Keep building bowlers

A significant factor in Sri Lanka’s success against Bangladesh was the manner in which the bowlers kept coming at the batsmen, giving them no respite. Not so common with Sri Lankan attacks, to consistently be tormenting the batsmen.

Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Dilhara Fernando are now at their peak as bowlers. Lasith Malinga, is bowling quick and will reach his peak in the not too distant future as his action is so reliant on bowling quick. Sujeeva de Silva got an opportunity and performed adequately. What was a pleasure to watch was that whichever pair operated, the good deliveries, the variations never dried up. The batsmen had to concentrate on every delivery. Whenever there was a loose delivery, the very good comeback delivery was not far away.

Bowling fast is a tough job. Each time a fast bowler lands on his back foot and transfers weight on to the front foot a force measuring eight to ten times his body weight passes through joints below his waist. The job is for tall, strong, men. Even then, there is no guarantee. The stress on muscle and bone are severe. Injury is a part and parcel of pace bowlers’ life and only a few have gone through a career without being under the surgeon’s knife!

The commonly used phrase that “bowlers win matches” is an absolute fact. At national level, the best are currently doing duty. There has to be good enough bowlers in the shadow of the seniors, playing in the ‘A’ team. They must believe about getting to the top and must apply themselves thoroughly to stay in contention. Also, when the national side has a good attack, the opportunities do not come often. This makes it even more important to stay prepared.

Muttiah Muralitharan has dominated Sri Lanka’s spin bowling department, similar to Shane Warne of Australia. Warne has now quit and in fact quit one day cricket four years ago. Muralitharan continues in both forms of the game and will be around for a while longer. This makes it difficult for the spinners knocking on the door. As it has happened will many other countries, it may well mean an entire spin bowling generation may loose out.

The likes of Malinga Bandara, Kaushal Lokuarachchi must hang there. Their sole aim must be to improve in their bowling skills, and some new variation and keep taking plenty of wickets, whenever they play.

What is required next is to look three to five years ahead. Look at bowlers between the ages of seventeen and twenty five work extensively with them. Be on the look out for fresh talent too. Coaching bowlers is a specialized job. Not too much has changed with batting techniques. The approach and manner in which runs are gathered has changed dramatically, but the basic techniques have not altered much.

Bowling certainly has. Since the acceptance of the side on and front on actions, some twenty five years ago, bowling has turned on its head. It has given a whole lot of options and has also encouraged a whole lot of different action and methods to meet the same end results.
In the 1970’s India had no bowlers to call pacemen. They had four of the best spinners in the world in, B.S. Chandrashekar, Bishen Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venketraghavan. Then Kapil Dev arrived on the scene. About the same time the MRF foundation was begun. It is located in Chennai (then Madras) at the Madras Christian College. Its Chairman and Managing Director is Vinoo Mammen, an old boy of the school. The facilities include pitches that play differently in terms of pace, bounce and swing, a modern gym and a swimming pool. Simple, yet sufficient to breed pacemen for India and the world. The greatest quick bowler Dennis Lillee has spent time there during the past twenty years.

Zaheer Khan, Rudra Singh and S. Sreesanth spent time training extensively, before embarking on the current tour of England. Many Sri Lankan bowlers have also spent time at the academy, including Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando. It is known that Vaas once wrote to Lillee saying “I owe much to you. I don’t know how I am going to ever repay you!” The tough, rugged Lillee was said to have been very moved by Vaas’s words.

Call it an academy, call it whatever, Sri Lanka needs to get a crop of spin and pace bowlers together and build for four years hence. Its not to be put off, build on the bowlers.