Gillespie shows stamina in South Africa for ironman tag

Michael Crutcher

April 6, 2002

Jason Gillespie is wearing the unusual tag of Australia's fast bowling ironman in South Africa as he tries to cement his place in one-day international cricket.

Gillespie has humped the reputation of an injury-plagued bowler through his stop-start career, admitting he was once a "crazy trainer" who did not understand the best way to manage his body.

But Gillespie is now a more streetwise player and the 26-year-old is the only bowler to have played in every match on the South African tour, which continues today with the sixth one-day clash in Port Elizabeth.

Gillespie is the most successful bowler in the series with 12 wickets, helping him establish a spot in the Australian team after his luckless run of just 34 one-day matches in six seasons.

"Nowadays I train a lot smarter. I used to come in and bowl in the nets for a couple of hours everyday and I used to go running every morning for half an hour and put added stress on my body that I didn't need," Gillespie said.

"I don't bowl as much in the nets now and I tend to look after myself a bit more. I don't go running as much.

"The hardest thing was changing my way of thinking because you always think you have to train harder and harder and sometimes it's training smarter that gets you results.

"Now I'm spending a bit more time in the pool and more time relaxing and that's helped me."

But Gillespie won't declare himself over the annoying run of injuries, preparing to stick to a "one-game-at-a-time" theory as the new-look Australians prepare for next February's World Cup defence.

He has become a central plank of the Australian attack in South Africa, giving up a passable 4.60 runs per over while showing good control with the new ball.

If he maintains that progress, Gillespie and Glenn McGrath will be the pace spearheads when the World Cup begins next February in South Africa, where Gillespie boasts a quirky record.

He has played more one-day internationals in South Africa than Australia - 13 compared to just eight in his homeland - typifying his annoying run with injuries.

"I don't want to get too far ahead of myself because, if you do that, things can go wrong," Gillespie said.

"But it just seems to be going really well at the moment.

"I've always believed I was good enough but it was a matter of getting on the park and staying on the park.

"I've never doubted that I could succeed. I've had to work pretty hard to get where I am and think about the game a lot more."

Despite his returns on tour, Gillespie could be rested in one of the final two matches after Australia wrapped up the series in Durban last Wednesday night.

Selectors indicated they could rest key players once the series was won, enabling young talent like Tasmanian all-rounder Shane Watson to continue his introduction to international cricket.

© 2002 AAP

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Players/Umpires

Jason Gillespie

Series/Tournaments

Australia tour of South Africa

Teams

Australia