The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Business as usual for Lillee

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Business as usual for Lillee

Special Correspondent

Chennai: It is business as usual for Dennis Lillee who is back at the MRF pace foundation. Speaking to the The Hindu on Wednesday he said, “We have lost a coach (T.A. Sekar) because he wanted to accept a new challenge after performing a fabulous job here for 19 years.

“But Senthil (new head coach M. Senthilnathan) is a level three coach and has taken on the mantle well. Prashant Chandran, a paceman himself, will be groomed as a coach. The facilities here are excellent. And I will be there.”

On the contentious switch-bat technique employed by Kevin Pietersen, he said, “The bowler and the captain might have six fielders on the off-side, three on the leg-side and the plan might be to bowl outside the off-stump. When the batsman makes the switch everything changes. This worries me.”

The Aussie pace legend was appreciative of the proposed innovations on the umpiring front.

He stressed rotation of the pacemen given the sheer volume of cricket and said injuries were caused as much by faulty technique as not adhering to the fitness routine during the breaks between series.

He admitted to being surprised by the success of the bowlers in Twenty20 cricket.

He quickly added, “quality bowlers have won matches. The mediocre ones have been found out. The pacemen have employed a full length, swung the ball and bowled at a different width.”

Lillee, who played in the World Cup of 1983, said, “The Indian team had a lot of cricketers who could bat and bowl. Those days, that was very innovative.”

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