Daily Mail, Tuesday, August 13, 2019
73
LING ASSASSIN
Roll with it: David Warner takes a look at the pitch GETTY IMAGES
RISTS HAVE A BALL AT HQ Just throw the
new ball to Archer
and watch him go
JASON GILLESPIE
I
might be Australian but
putting nationality aside
my commitment is to
Sussex and for one of our
players to graduate from
first-class cricket to test
cricket is a real coup for every-
one at the club, myself as first-
team coach included. And i
would be throwing Jofra Archer
the new ball on his test debut
at Lord’s.
Anyone questioning how he will cope
with the step-up to this level need only
look back at the World Cup final and
the way he conducted himself as a kid
playing in his first tournament for
England. he was given serious respons-
bility and handled it with a smile on
his face.
he will be asked to perform multiple
roles as a bowler and i am sure Joe
Root will want him to create indeci-
sion among Australia’s batsmen. to
operate with the older ball at times, or
perhaps send down a couple of bounc-
ers an over, or offer some tight line and
length. Whatever role he is given,
though, he will adapt and adjust.
there might be periods when noth-
ing’s happening in the game and he is
asked to put a couple of balls in the
armpits of the Aussies to test
their skill off the back foot.
the second-team game he
played for Sussex last week will
undoubtedly have blown away
any cobwebs because he had
come straight out of the World
Cup and had been in
twenty20 mode before
that with Rajasthan
Royals. i have no doubt
he will cope with the
rigours of bowling 20
overs a day with the
Dukes ball. he’s young,
fit and strong and we
don’t want adapted
players, we want
adaptable players. he
is one and will adjust.
Personally, i would
be handing Jofra the
new ball without a
shadow of a doubt.
With 450 test wick-
ets to his name,
Stuart Broad has
probably earned the
right to bowl the first over
but i would be shocked if
Jofra didn’t get the
second, such is the impact
he can have.
if England explore the
option of playing Sam
Curran, Jofra would
potentially only bowl a
short spell of three to four
overs because while the
ball remains nice and new
— with just a bit of lacquer
off it — you would want to
give Curran some oppor-
tunities to use it. he is a
much less effective bowler if the ball’s
not swinging so you need him to be on
early in an innings.
this would allow Joe Root to use
Jofra in short, sharp bursts. it’s not to
say he can’t bowl the longer spells —
he can bowl eight, nine or 10 without a
problem. he’s a racehorse. But it
might be the way they see using him
most effectively.
Of course, the biggest challenge for
England’s attack will be getting Steve
Smith out. As a coach, i maintain that
batting is all about hitting the ball
where there are no fielders, and Smith
is a master of this art. he hits the gap;
then, when you block that gap off, he
hits you to another spot. this, to me,
is run-making at its purest.
People are saying he possesses
the closest batting technique to Sir
Donald Bradman. my question would
be: ‘Why aren’t we encouraging it more
often in cricket?’ A lot of stuff is spo-
ken about techniques but to me the
correct technique is always the one
that works for the individual. it’s not
how you go about it, it’s the end result,
so trust your own way of doing things.
We get caught up in this textbook
way of teaching batting. Yet i am all
for encouraging individuality.
One thing that shouldn’t be over-
looked when discussing Smith is yes,
his feet might be across his stumps,
but his head is dead still. Like him,
Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brian
Lara, two other unorthodox play-
ers, were in the perfect position to
address the ball at the point of the
bowler’s release.
they got themselves into
similar positions as the ball
came down the pitch to
those with textbook
techniques — the likes of
Sachin tendulkar, Ricky
Ponting and Rahul
Dravid. it’s just how
they got there that was a
bit different and perhaps
their bat was at a slightly
different angle.
So how to get a player
like Smith out? the key
would be to be ruthless and
disciplined with a plan and
be unwilling to leave that
plan too quickly as England
have a tendency to do.
it’s about patience, bowling
that tight corridor, that
fourth stump line — if the
ball nibbles back off the seam
it’s challenging the off-stump, if
it’s holding its line or going away
it creates potential opportuni-
ties behind the wicket.
So i would be focusing on a
top-of-the-stumps length and
being as boring as possible. Yes,
manipulate your field a little bit
now and again but don’t change
the plan. Don’t stick with it for
a few overs, stick with it for an
hour, or even a whole session.
X factor: Archer is set for
Test debut at Lord’s REUTERS
19
ENGLAND win just 19 per
cent of Tests against
Australia at the Home of
Cricket, compared to 48 per
cent against all other nations.
n AUSTRALIANS dominate the leaderboards for batting and
bowling in Ashes Tests at Lord’s, with old foes Don Bradman
(551 runs) and Glenn McGrath (26 wickets) leading the way.
n ...BUT don’t lose all hope, England fans. Chris Woakes is No 1
in both bowling average (9.75) and strike rate (23.7) among
players to have bowled in at least five Test innings at Lord’s.
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