The Hindu : Sport : Warne’s tips helped Tremlett

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Thursday, Jul 26, 2007
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Warne’s tips helped Tremlett

Special Correspondent

Nottingham: Chris Tremlett is that strangest of strange cricketing oxymorons: the gentleman fast-bowler. For a man who is 6ft 7in tall, Tremlett is surprisingly underwhelming.

He seemed to have drifted under the English radar. Then, his captain at Hampshire, Shane Warne, “got in his face” and told him he was wasting his gifts. A suggestion to shorten his run-up followed.

Tremlett Version Two was unveiled at Lord’s. Despite being in “a bit of a shock” at being given a debut, Tremlett fulfilled his part in a three-man pace attack: uncomfortable bounce from a difficult length.

On Wednesday, he was his gentle self with the media.

The following are excerpts:

Warne’s influence: I’ve been working with Warney for the last three years and I’ve learnt a lot from him. He said take a look at yourself and where you want to go from here. I’ve managed to get myself back in th e frame with a lot of hard work.

Criticism hurt: When people say that (he doesn’t have the heart for battle) it does really hurt. In Australia, I tried 100 per cent. I wanted todo really well.

Toothless aggression: Stuart Clark is a similar character to me off the field, a kind guy, but when he steps on the pitch he has got that mean streak about him and so has Glenn McGrath. It is not something that comes naturally to me, t o be aggressive and swear at people.

Allan Donald’s influence: We did have a chat before the Test and he said express yourself, be aggressive, get in their faces but also don’t do things you don’t normally do. For me to go out there and start taunting ba tsmen is not something I would normally do and it would come across as being unnatural.

Indian reputation: The Indian guys might have a bit of a reputation for not liking the ball swinging and nipping around as much as other teams. We did get in their faces. We built the pressure on their batsmen by being aggressive and v ery patient with the bowling

In decline?

I played in the Lions game and Sachin made a 100 and he looked class. Dravid is a great player. I got him out in the second innings here which was great for me. Conditions were quite hard for batting. You can’t say it is down to them losing their touch. We will see how it goes in the series.

Lord’s disappointed:

It was a great team effort with the ball and bat and to get so close was so frustrating. We have to get it out of the system. We said in the team meeting that we have to go with the same intensity on Friday and try and go one nil up.

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