New Front Page Article: Fast Bowling Lessons From Sri Lanka by Jeeshan Mirza

[Zunaid]

Fast Bowling Lessons From Sri Lanka
Jeeshan Mirza
Nearly two decades ago, in the fishing town of Rathgama, south-west in Sri Lanka, a young boy started playing cricket in the beach. Despite his mother's protests the boy would rush to the beach every day after school to enjoy a game of cricket. The boys played tennis ball cricket in the sandy beaches against the sea breeze. To bowl quick in these conditions, the boy had to adapt his action and develop a strong upper body. Within 3 years time from that time, Lasith Malinga broke into the Sri Lankan national team. What lessons can the Tigers camp take away from the Sri Lankan model to produce the likes of Malinga or Vaas? Jeeshan Mirza provides some valuable insights studying the successes of his resident team.

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[Zunaid]

While our eyes are on SLPL, time to read this magnificent piece from Jeesh.

[zinatf]

Well written. Wish Bangladesh followed the 20 year campaign...or at least every school had mandatory sports activities for all students....no one could have dared to define us as "unfit" this could even solve our problems of not winning any gold in major athletic events like the Olympics...

[Shaun petr]

I am feeling bad right now. We actually don't have a world class fast Bowler! Huh! Why it is? Look at this Shafiul. Does this guy has single intention to improve his physique? Not at all. Is Shahadat a smart fast Bowler who thinks himself as SRK. Only rubel was improving by time but look at our luck he got injured! So frankly We don't have a single fast Bowler. But also our selection process is so horrible! Guy named Al Amin(don't confuse him with present u19 player) who took the highest wickets in domestic is not getting a single chance in A team also. You can include disgrace like dollar or rabiul or shahadat but not the real guy. Why? This guy is really underrated. No one talks bout him at all. Why? I loved his angular action. Also reasonably fast.

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[AMD128]

You were right about Shafiul & Shahadat. And also what about Nazmul. Who's termed as step son because he's always being Sidelined while delu's like ABUL makes way. And gets more chance. -__-

[Gowza]

Al Amin, Abu jayed guys like these need to be given higher honours. Rubel was developing nicely in the one-day format before injury. Mash is still our best pacer.

[Tigers_eye]

Originally Posted by zinatf
Well written. Wish Bangladesh followed the 20 year campaign...or at least every school had mandatory sports activities for all students....no one could have dared to define us as "unfit" this could even solve our problems of not winning any gold in major athletic events like the Olympics...

In the 80s when we went to school and college we had some tremendous athletes among us. We had a football player (1) who could score from beyond half field and ball control was beyond imagination (mesi type). He never lost to anyone in Table tennis in his entire life inside the college. He use to play Cricket, Hockey, Basketball, volleyball and was very good at those. Then again he stood 1st in SSC and 2nd in HSC. So instead of becoming an athlete he became an engineer (RIT - USA). In one of the regional soccer tournaments there he score 11 goals in 6 matches. Then settled in Australia. Another one, was a boss hockey and cricket player. Couldn't be stopped in the soccer field as well. As you can tell he was tremendously gifted in Basketball and Volleyball as well. SSC 10th, HSC 11th - same story BUET and then settled in CANADA. Another one SSC 5th, HSC 21st. he use to be Clive Loyd type in cricket field. Yup Engineer (USA) now settled in UAE. We had several talented athletes who could challenge BKSP (just started then). This is from only 56 students class without formal training in sports and heavily in to studies. I am sure every batch from any cadet college has classic athletes who could shine if they had concentrated in those field. Instead, like brain drain we all left the country and all the bad folks are running them now.

[SS]

Great article...agree when I see Malinga bowling one after another toe crashing yorker...and how Vaas dominated in his era...there are so much things to learn from that system that produced cricketers like them.

[Dhakablues]

Great article indeed.
There are few things to keep in mind... One. Fast bowlers are not 'manufactured'; A country is lucky sometimes to have good fast bowlers and it doesn't matter whether you have BKSP, NCA, Commonwealth Bank Academy,,, all you can do is train young fast bowlers but whether they will become Wasim Akram, Glen McGrath, Lasith Malinga or not,, it depends on factors that's beyond a board sometimes. With all the resources, India still has no other fast bowler after Zaheer Khan; Pakistan's Umar Gul is the last known fast bowler of recognition. Physique plays a major role in fast bowlers ability but that's to support the talent. A relatively skinier Gul, Glen McGrath or Dale Steyn is still deadly and accurate than muscular Shoaib or Malinga. But with the facilities, planning and training provided, Sri Lanka will most likely produce a disciplined, physicalyand mentally tough and well prepared fast bowlers and we will produce a Nazmul, Shafiul...

However, for Bangladeshi fast bowlers, Nazmul, Rasel had the talent perhaps but they never worked on their physical improvement and would easily break down after couple series. Hence, they never got to master their skills either by playing a longer time. Versus a veteran like Mashrafee is much fitter than even the newest sensation..He is the only fast bowler who has mixed physical fitness with his talent,, Shahadat comes next and the rest, including Rubel, Shafiul etc. still has many miles to go;

[Ian Pont]

Always happy to set up an MRF style pace academy in Bangladesh but no one seems to want it, or has the enthusiasm for it.

