Should Indian bowlers be encouraged to play more county cricket ?

[Predator_05]

In the past we've had some of the best bowlers from the subcontinent (ie; Srinath and Vaas) raising their fingers and shaking their heads without prompting whenever they were asked the question of whether county cricket experience would be beneficial for international cricketers. They claimed that the work-load was too much, making them susceptible to injuries and other niggles. They both played county cricket, but apart from them not many Indian or SL (or even PAK) bowlers would travel to play a full season worth of cricket in England. Now after witnessing the Indian bowlers' (namely RP and Zaheer) immense improvement, could it be that Srinath and Vaas were wrong ? Both bowlers have benefited from their county stints and managed to improve their game while raising their fitness levels. This article provides some fascinating insight into how RP's game was improved while he was at Leicestershire --> http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/engvind/content/story/305521.html . I for one, can't conceive of an Indian cricketer's fitness and performance being scrutinised so closely and scientifically by Indian FC teams. Do they even have physios or conditioning coaches ? I seriously doubt it. Former Ranji champions Railways didn't even have a proper gym or a curator. Is the the work-load really that bad ? Experiences like these could do them a world of good - anything is better than sitting on your @rse doing nothing. How many times have we seen the Indian cricket team play terrific cricket consistently over 2 or 3 months, only to return as a shadow of their former selves after a long-layoff ? Remember how crappy the team looked during the Asia Cup when they came back after a 4 month break once the '04 PAK tour finished ? Or how poorly they played in the DLF Cup following their 3 month lay-off after the WI tour ? Teams in other (far more strenuous) sports play non-stop for as long as 6 months, so i don't see why cricketers should be any different. Once this series is over, i hope other Indian bowlers (the ones on the fringe) will take a hint from Zaheer and RP, and head over to England to some county cricket.

[kabira]

its always good idea to explore and learn. BCCI should sent youngster to Australia, NZL and SA to enhance their skill levels.

[Ram]

Very true. Every talented bowler needs a stint with a county to finish his schooling.

[gator]

all paaki bowlers like wasim, imran and waqar honed their skills in county criket....not because of the level of competition, i believe... it is more because of days and days of pratice tht fast bowlers can afford to do, cos it aint hot....

[THX_1138]

better than playing the insipid cricket at the local level that yields players of marginal abilities and not to mention, the detiorating effect of bowling endlessly on pancake tops. and hey the extra money wont hurt either.

[THX_1138]

Hey Pred, curious that if this improvement in bowlers has been visible in batsmen too when they play country cricket in england. for instance i recall mongia made a comeback thanks to his stint there, but it did not do much good for him... and another thing, is australian country cricket open to us folks?

[King Tendulkar]

I think many want to play counry cricket but a lot of counties dont seem to go for them!

[Chandan]

Hey Pred, curious that if this improvement in bowlers has been visible in batsmen too when they play country cricket in england. for instance i recall mongia made a comeback thanks to his stint there, but it did not do much good for him... and another thing, is australian country cricket open to us folks?

Batsmen can gain only by learning to adapt in a different condition here. Of course, if they want, they can also improve their fitness and learn a few tricks in the field, improve their fielding, catching etc. Australian county is not open to anyone, apart from a few Kiwis only. Donny will be able to tell us more about it, I suppose.

[Donny]

I don't know the exact wording of our policy on overseas players but we've had very few in recent years. It's more a case of scheduling really. There's so much other cricket being played at the same time. I can remember such greats as Majid Khan, Sobers, Botham, Wes Hall, Imran, Kanhai, Holding, Barry Richards all playing for Oz state teams but there were no ODI series then and eveyone played less Test cricket. The most recent were Andy Flower, after he left the Zimmers and then Sean Irvine and Andy Blignaut a bit later. Last year, Graham Thorpe was coaching club cricket and helping out with the NSW Pura Cup team and, although he didn't play a match, there was some talk of him willing to play if needed. The other aspect is, with only six teams and so much young talent busting to play, there just isn't the need for overseas players. Even though there are many more teams in English County, I feel English cricket suffers with there being so many overseas players with contracts as they get the prime spots. For instance, Derbyshire has 3 Aussie batsmen in their top 4. The top 6 bowlers in Division One are overseas players. Murali, Warney, Kartik, Bhajji, Mushy, Kaneria, Wiseman all have the frontline spinner's spot with those teams. Nicholson, Bollinger, Naveed, Arafat, Bichel, Clark, Gillespie, Andrew Hall, Ottis Gibson, Dale Steyn just about all take the new ball in their teams. That's a lot of young Pommy bowlers playing second fiddle.

[ludhianvi]

I think its very good learning experience for young bowlers who are new to the arena to some learning experience on how to bowl in England as well as learn some new pointers along the way. On the other hand, its very rigorous for the bowlers. I think they play like 6 out 7 days IIRC. I think one's fitness would really get tested. In return, the bowlers will reap the rewards of better fitness. Of course, considering that they dont get injured. I say go there for a short stint.

[Anakin]

They should grab every opportunity they can to play there.

[Chandan]

I don't know the exact wording of our policy on overseas players but we've had very few in recent years. It's more a case of scheduling really. There's so much other cricket being played at the same time. I can remember such greats as Majid Khan, Sobers, Botham, Wes Hall, Imran, Kanhai, Holding, Barry Richards all playing for Oz state teams but there were no ODI series then and eveyone played less Test cricket. The most recent were Andy Flower, after he left the Zimmers and then Sean Irvine and Andy Blignaut a bit later. Last year, Graham Thorpe was coaching club cricket and helping out with the NSW Pura Cup team and, although he didn't play a match, there was some talk of him willing to play if needed. The other aspect is, with only six teams and so much young talent busting to play, there just isn't the need for overseas players. Even though there are many more teams in English County, I feel English cricket suffers with there being so many overseas players with contracts as they get the prime spots. For instance, Derbyshire has 3 Aussie batsmen in their top 4. The top 6 bowlers in Division One are overseas players. Murali, Warney, Kartik, Bhajji, Mushy, Kaneria, Wiseman all have the frontline spinner's spot with those teams. Nicholson, Bollinger, Naveed, Arafat, Bichel, Clark, Gillespie, Andrew Hall, Ottis Gibson, Dale Steyn just about all take the new ball in their teams. That's a lot of young Pommy bowlers playing second fiddle.

But doesn't it improve the standard of play and profile of counties? However, it'd be better if they opt for top players only, and not the non-international players like Phil Jaques or Chris Rogers!!

[talksport]

Dont know ..... Pathan played at Middlesex, improved his Batting but his Bowling has gone Down Hill

[Predator_05]

Dont know ..... Pathan played at Middlesex, improved his Batting but his Bowling has gone Down Hill

His bowling went down-hill only recently. Pathan was bowling brilliantly after that Middlesex stint. Remember how bad he had become in the ODI series vs PAK (which IND lost 2-4) ? After coming back from Middlesex, he started taking bundles of wickets for India in ODI's and enjoyed the best run of his career during the 2005/06 season.