Glenn McGrath believes successful pace bowing is a lot about “skill, work ethic, and a great attitude.” He said the MRF Pace Foundation’s tie-up with the BCCI would produce plenty of promising pacemen in the days to come.
Talking about Varun Aaron, a paceman groomed by the MRF Pace Foundation, McGrath said, “He has huge potential, a lot of promise. He has good pace, can swing the ball.”
The Ausssie pace legend was not in favour of Aaron cutting down speed for greater control. “I would never advocate that. You need to get better at what you do without sacrificing your speed.
“Gradually you will develop control over that speed. Look at what Mitchell Johnson did to England in Australia last time around by consistently bowling at around 150 kmph and hitting good areas.”
On the five-bowler theory, McGrath said, “With the Australian team, we played four bowlers plus an all-rounder. Otherwise the tail can get too long. The fifth bowler has to be an all-rounder, preferably a good batting all-rounder.”
No off-season Dwelling on injuries to pacemen, McGrath said the absence of an off-season now was hurting the fast bowlers. “There is no off-season these days. Sooner or later you are going to run out of fuel. Now there are so many Twenty20 matches in the IPL, so many ODIs, and so much travelling.”
On India’s new-found all-out aggressive approach, McGrath said such a game-plan was good “if the team had the ability.”
McGrath added, “There is nothing wrong in playing to win, nothing wrong with a positive attitude. There are not too many draws these days.”
Being a pace bowler in India was hard, he said. “The pitches are slow, no pace and bounce. You are up against it.”
In the same breath he had words of praise for Ankeet Rajput and Aswin Christ, two domestic pacemen with possibilities.
On Australia’s Ashes defeat in England, he said, “Our batsmen went too hard at the ball and the bowlers did not bowl the right length.
In international cricket, you need to adapt.”
Queried about the right length for a paceman, McGrath said, “The length at which the delivery hits the top of off-stump because the batsman is unsure whether to play forward or back.”
