- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Whenever I have a question and answer session at a sports function, there tends to be certain questions I get asked.
What was it like to score a Test double hundred? My answer is always “I still pinch myself!”
Who was the biggest pest in the dressing room? Glenn McGrath – hands down.
What’s Warney really like? My response – a good bloke who lives a life I cannot begin to imagine understanding, but he handles it well.
And, usually, “who is the best batsman you have bowled to, and why?”
How I usually respond is that I keep it to opposition players at international level – having to decide between all the wonderful batsmen I was fortunate enough to play with and against at domestic level in Australia proves to be a very difficult task.
I am just glad I did not have to bowl to some of my teammates in the Aussie side that often in matches – training was bad enough!
So, to the question of who the best batsman I have bowled to in international cricket. For me, it was pretty clear cut.
Brian Lara.
The reason I put Lara ahead of many fantastic players of my era including Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Kumar Sangakkara, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Michael Vaughan is simple. I always felt with Brian, I could run in and look to bowl my best ball but he could, if he was in the mood, hit that ball pretty much wherever he wanted.
This might be another way of saying he played in an unorthodox way. The impressive thing about Brian was his way of adapting to a situation out in the middle. He used to play the conditions and the bowling very well.
He realised the threats and changed gears during his innings depending on the situation of the game.
A number of innings spring to mind, however his 153* to win a Test in Barbados in 1999 will not only go down as one of the greatest innings you will see, it was a batting masterclass in assessing conditions. He was batting with the lower order and changing the tempo of batting to change the momentum of the innings. It was an exceptional display.
I know plenty of Roarers will question why I do not have Sachin Tendulkar as the best. Do not get me wrong, he was an incredible player and if I’m honest – if I was speaking at a function in Mumbai I would most likely say Sachin – if only to make sure I left the function alive!
I always felt with Tendulkar and the other players I mentioned above that if I bowled my best ball consistently I could put them under pressure to play a shot they did not want to play.
I especially found this with Tendulkar, Kallis and Dravid. That is not to say they did not get on top of my bowling – far from it! I copped my fair share of pastings from them.
However I found them to be more orthodox in their set up and batsmanship – they were all very patient players. My job was to be more patient than them by being ruthless with my line and length.
Laxman was a different player again. Very strong through the leg side from even off stump/4th stump! We struggled to contain him in India in 2001.
Our plan was to bowl in the channel of the 4th/5th stump line, encouraging him to play off the front foot through the offside, inviting an edge.
Needless to say this did not work. In 2004 we changed our plan to not only Laxman, but all the Indian batsmen who are all traditionally very good through the leg side with their wristy play – especially in India.
Our plan was to bowl to hit middle and off stump and have deep fine leg, deep backward square leg, two catching mid wickets and a mid on fractionally deeper than normal.
This way we had two attacking fielders (the mid wickets), the deep men to make the Indian batsmen run between wickets in the heat – as opposed to hitting fours – and mid on a bit deeper to take into account the speed in which the ball travels on Indian grounds and their batsmen’s reluctance to pinch singles.
This plan worked very well and we won that series 2-1.
And finally, Michael Vaughan. He was the best English player I bowled to – due respect to Kevin Pietersen.
I only played a couple of games against him although I believe he is the best English batsman I have seen.
The challenge with Vaughan is that I felt he almost knew what I was about to bowl in terms of the length I bowled. He would play a pull shot to a ball you felt was a decent length.
Whether I was conscious of it or not, I would bowl fuller and be driven for a boundary. I lost count how many times this happened and vice versa with the full ball first, then the slightly shorter one.
A class player who in 2002/3 had a wonderful series against us despite being on the losing side. However, when I got my line and length right I always felt that the pressure will produce a false stroke and a wicket.
All in all, a very tough question to answer taking into account many variables. I will still maintain that under all conditions and all situations, Brian Lara is the best player I bowled to in international cricket.