Unless the BCB want this, it will not happen. Or unless the big companies want to fund this, it will not happen.

I am getting fed up offering my services but I am passionate about making this work - somehow

[jeesh]

Thanks all for your feedback.

Yes Ian we badly need a pace academy. We dont need a fancy setup or infrastructure. Just a dedicated coaching team working with a proper system. Hope RP or RI can feed the idea to the board.

[mufi_02]

The upcoming SL pacers are not as promising. They might have produced Vaas and Malinga but the Fernando, Thisara, Prasad are not world class. Kulasekara was once the number 1 bowler but since then lost his form and don't even have a guaranteed spot in the team now.

Fast bowling lessons should be learned from SA where they produces Steyns, Morkels and more. From England where Graham Onions recently took 9 wickets in a County match and still couldn't make it to the 3rd test against SA. Their 3rd position are battled between Finn, Bresnan, and then come Onions. Or Pakistan where even after departure or world class bowlers such as Asif and Amir, they still discovered Junaid Khan and Aizaz Cheema. SL pace line up is only marginally better than India's. Nothing extraordinary about it.

[jeesh]

Just to let you know Kulasekara is very much Sri Lanka's first choice. He is out because of injury. The current crop are not world class yet, but they have a system in place to produce such players. When Malinga retires, there will be someone replacing him.

Obviously we can learn from SA, Aussie, England etc. But you have to understand we dont have the same infrastructure, talent development etc. And also physique plays a key role. Aussies, S Africans are physically superior to us-better athletes, better diet etc. The point of the article is to at least learn from Sri Lanka who have produced the results with the minimum resources. You cant aim to have Pakistan, SA or Australia's system just like that. Its like Bangladesh developing automobile industry in 2012-13.

[al Furqaan]

Honestly, SL have only produced Vaas and Malinga. And even Vaas had a reasonably poor strike rate for a guy who took as many wickets as he did. Malinga on the other hand is pretty beastly. They might have some decent pacers now, but SL are probably not the best team for us to emulate pace wise. I see no reason why we can't emulate Pakistan...I don't think their infrastructure is that much better than ours. If thats issue, than look to NZ. With a tiny population and relatively thin resources they've produced many good bowlers from Hadlee to Bond, and then plenty of solid ones like Martin, Franklin, Mills and Oram.

[Zunaid]

Originally Posted by al Furqaan
Honestly, SL have only produced Vaas and Malinga. And even Vaas had a reasonably poor strike rate for a guy who took as many wickets as he did. Malinga on the other hand is pretty beastly. They might have some decent pacers now, but SL are probably not the best team for us to emulate pace wise. I see no reason why we can't emulate Pakistan...I don't think their infrastructure is that much better than ours. If thats issue, than look to NZ. With a tiny population and relatively thin resources they've produced many good bowlers from Hadlee to Bond, and then plenty of solid ones like Martin, Franklin, Mills and Oram.

We cannot emulate Pakistan nor New Zealand in terms of physique. So, we are left two choices - India and Sri Lanka. The conclusion is self-evident.

[Gowza]

what's to emulate? there is talent there i.e. mash, rubel, sajidul, dolar, subashis, abul, babu, taskin, abu jayed, al amin, emon ahmed, shafiul. outside of talent the most important thing is to have decent coaches and places where these coaches can coach the players. things like diet and fitness should be part of the academys/fast bowling schools. at the same time keep the pacer hunts going.

other than that the next thing for them to do is play matches.

and when it comes to fitness and strength training it would help a lot if players had easy access to gyms, FC, DPL and BPL teams should all have gyms or be associated with gyms so players contracted get access to them.

[Zunaid]

Originally Posted by Gowza
what's to emulate? there is talent there i.e. mash, rubel, sajidul, dolar, subashis, abul, babu, taskin, abu jayed, al amin, emon ahmed, shafiul. outside of talent the most important thing is to have decent coaches and places where these coaches can coach the players. things like diet and fitness should be part of the academys/fast bowling schools. at the same time keep the pacer hunts going.

other than that the next thing for them to do is play matches.

In business there is a term - ABC. Always Be Closing. Your sales pipeline might be fat but if you don't close, you ain't got nothing. Sri Lanka's not so fat pipeline has a very high closure rate. We have jack diddly in comparison.

[jeesh]

@ al Furqaan. You are not giving Vaas enough credit. I wish we had someone with half of Vaas's ability and mindset. Oh btw before Vaas, and Malinga there were guys like Ratnayake, Ramanayake who were considered pretty good. Mind you these guys didnt get to play a lot of test matches or ODI's those days. The new generation has a few promising pacers too. Point is they always have the knack of developing quality bowlers and cricketers-much better than what we could hope for. Imo they are a perfect model for us to emulate-batting, bowling and fielding, youth development etc. They probably have less financial resources than us, similar or less infrastructure, smaller talent pool. They just use their heads better. And with that they have won a world cup and was a finalist twice in recent years. Not a bad country to emulate. NZ might have a fewer people, but could it be that they have better infrastructure, system, coaching than us. Otherwise how could such a tiny nation 13 medals in Olympics (Ahead of many European and South American giants). How could their national football team (Ranked 156 in 2007, BD-169), get into the WC in 2010? I say lets not compare our sports with theirs.

