St. John's: Few things worried batsmen in the 70s and 80s as much as Andy Roberts's fast-ticking cricket brain, his scary pace, and his two kinds of bouncers, not necessarily in that order.

The man from Antigua had many memorable battles with Sunil Gavaskar ("Sunny had his problems on bouncy tracks, but when he got you on his surface there was no one better") and Gundappa Viswanath ("Viswanath was much better against the bouncing ball, because he was very wristy").

Roberts spoke to The Hindu on how cricket has evolved from the days during which he made batsmen quake in their boots. (Excerpts):

How has life after cricket been with your involvement in the administration of the Stanford Twenty20 competition?

It's very easy in the Twenty20 you know. I've been out of cricket for the last 25 years. I've enjoyed every moment of it. I love cricket, but I don't miss being on the field. West Indies cricket means a lot to me. The game has changed a lot — not the technique but the way it's being conducted. The amount of one-day cricket, the regularity of Test cricket. Sooner rather than later, people are going to stop watching cricket because they've seen too much of it. That's why Twenty20, which is a faster game, will probably take over even from the limited-overs game.

How has the shift to shorter format cricket affected defensive technique?

There were a lot better technical players in my days because in those days you had to watch the ball. Today's batsmen don't watch it because they have a lot of protective gear. The moment somebody gets a short one he can't cope with, instead of watching it, he turns his back on it.

Ricky Ponting may be one of the few players in world cricket today who plays the short ball well. Matthew Hayden to some extent. Our great player Brian Lara doesn't handle it that well. I don't think Sachin handles it that well either. Rahul Dravid, I think, handles it a lot better than Sachin.

Why have wickets in the Caribbean slowed down?

The bowlers then used to be a lot quicker too. People are making a lot of fuss about the wickets. But, the ball doesn't come off the wicket quicker than how you release it. I'm not saying consistent pace and bounce doesn't help, but you are a lot quicker through the air than off the pitch.

Why has the West Indies struggled to keep the assembly line of fast bowlers running?

That's a question that baffles a lot of us. Guys are not as strong as they were in the past. We have some bowlers who can bowl quick for two or three overs, but they can't maintain their pace throughout the Test match. Without strong legs you can't maintain pace.

We've had patches. After Wes Hall, till I came on the scene we had no fast bowlers. Then we kept producing one after the other for 15 years. Now it's gone back to those times again. It may yet raise its head again.

It's hard work bowling fast. Plus coaches are making a lot of changes to bowling actions.

Does it hurt you to see the decline in popularity of Test cricket?

Yes, it's hurting to see people are not watching Test cricket anymore. Even in your country, looking at television, there aren't too many. I remember my first visit in 1974-75, you couldn't find space in any of the stands. Today the best West Indies, best Australian teams go to India, you can still run rabbits through, people are so scarce.

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