CANTERBURY Magicians coach Stephen Cunis was in a jocular mood when I phoned him the other day.
"I didn't do it [step over the line when bowling] because his old man, Brendon, was my coach in those days," Cunis said with a laugh in reference to Brendon Bracewell's son and rookie Black Cap, Doug Bracewell, bowling five no-bowls in the first test match at the Gabba last week. "He's obviously not coaching him anymore," the women's domestic coach said.
I had wittingly broached the subject after Cunis, the son of former legendary coach Bob Cunis, thought it was pathetic his Magician bowlers had 39 wides (from 27 deliveries) in their Action Cup 50-over cricket match against Auckland Hearts last Saturday.
Just as Doug Bracewell later acknowledged, I have to agree with Cunis that it's totally unacceptable, especially for the women's defending champions stacked with White Fern bowlers.
Bowling wides and no-balls is an allergy.
It's commendable of Bracewell to front up to the media to address his bowling demons.
"I've bowled the odd one here and there but bowling five in a test match is obviously too much," the Central Districts Stags allrounder said from Hobart before the second test started yesterday.
"It's tough at the moment, it's a new problem so I'm just trying to sort it out."
Anyone who has ever coached children how to bowl will attest to the fact that inculcating good habits from the word go is of utmost importance.
Watching a class bowler is like watching poetry in motion - the body in sync with the mind and the dynamics all coming together like myriad instruments of a symphonic orchestra.
To attain such a level of bowling requires not genius but dedication and discipline.
It's not making allowances for a wide here or there.
Wides and no-balls generally come in small doses so those guilty of such transgressions do not feel the impact until they become too big a problem to handle.
It's basically a chain of bad habits that build up like fine cobwebs and, over years of ignoring them, firm into a chicken fence-like cage that bowlers can't wriggle out of.
I know that sounds extreme and it is.
Not having watched Bracewell play enough, despite facing him in an indoor net once to write a premier club season preview a few moons ago, I'm in no position to cast aspersions on why no-balls have started creeping into his game for the past couple of summers. I've had enough association with ex-international Brendon Bracewell to know, as Cunis does, he wouldn't tolerate sloppiness in any aspect of cricket, let alone bowling.
Women's cricket - now that's something I can comment on because I have covered matches at myriad levels for more than a decade.
I didn't have a choice. With two daughters playing, I even found myself coaching at age-group level.
It reminds me of the kid who ignores her run-up. Nah, can't be bothered measuring my run-up, seems to be the attitude.
I mean, what's the point in doing that when I can pitch a short or goodish length delivery that makes other 10 to 14-year-old batsmen tremble in their size 5-6 shoes.
All that, of course, changes when batsmen mature, becoming crease savvy before depositing bad balls to the boundary.
A bowler who habitually terrorises batsmen with rib ticklers now has to find the right line and length with monotonous regularity.
It doesn't help that teammates who preside at the crease on Saturdays are given latitudes of how far down the leg side constitutes a wide.
They soon trot off to a rep squad and the white coats start feeling like gym bunnies working out their wing-spans delivery after delivery.
The sad reality is the bowlers are trying their utmost to bowl six balls whizzing past the off stump but, try as they may, it isn't working.
That's because their bodies have programmed bad habits from the early days.
That is not to say they can't change their ways.
Bad habits are best eradicated today rather than tomorrow but those involved need to be willing to do it even if it means going back to the drawing board.