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The Cricket Interview/Dennis Lillee

'Talent alone doesn't cut it these days'

It all began 10 years ago -- could you tell us about that time? When you first landed here to help set up this academy?

Well, it all started when (the late) Ravi Mammen (younger son of MRF MD Mammen Mappillai) invited me over. He was a very gung-ho boy, Ravi. Very keen on sports, very keen to see MRF produce quality fast bowlers. He told me that this was his dream, what he wanted to be remembered by -- that he helped bring about a day when an Indian came racing in and bowled quick, bloody quick. Maybe he had a premonition that he would die soon? I donno. (shrug). Anyway, it all began there. He asked if I was interested, I said yes.

Why? I mean, you had already begun coaching in Australia...

Yeah, the Australian Pace Academy had just gone into business, I was getting involved there. But I thought there was more that I had to give, in me -- and Ravi's enthusiasm was infectious, so I joined the gang. And besides, it seemed like a challenge -- I mean, Australia's always produced fast bowlers. India never has, and there was this myth that Indians couldn't really bowl fast. Seemed interesting to see if I couldn't help bust that bubble, know what I mean?

Ten years down the line, would you say you have? Bust the bubble, I mean?

Well, this is not about I, as in Dennis Lillee, coming here and working a miracle. This is essentially about the academy. About 'Shake' (T A Shekhar, head coach) who is here full time. And about as good facilities as you could hope to see. And a little contribution from me as well, yes -- and India has genuine quicks now, look at Srinath, that boy is bloody fast, fast as anyone in the world, ranks in my top five today. And there are some boys coming up who look real good.

Srinath. Bit of a worry right now for all of us. Will he be back to bowling the way he was?

Srinath was here this weekend, I and Thommo took a look at him in the nets and yeah, we reckon he's going to be back... fast as he was, and with his variations intact.

(Coincidentally, earlier that morning, Lillee had been in touch with the Australian Cricket Academy, requesting that Srinath and his strike partner, Venkatesh Prasad, be invited over for a fortnight-long stint. And just as we were sitting down to chat, Lillee got the call back, giving the all clear -- at which point, Shekhar took over, spoke to someone in MRF and then came over, interrupting our chat, to inform Lillee that MRF would sponsor the two fast bowlers's trip to the academy.)

So what exactly was the problem with him? Overwork?

No, faulty throwing technique. It's a funny thing, that, I keep reading all about how Srinath got that rotator cuff tear because he did too much bowling. Damn stupid, that -- the injury comes when you throw underarm from the boundary, that puts a big strain on the shoulder joint. What he needs to do is learn the right way to throw, over the shoulder. And that is what we hope to teach him when he comes over to the academy in Australia.

And how easy is it to come back from something like that?

Since the injury did not originate with bowling, it really doesn't affect how you bowl when you come back. Sure, the shoulder is crucial -- but when you make a full recovery, you can bowl the way you did before and I would think Srinath is on the way there. I don't suggest that he be picked for Toronto and Pakistan, though (Ed's note: This interview was done shortly before the Sahara Cup). I think he should be nursed back, given a stint in Australia, then allowed to find his rhythm in domestic cricket. Maybe against those Sri Lankan boys when they get here, when is it, November? December? That sounds about right.

And Prasad? Rotator cuff again, from bad throwing?

Nonsense, I read a lot of rubbish about that, how Prasad has rotator cuff tear. I don't know where that diagnosis came from -- all he had was an inflammation of the arm, from a fall he took, and then he went on bowling so the swelling didn't go down as quickly as it should.

You are working on getting both of them to go down to Australia. What are you prescribing for them, by way of training there?

Basically, I think both boys need to work on building their upper body strength. You can be damn quick through the air, but if you don't have that strength of torso and shoulder, the bite isn't there, the ball is not as fast off the pitch. Again, you can't make it lift off a length, which is one of the hardest deliveries for a batsman to play. And I'd like to see both boys learn the right throwing technique, while they are about it. They both have to field on the boundary lines, especially when they are bowling from the other end, that involves a lot of throwing, they need to learn the right techniques so they don't damage their bowling arms.

Did you ever have this problem?

I had my fair share of problems, mate, but not this one. Towards the end, though, I did have some problem throwing in hard from the deep -- thing is (mischievous grin) I didn't let the opposition blokes catch on!

A more general question, and I'd love it if you could answer in detail -- what are the strengths, as you see them, of the MRF Foundation?

First, commitment to a cause. The Australian academy works because every member of it is committed to turning out good cricketers for the country. There is no politics, no case of different people working to different goals -- the aim, right down the line, is the same. And that applies here -- 'Shake,' I, Thommo, MRF, all of us are working towards the goal of producing fast bowlers. And there is no politics in there.

