The Hindu : Sport : A chat with Raman Subba Row

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Wednesday, Feb 15, 2006

Sport

Sport

A chat with Raman Subba Row

G. Viswanath

Raman Subba Row. — Photo: Vivek Bendre

Mumbai: Raman Subba Row, whose father hailed from Andhra, was capped 13 times by England between 1958 and 1961. Row played one Test innings against India at The Oval and made 94. A frequent visitor to India, Row, now 74, spoke to reporters at the Cricket Club of India on Tuesday on England's Ashes triumph, about its four fast bowlers, Andrew Flintoff and the functioning of the ICC.

The Ashes: We managed to win at Edgbaston by 2 runs, otherwise after Lord's we would have been two down and I don't think we would have come back from there. That was a great victory and of course the wonderful win at Trent Bridge. So that series gave a big boost to English cricket. I think if you have a team then the people, barring accidents, should stay there and be part of a welded team.

England's four fast bowlers versus Indian batsmen: England has had some success in recent times. If you get the right combination, the catches go and are taken then you get off to a very good start. Harmison, Hoggard, Jones and Flintoff are very useful bowlers. Sadly I personally shall not be here to see the series, I should be watching it on television and see how they get on.

Flintoff's progress: When you go on playing that standard of cricket you have some success and you build up experience.

Flintoff's become a very good all-round cricketer. He's very good to watch and reminds of the old days when I was the England team manager and we had Ian Botham, who had the same sort of natural flair and instinct.

My opinion, for what its worth, is Flintoff is not the quickest of the four. Probably Harmison is.

The changing Indian scenario: There's been a huge change in conditions in India over the years. India has grown enormously with its facilities and it's marvellous to watch.

India has become a big power in the world. People are talking about America, China and India. Because of the development of business side it's helped improve in all spheres.

It's been only 50 odd years and the whole thing has changed. The British provided a little bit of basis and the Indians took it on from there and built it all up themselves.

And they have done it very successfully and with my funny old background (father was from Andhra) it's a great pleasure for me to see that.

Duncan Fletcher as coach: He has brought management skills into the game. Overall he imposes his management ability on the team. It's not an easy job to do. He's got skills in all sorts of directions and he's got them gradually implanted into the players.

Greg Chappell with India: It's all part of the development of the game. At Test match level you have to harness the players and make sure that the whole thing is properly managed. That was not the case fairly until recently, but now you have what one calls the `team work'. Pakistan got Bob Woolmer with big management skills. That helps the captain to bring it together and that's what is happening with India and Chappell.

On ICC: I was involved in re-establishing the ICC 15 or 16 years ago. It took us one year to do so after the MCC said that it did not want to continue. It was a step in the right direction. It's not my place to criticise except that far too often they have played politics and not cricket.

Just a personal view, I would prefer Test cricket having three divisions of five sides each and they played against each other over a period of two or a max of three years and you have one going up and one going down. That would give a level field for everybody to perform and be judged.

England's predicament without Giles: It doesn't make it any easier for the team. Shaun Udal has a lot of experience and if England is going to play spinners, it has to play people with some experience. It would be interesting to see what Monty Panesar does. It would be fascinating.

Tests, ODIs and Twenty20: Well, that's cricket, crackit and crashit according to me. I went to a Twenty20 match at Lord's and it was packed. I am a traditional person and I love the proper game of Test cricket. But there's a place for the other two.

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