@ gowza. I dont think going to the gym and eating well during academy years is sufficient. Its a part of growing up. Kiwi's, Aussies, S African youngsters are better athletes-they pursue multiple sports, eat better. Even Pakistan-i once read Mohammad Zahid (Once fastest bowler) used to drink a 1 litre of milk and 4 kg of mutton daily. They are physically stronger than us-which is why they excel in a lot of physical sport like wrestling, boxing etc.

[HereWeGo]

Well written article, however I cannot fully agree with the writer.. I do not think Srilanka to be a model for fast bowlers.
Sri-Lanka is however an amazing model to look at when it comes to producing really unorthodox bowlers ( malinga, mendis, murali and Akila Dhananjaya). I guess the reason being that the coaches never try to correct someone's natural action (malinga) or ability (carrom ball)....

Fast bowling was never the major trait for Srilankans..... Pakistan is a different story tho...

[Gowza]

Originally Posted by jeesh
@ al Furqaan. You are not giving Vaas enough credit. I wish we had someone with half of Vaas's ability and mindset. Oh btw before Vaas, and Malinga there were guys like Ratnayake, Ramanayake who were considered pretty good. Mind you these guys didnt get to play a lot of test matches or ODI's those days. The new generation has a few promising pacers too. Point is they always have the knack of developing quality bowlers and cricketers-much better than what we could hope for. Imo they are a perfect model for us to emulate-batting, bowling and fielding, youth development etc. They probably have less financial resources than us, similar or less infrastructure, smaller talent pool. They just use their heads better. And with that they have won a world cup and was a finalist twice in recent years. Not a bad country to emulate. NZ might have a fewer people, but could it be that they have better infrastructure, system, coaching than us. Otherwise how could such a tiny nation 13 medals in Olympics (Ahead of many European and South American giants). How could their national football team (Ranked 156 in 2007, BD-169), get into the WC in 2010? I say lets not compare our sports with theirs.

@ gowza. I dont think going to the gym and eating well during academy years is sufficient. Its a part of growing up. Kiwi's, Aussies, S African youngsters are better athletes-they pursue multiple sports, eat better. Even Pakistan-i once read Mohammad Zahid (Once fastest bowler) used to drink a 1 litre of milk and 4 kg of mutton daily. They are physically stronger than us-which is why they excel in a lot of physical sport like wrestling, boxing etc.

Of course doing it while growing up is ideal but what I'm saying is in terms of a structure format there should be fast bowling schools and they should include fitness and diet rather than not. Age group teams should certainly instill it also. As far as different sports, I think while they are young it's great to encourage as different sports develop different physical and mental skills.

[jeesh]

Thanks for the feedback HereWeGo. Like the point you make about coaches not trying to change players styles, actions too much. This has been a trademark of Sri Lanka- Jayasuriya, Kaluwitharana, Dilshan, Murali, Mendis, Malinga and now the new sensatation Akila Dananjaya (Who has never played a professional game in his life). They dont always play by the book, and this is what helps them to make a difference. People in SL are very easy going in their approach, a coach will encourage a youngster even if he is unorthodox given it works. Big difference in mindset in BD where coaches will probably rule with discipline and ask players to go strictly by the book.

[cricket_king]

Originally Posted by al Furqaan
Honestly, SL have only produced Vaas and Malinga. And even Vaas had a reasonably poor strike rate for a guy who took as many wickets as he did. Malinga on the other hand is pretty beastly. They might have some decent pacers now, but SL are probably not the best team for us to emulate pace wise. I see no reason why we can't emulate Pakistan...I don't think their infrastructure is that much better than ours. If thats issue, than look to NZ. With a tiny population and relatively thin resources they've produced many good bowlers from Hadlee to Bond, and then plenty of solid ones like Martin, Franklin, Mills and Oram.

Fast bowlers from NZ and Pakistan are generally much taller than our bowlers. They're also much stronger, but that part of the problem can be fixed by building strength. As someone has mentioned already, the closest we can get to Sri Lanka and India, and that's a fairly straightforward decision.

[mufi_02]

Its not only physique that determines Fast bowling. Just because we are not physically similar to Eng-SA-Pak, it doesn't mean we have to follow Ind-SL and emulate them. Players like Pollock, Steyn, Aaqib Javed, Waqar Younis, Zaheer Khan, Asif/Amir, Anderson, Gough are not tremendously built but they are all world class bowlers in their own right.

[jeesh]

Lol, you seriously think Pollock, Steyn, Waqar, Zaheer, Anderson, Gough are not well built? Even skinny Ishant Sharma is strong enough to take on three of our guys :P

[Naimul_Hd]

^^ How about the pigeon, McGrath ? Surely he isn't well built and the skinniest of all. That's why he got that nick.