Richard Boock: New Zealand quicks are now on the pace

They used to think that it would be a cold day in Jamaica when an unfashionable little side such as New Zealand boasted a superior pace attack to that of the West Indies. Oh, how they must be shivering now.

In a place where the bouncer ranks only just behind the late Bob Marley in terms of cultural significance, the awful truth is almost too much to bear: they now have the worst bowling attack in the world apart from Bangladesh.

Even New Zealand, usually on the wrong side of the action when the fast-bowling highlights are replayed, can feel comfortably superior to the present bunch, not to mention more secure about their future.

Long after the occasional fast-bowling talents such as Gary Bartlett, Murray Webb and Richard Collinge, New Zealand have been able to cash in on the Richard Hadlee phenomenon and chart an optimistic course forward.

There were concerns for a time after a succession of injuries to pacemen Dion Nash, Geoff Allott and Simon Doull, but then Shane Bond exploded on to the scene and Ian Butler started making waves.

Even with Bond injured, New Zealand can still view their attack with confidence, as Butler, Daryl Tuffey and Jacob Oram have impressed, and others such as blossoming swing bowler Michael Mason are making their presence felt.

It might have been easy for New Zealand Cricket to simply start a massive hunt for the fastest bowlers in the country, but they were a bit smarter than that and still found ways of harnessing the ability of those with lesser pace.

The result has been two-fold - they have uncovered a couple of exciting fast-bowlers in Bond and Butler - and have still been able to cultivate the abilities of seamers such as Tuffey and Oram.

Academy director and New Zealand Under-19 coach Dayle Hadlee says it is no accident that the country's fast-bowling stakes are gradually improving, and are now beginning to make a mark at the highest level.

"I'm pretty heartened by the quality of the pace bowlers around today and the degree of knowledge that they've got, compared to what the situation was about 15 years ago," said Hadlee. "I think NZC can take some credit for that and I think the majors should also receive a pat on the back."

Hadlee, a former test fast-bowler, said one of the critical ingredients in the successful development of pace bowling was the education of the player so that he understood the dynamics of his action, and was aware of the subtleties involved.

He said it was also important for the up-and-coming fast-bowlers to receive as much relevant information as possible so that they could understand how to best exploit the pitch and the opposition batsmen.

Former fast bowlers were brought in to talk and practice with the intake and to share any trade secrets learnt during their career, and technical and medical experts were heavily involved.

"If we can get to a stage where we've got a pool of 5-10 quality pace bowlers who we can rotate - then we can manage them, give them longevity and offer them a much better chance of success."

Hadlee said the academy had been targeting fast-bowling since 1996 when five young pacemen were brought into the fold, and was acutely aware of the need for a succession plan. That meant identifying young potential pace bowlers; educating them, training them and providing the support services that could help them overcome injury or loss of form.

"It's no fluke, the development of these players; it's closely managed and highly resourced," he said.

"We've got NZC's expert medical team to assist anyone who has problems so that they can continue to develop in safety.

"There's also professional coaches trained by NZC, who are knowledgeable about the art of fast-bowling and know to organise their training and playing schedules so that the risk of injury is minimised."

And Hadlee said the academy was also learning that there was more than one way to skin a cat, in that methods for teaching young bowlers were becoming more varied and complex.

"For example, we've always tended to encourage high actions in order to maximise the amount of seam movement off the pitch, whereas we've learnt from the Asian nations that you need to be able to adjust your arm angles to produce reverse swing.

"It's not a contradiction of what we've been teaching previously, it's just the realisation that we need to teach two different techniques for two different types of bowling."