T20 could shorten a fast bowler's life: McGrath

[rkt.india]

Australian fast-bowling great Glenn McGrath has cautioned against the heavy workload facing todayÃÔ fast bowler while putting the onus on individuals to cope with the pressures of the modern era. The former international was in Chennai earlier this week to take over from Dennis Lillee as director of the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai, and spoke to Cricketnext of the need to have a healthy attitude as well as what he hopes to accomplish in his new role. There has been plenty of criticism of todayÃÔ packed calendar and the extra workload provided by an influx of Twenty20 cricket shortening the life span of a fast bowler. While acknowledging that it was becoming tougher to be an out-and-out fast bowler in todayÃÔ era, McGrath, 42, believed that attitude was the key to success. ŵhe times have changed and players are expected to keep up with them. Three formats are difficult, no doubt, but adjusting is part of the job today, he said. Å´port changes and you have to learn to adapt. If you want to be the best at what you do, then you just put your mind to it and donÃÕ complain too much. To excel you need determination. You need to have attitude. ThatÃÔ a word I believe strongly in attitude. źouÃ×e got to take responsibility instead of looking for excuses or blaming everyone else. At the end of the day, how you go is up to you. It goes how good or bad as you want it. ItÃÔ as simple as that. McGrath, who played just two Twenty20 internationals for Australia but featured in 14 IPL fixtures, has been an advocate for Twenty20 cricket in the past, but asked whether todayÃÔ fast bowler would be able to have a career as long as his, expressed concern that three formats would take its toll. Ūt will be interesting. It depends on how much Twenty20 cricket is being played. To run in and bowl 150kmph every ball in Twenty20 is impossible, he said. ŵwenty20 cricket will sap you. ItÃÔ about execution, whether people are willing to rely on mixes of pace and variation instead of out-and-out pace bowling. Twenty20 cricket has a dangerous potential there, but hopefully at the Test level you will see strike bowlers and fast bowlers running in. Like Lillee, McGrath believed that all successful teams needed a solid fast bowling attack. Being in India, the question of the health of the countryÃÔ fast-bowling future was an inevitable one and McGrath was optimistic. źou look at the top teams around the world, and theyÃ×e done well with fast bowlers. When we were No. 1 we had a very good pace attack. South Africa have Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander. A great attack. If you want to be No 1 you need a strong fast bowling attack, he said. ŵhatÃÔ what India need to work on. IÃ×e seen an increase in talent here. There are younger guys coming through who can hit good speeds, such as Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron. The key is keeping them fit and monitoring the work load. I wouldnÃÕ have those two playing all formats. McGrath, AustraliaÃÔ most successful fast bowler with 563 Test wickets will replace Lillee, who held the post since its inception in 1987. Having himself worked with Lillee as a 22-year-old, and had the legend teach him about refining his action instead of remodeling, McGrath felt it was imperative for a bowling coach to not tinker too much with a fast bowlerÃÔ action. Ÿhen I first worked with Dennis, it was more about refining the action I had. I think I had a fairly solid action, there werenÃÕ too many problems. My hips were in line with my shoulders, I was very much a front-on bowler than a side-on bowler. At that stage it was more about recognizing that you can be a front-on bowler instead of a side-on bowler. It was very much a case of ðK, this is his action, its solid, its not stressful, we shouldnÃÕ have too many problems, so how can we get the best out of him?Ãô, he said. ŵhatÃÔ what I hope to be able to do with MRF. ItÃÔ a challenge but I am really looking forward to it. ThereÃÔ a lot of talent in India.

http://cricketnext.in.com/live/news/t20-could-shorten-a-fast-bowlers-life-mcgrath/67641-13.html

[Lord]

“That’s what India need to work on. I’ve seen an increase in talent here. There are younger guys coming through who can hit good speeds, such as Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron. The key is keeping them fit and monitoring the work load. I wouldn’t have those two playing all formats.”

hopefully selectors take notr

[Old guy]

hopefully selectors take notr

thats why i was happy at exclusion of yadav cos lets admit it they will play ipl who would not like to make some money ? no one cares abt odis and t20..save yadav,shami for tests.. aaron for odis.. this way they all will remain fit and for change we might have thing called bowling attack :giggle:

[Lord]

thats why i was happy at exclusion of yadav cos lets admit it they will play ipl who would not like to make some money ? no one cares abt odis and t20..save yadav,shami for tests.. aaron for odis.. this way they all will remain fit and for change we might have thing called bowling attack :giggle:

not only fitness but they'll develop required skills too.in LOIs u need to hv slower ball,bowl line n length.but in tests u can go full throttle n bowl bouncers yorkers.mixing them isnt good

[Old guy]

not only fitness but they'll develop required skills too.in LOIs u need to hv slower ball' date='bowl line n length.but in tests u can go full throttle n bowl bouncers yorkers.mixing them isnt good[/quote'] actually now a days to be good in tests u cant go on all out attack imo batsmen;s greatest weakness now is patience u cant got for more then 3 rpo u have to be tight and attack too its all about making bowler play in format where hei s suited aaron has more control and can bowl yorkers and seems to bowl stump to stump yadav is wayward but produces wicket taking balls which are more suited for tests thats why i said that...we tried yadav in odis it ownt work our right now as yadav doesn ot knows his game

[msb1991]

I think it really comes down to a cost-benefit analysis type deal. Selectors used to think that it is desirable to have teams in different formats as similar as possible but I think having the pace bowling as different as possible would be better. You give players the rest they need. You look at someone like Umesh Yadav and someone like Vinay Kumar. Umesh is a top Test bowler but his ODI bowling is similar quality to Vinay (perhaps a bit worse). So you should play Vinay in ODIs; why fatigue Yadav in a format that he is not exceptional in. Same with Varun Aaron in Test matches. He shows potential but why make him bowl five days when you can get a similar quality performance from Irfan Pathan or Shami Ahmed. Why risk the top quality ODI bowler in a format where he has not excelled. And T20 is the absolute best example of this. Balaji is not a contender for other formats but he had the best economy in the whole IPL last year. Dinda was also impressive in the IPL but then again, he has been written off in T20 due to poor ODI performances - something which is absolute nonsense because the two formats are totally different! Someone like Zaheer is more complicated because he is exceptional in all three formats. It is only someone like him who should vary the formats that he is rested in.