Friday 30 July 2010

Michael Kasprowicz, Kerry O’Keeffe and Matthew Hayden provided some gems of wisdom from a wide cross-section of the cricket community at their particular forums at Allan Border Field over the last three weeks.

High Performance Coaching Manager Terry Oliver was delighted with the response to the forums, which were provided free to anyone in the cricket community interested in attending.

“We’ve got access to these types of people and we need to use them to pass on their experiences to the new crew,” Oliver said.

“If we can put old heads on young shoulders earlier then it’s a pretty big win for our organisation. We were very happy with the outcomes.”

Each player left a lasting impression.

“Kasper’s was that fast bowling is a tough gig, especially on your body,” Oliver said.

The leading wicket-taker in Queensland first class history talked at length about the ‘niggle worm’.

“Kasper said that fast bowling is going to be painful, and that you have to accept that,” Oliver said. “Be aware that you run in from 25 to 30metres, pounding down eight to 10 times your body weight on a hard wicket a lot of times if you’re going to be successful.

“His message was to try and understand early what a niggle pain is and what real pain is. That’s an individual thing.

O’Keeffe’s strongest message to spinners was, perhaps not surprisingly, to maintain a sense of humour – something he wished he had done earlier in his career.

“As ‘Skull’ said, you haven’t got a bouncer, so you can’t put the fear batsmen,” Oliver said. “There’s going to be days when the conditions are good for batsmen - the wicket’s not turning and someone’s having a day out with the bat.

“You’ve got to go the journey and put the last ball behind you and when the conditions are right, cash in. To do that you’ve got to have a good temperament.

“If there’s any hangover, any doubts when you are running in to bowl that ball, you are dead before you start.”

O’Keeffe pointed to current Test and one-day spinner Nathan Hauritz as the classic example of a spinner who had dealt with setbacks.

“Kerry spoke about how ‘Horry’ had many years of setback s before he made it, and most spinners are the same boat,” Oliver said.

Hayden’s key message with clear to batsmen of all ages – hit a lot of balls and with a specific plan for every session.

“Haydos spoke about how he used to plan his training week - Monday he would hit some balls and play straight, Tuesday he would expand a little more, Wednesday might be a slog session, Thursday try some different shot-making, and Friday just get back to hitting straight before the game,” Oliver said.

“He had a plan every time he went to hit balls, he didn’t hit them just for the sake of it.”

Importantly, all three spoke about their love of their art.

“Kasper loved bowling bouncers and hitting batsmen, Kerry loved spinning even on his worst day, and Haydos just loved batting - it was almost as if his personality changed once he had a bat in his hand,” Oliver said.

With close to 100 or more attendees at each session, Oliver said those key messages would be absorbed and passed on at various levels.

“We had a broad cross-section of junior cricketers to senior coaches who had been involved in the game for a long time, and everyone in between,” he said. “All our youth players were there, and we were happy to see the Bulls and the QAS support the forums in numbers.”

The High Performance Coaching Department is in the throes of producing DVDs of the forums.

“We will get them out there at little or no cost to the general public,” Oliver said. “We can drive the advantage of these forums home for many years.”

The forums gave Oliver and his team of development staff the opportunity to promote the Back to Basics philosophy being preached at all levels and advertise the new coaches diary that is a great planning aid.

Oliver paid tribute to the work of regional cricket managers Jeff Thomas (batting) and Wayne Niven (spin bowling), and QC fast bowling coaches Vic Williams and Joe Dawes for their efforts in organizing the forums specific to their portfolios.

Oliver added that wicketkeepers had not been forgotten, with former XXXX GOLD Bulls great Wade Seccombe set to hold a ‘keeping forum in September or October.