Cricket: No quick solution to fast bowling woes

Mitchell McClenaghan. Photo / Getty Images

News that the Napier test will be Iain O'Brien's last, plus Shane Bond's continued injury problems, mean New Zealand's pace bowling stocks are in the hands of a diminishing number of veterans. Andrew Alderson looks for young fast bowlers but finds some uncomfortable issues.

Former New Zealand quick Brendon Bracewell thinks little progress has been made in developing pace bowlers in the past 20 years.

He believes the answer to what seems to be a dearth of young quicks to take over from Shane Bond, Iain O'Brien, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills and Daryl Tuffey lies in the fact that we are not always identifying or developing such bowlers properly.

Bracewell has personal experience of being fast-tracked through the ranks. He made a successful debut for New Zealand aged 18 on tour against England in 1978.

His career was then riddled with injury, so much so he ended up playing just six tests over six-and-a-half years. He now runs the Bracewell Cricket Academy in Napier with the aim of teaching young players how to best make the transition to higher levels.

"The first thing I'd do is identify pace bowlers through a speedball radar. That way, a lot of young bowlers from 17 to 24 who can bowl 140km/h don't slip through the net. Often they've had no encouragement and aren't contracted players, so are never seen.

"The thing is you've got to be careful. From the ages of 15 to 20, players are going through a time when their bones are still growing. They're at a vulnerable stage.

"A kid might shoot up from five foot nine to six foot one in a couple of years, so it's a lot of growth while a player's putting their body, and particularly their spine, under a lot of stress. We need to get them on to better strength and conditioning programmes targeting their core and the surrounding muscle area to support the vertebrae.

"You need to measure all the critical paths in the bowling movement. That's bracing the front leg and getting good leverage from the bowling arm. We can then look at how to get them up to 5km/h quicker while minimising the injury risk through hyper-extension of the back. You've got to make sure they're balanced and in a sturdy position.

"Take my entry into international cricket as an example," says Bracewell. "At the time, I wouldn't have swapped it for anything but there wasn't the technology available. I had an at-risk action; it was too side-on which put a strain on my back.

"Now such problems can be identified better with tests on all parts of the torso to support the lower back vertebrae. We did none of that - you just bowled and bowled. You were a disaster waiting to happen."

Bracewell likes the idea of developing genuine pace bowlers like Bond but suggests we are not geared up to find and develop them.

"The reality is the quicker the ball comes on, the more chance there is of an error. A number of players bowl at 135 kph-plus, but they're not necessarily on great training programmes. In 2009, we're no further down the track than we were in 1989 in spotting and then developing talent."

DANNY MORRISON, a Black Caps debutant at 21, also has nagging doubts over player development from what he considers a limited talent pool.

But what concerns him most is the tactics bowlers employ these days as they transfer frequently between the game's three formats.

"I know guys wield bigger bats and want to smash you but where are the warriors prepared to swing the ball and risk pitching it up?

"You don't see it much any more. You might go for a few runs but on your day you'd be difficult to play. Unfortunately, these days, bowlers seem to be constantly aiming to bowl back of a length, splicing the bat all the time. They're trying bouncers and the odd yorker but the fuller swinging ball is rare.

"For instance Chris Martin bowling fuller is a better prospect than when he's pitching it back of a length," says Morrison. "With the latter he's easier to watch so batsmen can leave him then go back to cut or pull him once they've got their eye in."

However national selector Mark Greatbatch says such full-pitch bowling tactics can tend to be wishful thinking in the current era.

"You can't bowl along the deck in international cricket these days, you've got to hit the deck hard. It doesn't mean bowling short but it's about hitting a length."

So there is a divergence of thinking between those who have hurled the ball down the pitch for New Zealand in the past and those at the reins of the national team now.

