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Their magic is still telling... on a different stage

By Our Sports Reporter

Dennis Lillee conversing with the Indian team's new fitness trainer, Alan King (centre) and coach John Wright at the MRF coaches seminar in Chennai on Sunday.

Chennai June 29. The magic endures. Their battles were legendary, so were their conquests. Old soldiers... they never die really.

Dennis Lillee, the classical fast bowler, and Greg Chappell, the perfectly-balanced batsman, from the years gone by, shared their wealth of knowledge with the gathering on the second day of the MRF Coaches seminar, here, on Sunday.

And Dr. Sandy Gordon elaborated on the Psychology of Cricket.

Lillee, in tandem with Marc Portus, ace biomechanic, stressed on the importance of a right run-up for the pacemen - "It has a big influence in good or bad technique.'' The run-up, he said, should be "balanced and efficient.''

He warned about the dangers of a mixed action, which, could be caused by a faulty run-up. While admitting that somebody with a side-on action close to perfection like Darren Gough, was good, Lillee dismissed the theory that a fast bowler with a front-on release could not move the ball away from the right-hander.

He urged the coaches to guide the aspirants in the proper direction. "Identifying the problem is one thing, showing the lad how to fix it is another.'' While the natural attributes in a paceman, if they are working, should not be tampered with, he should be put in a path that will enable him stay clear of injuries, said Lillee.

Greg Chappell, joining in, pointed out that when Australian paceman Jason Gillespie switched to a shorter run-up, from a rather long and unproductive one, he had more "balance, control and consistent pace.''

The coaches were invited to access the run-up and action of the MRF Pace Foundation boys, with the help of Silicon Coach video technology.

Greg Chappell then took up his favourite subject - Batting Skills. "If you can concentrate for one ball, you can do it for a thousand deliveries'' he said and added there were three aspects to concentration — "Awareness, fine focus and fierce focus.'' And the critical moment in cricket, "was the point of delivery.''

According to Greg Chappell, if the "bottom half of a batsman worked properly, the top half would work, provided he un-weighted (he hates the term backlift) the bat properly.''

He noted that "footwork is the basis of good batting'' but said the batsmen's strides had got shorter in the modern era since their balance had been affected by the heavier bats.

Ideally, a batsman has to show "an intention to get forward without making a commitment on to the front foot that would result in him losing track of the ball.'' The explosive Aussie Adam Gilchrist is a fine example in this regard.

Greg Chappell spoke about the `Body Coil' and revealed that in good batsmen the back elbow would be parallel to the bat when they are prepared to strike. And a `straight backlift' was the biggest myth in cricket since the bat invariably ended up pointing towards fine-leg.

Now to the finer points of the mind games. Dr. Sandy Gordon, in an enlightening lecture, dwelled on mental toughness that went hand in hand with desire, ability to handle pressure, remaining focussed and coping with emotional and physical stress levels.

He invited the coaches to select five mentally tough cricketers from India, over the last twenty years.

Indian coach John Wright participated in the discussion when he remembered the NatWest final in England last summer, where Mohammed Kaif and Yuvraj Singh displaying remarkable mental toughness, scripted a triumph from a seemingly impossible situation, ending the country's forgettable run in tournament finals.

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