competes with Australia as the country=20 doing most to overcome the lethargy and “old-fartiness”=20 of the country that invented the game. But the members=20 of Lords might just be about to choke on every last=20 drop of their gin and tonics.