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Bowl them over
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A search is on for the fast and the furious among bowlers
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An aspirant tries his luck — Photo: P.V. Sivakumar
FORMER ENGLAND fast bowler, Fred Trueman once said that an aspiring fast bowler must first learn to bowl fast. Control over line and length and the finer aspects of swing and seam movement could come later. "If you cannot bowl fast, you are not a fast bowler. It is as simple as that," Fred used to say.
Some of the budding young pacers from Hyderabad tried out their hand at fast bowling during the Scorpio Speedster fast bowling competition organised by ESPN along with Mahindra and Mahindra, which was aimed at unearthing potential fast bowlers. A series of these competitions were conducted in ten cities across India, Hyderabad being one of them. The national winner stands to gain financially from the programme as well as obtain the benefit of undergoing a stint at the Australian Centre of Excellence in Brisbane.
The fact that speed can be a weapon in itself has been proven time and again by legendary fast bowlers in the past such as Harold Larwood, Frank Tyson, Charlie Griffith, Wesley Hall, Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and of course some fearsome speedsters who made Clive Lloyd's West Indians an unbeatable side.
For country
In fact throughout the history of the game it has been seen that all the best teams have had at least two very good fast bowlers in the attack with a couple of medium pacers or spinners to back them up. But India's record in producing fast bowlers has not been upto the mark. Barring a handful of names such as Mohammed Nissar, Amar Singh and later Ramakant Desai, India's record in this department of the game has been lacklustre.
While Pakistan has thrown up quite a few bowlers who could work up genuine pace, India never really had a good new ball attack till Kapil Dev entered the scene. Now of course there are a handful of good seamers doing duty for the country but nevertheless India still lacks a bowler who has the sheer speed to rattle the rival batsmen.
As far as Hyderabad is concerned, the successful bowlers have been spinners particularly those who have represented the country - starting with Ghulam Ahmed and later M.L. Jaisimha, Narasimha Rao, Shivlal Yadav, Venkatapathy Raju and Arshad Ayub besides several others who were equally talented but were unlucky not to have got the nod from the selectors. Among the new ball bowlers who flourished were Abid Ali and Govindaraj both of whom played for the national squad. But they were better known for their ability to use the seam effectively rather than their speed and hostility.
Different dimension
But now the situation is gradually changing and fast bowling has acquired a new dimension and relevance despite the fact that slow pitches continue to dampen the competition in domestic cricket.
The success of bowlers such as Javagal Srinath, Asish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, L. Balaji and others have attracted the fancy of youngsters who are now trying to emulate them.
Any casual observer watching inter-school cricket matches in Hyderabad will easily spot a few young kids who seem to be copying the bowling action of their favourite speedsters. Hopefully as more talented young pacers come into the game and are provided more scientific coaching techniques to improve their physique and stamina, even Hyderabad may throw up a bowler who can match the best in international cricket.
ABHIJIT SENGUPTA
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