So far, so good for the young Australian bowlers

 
Spiro Zavos Columnist

By , 2 Dec 2011 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert

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So far, so good for the young Australian bowlers + enlarge image

Australia's Mitchell Starc, second left, celebrates with team member David Warner. AP Photo/Tertius Pickard

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It’s early days in the Australia versus New Zealand Test at Brisbane, for the new players and the new management team. But taking five wickets in two sessions represents a good start for the (green) baggy green caps.

There was history in the fact that taking two new fast bowlers into a Test, with not one Test between them, had not been done since Australia’s first Test back in the 19th century.

What stood out particularly in the way the team went about its business was that the coaching staff had for once (at least since the John Buchanan era) done its homework effectively. Everything the Australians did on the field suggested planning and thinking about how to get the best out of the talents of the players.

As Mark Taylor pointed out, for the first time in several years the staggering of the slips and the distance between players was correct. It’s a little point but dozens of little improvements tend to add up to one big improvement.

Richie Benaud thought that while this was an improvement, the slips could stand a bit further apart from each other. Something for the captain and the coaching staff to think more about.

Talking about placement of close catchers, it has always been a puzzle to me why the silly mid-on fields so close to the bat. Why not drop back a couple of metres? Usman Khawaja was so close he dropped two sharp chances.  Slightly further back, he would have missed one of the chances which was hit into the ground, but he would have snaffled the second miss.

Getting back to the general point, though, there seemed to be plans worked out to dismiss the various batsmen. The bowlers pitched up to the openers, producing some slashes that didn’t go to hand from Brendon McCullum, and a lazy drive that did catch the edge of the stolid Martin Guptill.

Then the pressure went on McCullum from Mitchell Starc bowling around the wicket. A shortish ball moving into McCullum forced a cramped cut that was snapped up by David Warner in the gully.

This was great bowling and great tactical play. The same tactic worked against the dangerous Jesse Ryder.

For Kane Williamson, it had obviously been noted that to the off-spinner he is inclined to flick balls outside his off-stump and spinning in away to leg. So a short forward leg and a short backward leg were placed. Within the space of a few balls, Williamson, a sound and generally technically correct batsman, had edged the ball into the leg trap.

I liked the way, too, captain Michael Clarke brought on Nathan Lyon with 40 minutes of play left in the first session. A good test of the quality of cricket captains is the way they handle their spinners. Ricky Ponting, after Shane Warne had retired, was almost embarrassed to bowl his spinners. When he did, he rarely brought them on at the appropriate time.

But Clarke has confidence in Lyon. And the bowler repaid this confidence by bowling accurately with some spin and a lot of bounce. The great Benaud has always insisted that bounce is more important to a spinner than spin. And who can argue with someone whose knowledge of the art of spinning goes back to the days of Bill O’Reilly, a bounce bowler if ever there was one.

By giving Lyon a chance with a newish ball, Clarke ensured his spinner had a strong chance of getting the bounce he needed to trap Williamson into his false shot.

Of the two new fast bowlers, I thought Mitchell Starc more impressive than James Pattison. Pattison has a bit of a hangdog look about him when things aren’t going well. He can learn from Peter Siddle that attitude is everything for a fast bowler.

Starc appears the more thoughtful and optimistic of the two. He moves the ball in and away from the batsman, unlike the other Mitchell who just used to bowl a heavy ball across right-hand batsman.

At present New Zealand looks like falling short of a good total on a Brisbane pitch which could turn into a belter on the second and third day.  So the impressive bowling of the youngsters has to be seen in the light of the fact that the pitch was on the bouncy side.

When the liveliness dies down will be the time to confirm whether the start has been as good as it seems right now.

But so far, so good.

Follow all the action from Day 2 of the Test on The Roar’s live blog.

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