Daily Mail - 13.08.2019

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.

DWWDDWDDDDWWWDWWLLW 2015

v1