'I'm not as useless as everyone thinks I am' : Harris

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South Africa's wicketkeeper-batsman Mark Boucher says there's a lot of talk about spinners taking wickets in India, but it is the Proteas fast bowlers who have delivered the goods on more occasions than one. More... rediff.com News Business Movies Sports Get Ahead Hi chandan k Sign Out rediff.com web 'We do not need spinners to take wickets' February 12, 2010 09:06 IST Mark Boucher is in his 13th year in international cricket. Since replacing Dave Richardson, against Pakistan in 1997, he is South Africa's first-choice wicketkeeper. The 33-year-old holds the record for most dismissals in Test cricket -- 494, which includes 472 catches, 22 stumpings. Having originally taken over the record from former Australia stumper Ian Healy in October 2007, he lost it subsequently to Adam Gilchrist, another Australian, only to regain it in February 2008, against Bangladesh. In a long and illustrious career, Boucher also has more than 5, 000 Test runs and five centuries to his name. The 33-year-old suffered a back injury on the third day of the just-concluded first Test against India [ Images ] in Nagpur and AB de Villiers had to keep wickets. But just when one thought the injury was serious, Boucher returned to duty behind the stumps and South Africa went on to roll over India. Special Correspondent Bikash Mohapatra interacted with the veteran South African wicketkeeper in the sidelines of the Nagpur Test. Excerpts. First of all, what reasons do you attribute to having such a long international career? To ensure longevity, the main thing is to focus on fitness, stay injury-free. At certain times, when you are out of form, you have to understand that the runs are just around the corner. What also works is to help a teammate, or tell him, 'May be I'm struggling but I'll still help you with my experience.' Basically, you have to keep contributing to the team. As a wicketkeeper you hold the world record for the number of dismissals. But you happen to be an effective batsman as well. What has changed in your batting over the years? There are little things that can be changed in the way I bat, but no major changes as such. I have picked up a few things during the previous tours here. Sweep is a shot that comes naturally to me and works as effectively. In South Africa, it is easy to hit down the ground, but in the subcontinent the ball stops a bit and it can be difficult. I see myself as an all-rounder who can keep wickets and do some batting down the order. I also believe continuous practice helps in the overall improvement. It is often said that practice makes one perfect but, actually, it is perfect practice that makes one perfect. Coming to this series against India, are you disappointed that only two Tests are scheduled? It is strange. Every time we [india and South Africa] play either in a two or three-Test series. However, we don't make the decisions and have to do whatever has been decided. It will be sad if this series ends in a draw, because a draw will not be a true reflection of the efforts put in by the teams. But in India, a toss often determines the result of the game. When most teams struggle to play on Indian soil, South Africa have an impressive record. What do you think works for South Africa in India? Wickets the world over are now flatter than they used to be and we have adjusted well. We do emphasise on our first innings batting. There has been a lot of talk about spinners taking wickets in India. But it is our fast bowlers who have done the job for us on more occasions than one. The statistics do also suggest that. Our seamers have the attitude and, therefore, we do not need spinners to take wickets. Isn't it the reverse swing factor that has helped your fast bowlers succeeded on these wickets? Reverse swing definitely plays a big role on flat wickets like these. We had succeeded with reverse swing earlier in Chennai (2008) -- when Dale [steyn] had cleaned up the tail -- and we have succeeded now. There are certain still issues that need to be looked into regarding the effective use of reverse swing on wickets like these. But using the reverse swing effectively you can definitely pick up a cluster of wickets. South Africa didn't have a great year in 2009… I think we played well in Australia. I also thought we played well against England overall, barring two sessions. We somehow seemed to lack the killer punch. This tour is definitely a stern test for us.