Second, facilities. We got four pitches that reproduce pretty much all the conditions you would expect to find either at home or on tour -- from fast tracks to dead ones. We have a state of the art gym, and qualified physical instructors to teach the boys how to use the facilities. We have a biomechanist, who knows what a fast bowler needs to develop, and devises exercises according to individual needs. We use old balls and new balls in training, to give the trainees experience with every kind of match situation. A swimming pool, and it is mandatory for our trainees to swim -- the pool is a great place to develop upper body strength and flexibility.

And last, there is a system to the whole thing. 'Shake' scouts the country and brings promising youngsters here. I -- and now, from this trip on, Thommo -- look at them and weed out the less talented ones, so we can concentrate on the real good prospects. Every bowler is extensively videotaped, in every session, the tapes are watched by us, we make notes on progress and areas to work on and pass it back to the boys, they make notes on how they feel and where they have problems and pass it on to us, and we keep a definite record of each trainee, at every stage.

So yeah, I figure we got all the angles covered.

This whole thing, doesn't it smack of assembly line stuff? Turning bowlers out all in one mould? I mean, you and Thommo, both of you were individualistic in your bowling -- you had your style and strengths, Thommo had his. But this kind of regimentation, won't it turn out clones?

No, that is not how it works. What we do is not force everyone into one mould, but examine what each individual has, and then enhance it.

One instance -- in our time, it was thought sacrilege if a fast bowler bowled open chest. You can't get the ball to swing in, they used to say, you have to be perfectly side on. Do you, hell! Thommo was square on, I was side on, he wasn't any less effective than I was. Today, if a young trainee comes to us and bowls naturally chest on, we don't try and change him. We just work with that, teach him to enhance, improve on that, develop lateral movement, add pace... that kind of thing. In fact, we have trainees now who bowl side on, square on, and even half-and-half.

I guess what an academy like this does, it shortens the learning curve. In our time, you charged in and bowled fast as you bloody could and after a while you got thumped so you thought, hey, I need to learn some new tricks, then you learnt to seam it away and so on. Here, right at the start, we teach the kids all the tricks they are capable of practising. Like I said, the academy short circuits the learning curve, and produces finished bowlers.

Hang on. Before the academies came along, the world saw Lindwall and Trueman and Hall and Griffith, Holding, Roberts, Marshall, Garner, you, Thommo, Imran... brilliant fast bowlers. So why, suddenly, do we need a school to turn out guys to bowl fast?

Oh, well, for one thing, if we guys were in business today, we wouldn't have lasted as long as we did, or got the kind of results we did. See, there is just too much cricket played today. Natural ability just won't cut it any more. In our time, there was space, time between tours, for you to go back to the nets, relearn, reinvent the wheel. Now? You come back home after an away tour and find your next opponents are already there, on your home ground, waiting for you. There is no time to learn, to work out the kinks. Besides, our time, we did a few exercises, our idea of a good diet was you have a banana whenever you need energy. These days, way the blokes are playing, diving around and stuff, playing practically every day, you need a physiotherapist, a dietician, a biomechanist -- the works.

You said something about cloning, earlier, and how Thommo and I were individualistic. Well, look at the Australian academy boys -- we've produced bowlers like Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Andrew Bichel, Bernard Julien, Paul Reiffel... all good, talented, top class bowlers and all with distinctive styles. Same thing here.

You've handled boys from all over the world, so what differences do you see in the Indian trainees, vis a vis the others?

Attitude. Dedication. Commitment. That kind of thing. Look, boys from Australia, South Africa, like that boy Kluesener, even the Sri Lankans, we've handled Chaminda Vaas and Pushpakumara is here with us, they all work bloody hard. You tell them to bowl five overs flat out, they bowl seven. Your boys? They have talent, but they don't push themselves -- you tell them five overs, full steam, they start slackening off by the third over. They figure hey, come the match, we'll bowl flat out, why waste steam here. That is the wrong approach. You work harder than you would in a game, so you'll find it easier then -- that is the trick to training. Your boys are easily satisfied with themselves, that is their main problem.

So much for the boys, what about cricket as a whole, in the country?

Well, always amazes me how in the middle of all this chaos -- I keep reading about your selection committee, your pitches are about as flat as my backyard -- you still produce talented cricketers. Trouble is, none of them have the stamina for today's game -- and when your body weakens, your mind goes with it.

I think that is the main problem with your boys. They don't have the fitness levels to sustain play at peak levels through the day. They are all pumped up in the first hour, and like a bunch of wilted daisies by afternoon. Which means, you might match the top teams in the first session, but they'll take the game away from you in the second and third.

And the cure?

Again, system. You don't need a guy trotting out onto the field with bandages and soft drinks -- you need a highly qualified physio, you need a dietician, you need a top quality physical fitness trainer. And you need them permanently. You need people who know the latest techniques, know the scientific approach to fitness and strength. You know what they say, sound mind in a sound body -- your boys need to learn that lesson, get their fitness up to international levels. Or they are going to be left behind, by teams that might have less natural talent, but are lots fitter and more capable of sustained effort.

'Srinath and Prasad came to us on their own'