McDermott deserves as much praise as Lehmann

Darren Lehmann is rightly receiving high praise for guiding the transformation of the Australian Test side.

His DNA is strewn across the bloody Ashes crime scene left behind by his marauding charges over the past few weeks.

But one of his key offsiders has played a massive role which is being comparatively overlooked.

It is no coincidence that Australia’s two golden runs of form in recent years have coincided with Craig McDermott’s separate stints as bowling coach.

The former Test firebrand joined the Australian coaching setup in mid-2011 after edging out South African great Allan Donald in the battle to replace Troy Cooley.

The Aussie Test side was at its lowest ebb since the 1980s having been dismantled by a merciless English outfit in the 2010-11 Ashes.

During that series, Australia’s pacemen had been utterly toothless.

Peter Siddle, Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus all were bereft of rhythm and confidence.

Enter McDermott. His work with Australia’s quicks was evident as Australia rebounded from that Ashes thrashing to outplay Sri Lanka en route to a rousing series victory away from home.

Ryan Harris, Siddle, Johnson, Trent Copeland and Shane Watson combined for 34 wickets at an average of 27 in that series despite the dry, unresponsive surfaces on offer.

The Aussie pace attack suddenly boasted characteristics that had been notably absent during the Ashes debacle – consistency, pace, aggression and, perhaps most importantly, a fuller length.

During the 2010-11 Ashes the Australian bowlers had too often allowed the English batsmen to flay them off the back foot.

McDermott stressed the need to draw the batsman forward, with such a full length also enhancing a bowler’s chances of gaining swing.

This canny approach reaped remarkable rewards for Australia the next home summer as their pacemen vaporised the Indian batting line-up.

Anyone who watched the efforts of Hilfenhaus and Siddle in that series could have been forgiven for being sceptical.

“These rampant quicks cannot possibly be the same sad, sorry sods who trundled in during the Ashes last season. Australia must be illegally experimenting with robosapiens,” they may have thought.

That pair combined for 50 wickets at 18 in the four-Test series.

They both bowled with an extra 5-10kmh in pace and generated more pronounced and later swing, all of which was produced by noticeably stronger actions.

India boasted an extremely formidable top seven of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virat Hohli and MS Dhoni.

Yet, over their eight innings in that series, India’s average score was just 231. McDermott also oversaw the introduction of James Pattinson, who enjoyed a golden debut summer against India and New Zealand.

Pattinson grabbed 25 wickets at 18 in his first four Tests.

His astounding success was at the time credited to the fuller length he had been encouraged to adapt by McDermott.

Australia then continued their phenomenal turnaround by defeating the West Indies 2-0 in the Caribbean in April 2012.

Hilfenhaus and Harris, in particular, played a significant role in that victory. The next month, McDermott quit.

In the following 17 months before he rejoined the team as bowling coach, Australia won just 3 of its 15 Tests.

To lay that woeful record at the feet of Australia’s quicks would be preposterous.

It was the side’s fragile batting line-up which was the architect of many of its failures.

But none of the fast bowlers, bar Ryan Harris, looked quite as sharp as they did either previously under McDermott or as they do currently under his tutelage.

Peter Siddle has this summer looked rejuvenated after a flat back half of the Ashes in England.

Shane Watson looks stronger in his delivery stride and is bowling with greater pace.

Then there’s one Mitchell Guy Johnson.

Have McDermott’s wizardly ways helped turn him into an unstoppable force of nature? It is hard to say.

Before McDermott returned as Test bowling coach in October, Johnson was already bowling quicker than he had for some time in the ODI series in England and India.

Johnson the Test player is so unpredictable that in any given match he can click and turn into a menace or, alternatively, his ability can evaporate before your eyes.

But it’s hard to believe that McDermott hasn’t contributed in some way to Johnson’s rebirth.

It is undeniable that he has had a resounding impact on the team during his two tenures.

Consider Australia’s win/loss record with and without McDermott over the past two-and-a-half years:

With McDermott: 10-1

Without McDermott: 3-8

Sometimes, the stats speak for themselves.