The Hindu : Sport : ‘Let your bowling do the talking’

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Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007
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Sport

‘Let your bowling do the talking’

Glenn McGrath feels Sreesanth has to start performing

Doubts whether Sreesanth’s on-field aggression is natural
Warns the Indian team to expect enough hostility

— Photo: AFP

TIME FOR ACTION: McGrath feels that Sreesanth should cut out the antics and concentrate on taking wickets.

Melbourne: Having talked the talk, Indian fast bowler S. Sreesanth now needs to back up his aggression with performance and prove his worth, Australia’s former spearhead Glenn McGrath has said.

McGrath, who keenly followed Australia’s ODI series against India which saw heated altercations with Sreesanth featuring in quite a few of them, said it was time the youngster delivered the goods with the ball.

“At the end of the day you’ve got to be able to back it up. You can talk the talk but if you can’t go out there and perform, you’re not going to be around for very long,” McGrath was quoted as saying by The Australian.

The lanky pacer also doubted whether Sreesanth’s on-field aggression was natural. “I’ve had a chat with him a few times and it doesn’t seem to be in his character,” he said. “He’s trying to be aggressive and it’s a little bit unusual.

“You want your fast bowler to be aggressive. Giving blokes send-offs or sledging when you talk back are things I don’t agree with, but that’s up to the officials to sort out,” McGrath said.

He warned the Indian team to expect enough hostility when it arrives to play four Test matches.

“The Indians really don’t like the quicker or bouncier wickets so we’ll wait and see what happens.

“I’m sure they’ll come and try to be aggressive but I think no one does it better than the Australians,” McGrath said.

Exciting time

The Australian team which is going through a re-building process would live up to expectations, he said. “I think it’s going to be an interesting and exciting time for Australian cricket with the young guys putting their hands up.”

About the options in the fast bowling department, the ‘Pigeon’ said Australia faced a problem of plenty.

“It will be interesting to see which way they go. The way Mitchell Johnson bowled in India he’s definitely put his hand up. Brett Lee’s coming back, Shaun Tait’s coming good again…

“You look at the next 18 months, two years, there’s a lot of cricket so I dare say there’s going to be a big turn-out of players,” he added.

He was, however, not sure about someone filling the void created by Shane Warne’s retirement even though he praised Stuart MacGill and Brad Hogg.

“Warney is probably a different kettle of fish. We’ve got a couple of frontline spinners — the way Stuart MacGill has performed in his career and the way Brad Hogg has bowled — so I think it won’t be too bad in the near future,” he said.

“We’ll see how the younger spinners come through and that will be the key for Australia,” added McGrath. — PTI

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