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'I'm not as useless as everyone thinks I am' : Harris Paul Harris believes India's batsmen's arrogant approach towards opposition spinners will be their downfall in this Test series and he will continue to use it against them as South Africa go in search of a win in Kolkata in the second Test from Sunday. More... 'I'm not as useless as everyone thinks I am' Stuart Hess February 12 2010 In Nagpur Paul Harris believes India's batsmen's arrogant approach towards opposition spinners will be their downfall in this Test series and he will continue to use it against them as South Africa go in search of a win in Kolkata in the second Test from Sunday. While Dale Steyn rightly earned all the praise for an outstanding bowling performance in the first Test, the final day belonged to Harris who bowled 31 overs, picking up three wickets with an over the wicket plan and a leg stump strategy that might be seen as boring, but which irritated India's batsmen who always feel they should dominate the opposing spinner. "They've got batting egos when it comes to spinners. If you can keep them quiet for a period of time they will try something, they are not going to kick you out of the rough for six overs, they might do it for five but after that they going to try something, they all did," Harris explained. Still nursing a sore right ankle he picked up in celebrating his dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar - "I'll break my ankle if it means getting his wicket," - Harris said his was a patience game that was dependent on consistency both in line and length. "It wasn't easy to score against the spinners, to survive maybe, but they needed to score and the odd one was spinning and bouncing and all batters like scoring, especially Indian batsmen to an opposition spinner. I knew that if I could keep it to under two an over that there was an opportunity to get wickets somewhere down the line." Harris finished with figures of 3/76 from 38 overs in India's second innings as South Africa claimed a magnificent innings and six run victory in the first Test and while pleased with his own efforts, Harris knows he's not the main reason South Africa have been successful in the sub-continent. "The reason that South Africa has done well in India is because of our fast bowlers not our spinners. It was up to me to keep it quiet until the ball started reversing. There was a bit of rough outside the leg stump to work with, the ball spat and bounced out of there and it was hard to score. "It would have been nice to take five, but it wasn't meant to be, this was Steyntjie's Test match, that oke's got an unbelievable record in the sub-continent. That wicket was pretty flat, and to get ten-for on a wicket like that ... it's pretty special to play in a team with a guy like that. It makes the spinning job a lot easier because you can abuse a batter saying that 'if you don't come after me, Steyntjie's going to take your head off'." Harris came to India low on confidence having lost his place in the starting side for the final Test against England in Johannesburg, but hard work - he claims to have bowled 50 overs a day before the start of the Test - and reverting to what has worked for him in the past paid dividends in the first game of this series. "It would be nice for the ball to pitch leg and hit off but that didn't happen. I bowled into a certain area with a certain plan, it's not the most fashionable plan, but if it works, then I'll keep doing it. My strengths as a bowler are consistency and patience, and sometimes a bit of bounce, you've got to use those and during the England series I lost the consistency which pissed me off." Getting dropped for the Wanderers Test angered him too. "As a South African spin bowler you are under the spotlight a lot. In the Centurion Test I got five-for and two Tests later people were calling for my head. I thought that was a little harsh, especially after the service I've given and the results I've put on the board in the last 12 months. "I was disappointed in the way I was handled, but I thought that this was a nice way to show everyone that I'm not as useless as everyone thinks I am. I can actually bowl."

[Sachinism]

lulz awesome title

[rkt.india]

India's strong point let India down. They could not dominate Harris because of his negative line and inability to play sweep shot well also contributed. SA used Harris well, he blocked runs by negative bowling on the leg side that was a master plan and that is why SA is so successful in India. They apply different tactics than wt Aussies apply when they play test matches, Aussies always try to be attacking.

[vvvslaxman]

In test cricket if a team is bowling negatively you should counter them by batting negatively . In this case padding up eternally. Eventually he has to target the stumps. He is making a reference to Vijay and Tendulkar who repeatedly tried to sweep and paddle it. I will be pissed off if they allow this tactic to work once more.

[flamy]

:haha:

[Dravid]

rofl whataquote :hahaha:

[vvvslaxman]

Muralitharan said similar thing when India toured SL in 2001.

[Gunner_Mania]

Muralitharan said similar thing when India toured SL in 2001.

That he was not as useless as everybody thought??

[vvvslaxman]

That he was not as useless as everybody thought??

Nope. He said Indian batsmen were arrogant or something. India lost heaps of wickets to him in one of the test.

[Karan114]

lulz awesome title

:giggle:

[Gunner_Mania]

It is not Indian batsmen are arrogant against spin. They are masters of spin. Certainly the older batsmen have grown up playing spin. Playing against spinners comes natural to them.

[Guest Hiten.]

Oh my god. New day, and a millionth quote by SA. Sehwag did not have the luxury of going after Harris in the first innings because we were reeling at that stage. I really hope other Indian batsmen give good support to Sehwag and he'll alone make Harris realize, he's really useless than he thinks not :giggle:

[vvvslaxman]

Oh my god. New day' date=' and a millionth quote by SA. Sehwag did not have the luxury of going after Harris in the first innings because we were reeling at that stage. I really hope other Indian batsmen give good support to Sehwag and he'll alone make Harris realize, he's really useless than he thinks not :giggle:[/quote'] I think even Sehwag couldn't reach as he was bowling very wide.

[sm332]

i think the Saffies are suffering from verbal diarrhea - quote after bloody quote!!

[gaurav92]

Its just like Damini Sunny's dialogue "Taareek pe Taareek"- Its Quote pe Quote :giggle: Talking about Harris, he really isnt as bad as we think, hes even worse that

[Dravid]

i thought i might hear this quote from ^92.. but harris beat him to it :((

[vvvslaxman]

They are going to talk until we beat them. It was not even a hard fought loss for us. Comprehensive thrashing. So tongue will be wagging.

[Karan114]

They are going to talk until we beat them. It was not even a hard fought loss for us. Comprehensive thrashing. So tongue will be wagging.

Oh this is just the start - Dalmiya is giving Steyn and Morkel a greentop at Kolkata to take revenge on Manohar giving India a greentop at Nagpur in 2004 so just wait for all the gloating when they win the series 2-0 in the next week. Not just them, if you read some of the English and Aussie message boards you will see the amount of hatred and jealousy over India's no.1 position (padosis attitude goes without saying).

[achilles]

Paul has really bowled with a vengeance in the past few months. To see him as the first choice spinner, despite the likes of Johan Botha who is highly experienced, is an icing on the cake for the guy. :two_thumbs_up: Cheers to you, Paul. You won me over with this interview and your zeal and zest to perform. You now have a big fan of yours in India.