The debate follows a test summer which started with such pace bowling promise. The line-up of Bond, Martin and O'Brien combined aggression, accuracy and toil successfully in Dunedin while Daryl Tuffey, Tim Southee and Brent Arnel continued to steam in off their long runs-in the practice nets, hungry for a spot.

However with the Pakistan series about to end, this rosy picture has wilted. Bond (34) is out injured again and is contemplating test retirement.

Mills (30) is injured and Martin turned 35 last week and has been sussing out possible vocational avenues in the media, indicating this season could be his last. The 33-year-old O'Brien wants to settle into married life with his English wife and will take up residence as a professional at Middlesex next year.

GREATBATCH SAYS it is no time to panic and that there are prospects for advancement coming through the system, in addition to 21-year-old Tim Southee.

"We're trying to expose those who we think might be involved over the next three years on the A and Emerging Players tours. It's great to see Northern Districts' Trent Boult (aged 20) back playing and Mitchell McClenaghan (23), the Central Districts' left-armer, looked good last year. He'll probably be back from injury in the New Year.

"[South African-born] Neil Wagner (23) of Otago is also a prospect when he becomes eligible [in 2011].

"Brent Arnel (30) is bowling well this year, he's in the frame with O'Brien retiring and Canterbury's Hamish Bennett (22) has the attributes of being able to bowl fast despite injury affecting his Emerging Players tour."

As yet, it is hard to look at any one of those bowlers and say with conviction that they are the answer to New Zealand's upcoming pace bowling vacancies. With James Franklin slipping further from the scene as a left-arm pace bowler, Boult and McClenaghan (both lefties) could soon fight for one spot to give the Black Caps variation - with Wagner likely to come into the frame once he's eligible.

Boult already has the experience of touring with the Black Caps for the Chappell-Hadlee series in late 2008 as well as this year's New Zealand A tour to India while McClenaghan left an impression with useful performances against the England Lions last summer.

Arnel has impressed by topping the State Championship wicket charts in 2007-08 with 33 and, like Boult, toured India after getting the call-up to the Black Caps test squad as cover in March. Bennett appears to have more work to do, despite a stellar rise through the age-group ranks, and looks set for selection again in the next week after recovering from an infected tailbone.

However, for Morrison, a key element missing for incoming talent these days is senior players, especially with the extra responsibility heaped on Daniel Vettori.

"I had 'The Great One' there in Sir Richard Hadlee and I roomed with him in Australia and India," says Morrison. "The other big balancing effect was having Martin Snedden, one of my North Shore clubmates, around. Unfortunately now those sort of players aren't as prevalent. I mean you've got Tommy [Martin], but he only plays tests, so you lose another thing in that cross-over between the formats where guys become more specialised."

Morrison tempers that with the fact Tuffey could be enjoying a new lease of life and no one can assume Bond's influence on the team is over just yet. But he says New Zealand could be about to go through a period of like 1989-91 or 1999-2001.

"It's not like it's the first time it's happened - trying to replace regulars in that test team. It's like when [Ewen] Chatfield was on the way out and [Sir Richard] Hadlee was ending his career.

"That was when the likes of Chris Pringle, Willie Watson and myself were trying to make a name in tests. Then a decade on you had Chris Cairns and Dion Nash as the mainstays. Andre Adams promised so much, as did Shayne O'Connor, then the selectors tried to convert Jacob Oram into a quicker bowler rather than a medium-paced trundler. You also had Kerry Walmsley whose action they tried to remodel by shortening his levers but he was never the same bowler."

"There just doesn't seem to be a lot about now, does there? Beyond Southee, we need to find more players who can swing the ball. Ideally it'd be someone like Simon Doull who was tall, could get a bit of bounce and gets the ball to move late. They don't have to be fast, maybe in the late 130kph bracket, like Daryl Tuffey."

So Morrison wants more swing; Bracewell wants more pace; Greatbatch is saying "don't panic, help is on the way" - but New Zealand's pace bowling may be headed into some experimental and possibly lean years.