Hard work getting a Kookaburra to sing (15 November 1998)

15 November 1998

Hard work getting a Kookaburra to sing

By Angus Fraser

WALKING off the field at the WACA a fortnight ago, having served up seven overs of what could be best described as cafeteria (help yourself) bowling, my thoughts were somewhat different to those I had during the summer when hitting a decent line and length seemed to be as easy as my wife finds spending money.

Why, then, should it feel so different in Australia, when the pitch is the same length, the lines are in the same positions and I still have the same number of fielders defending my figures?

But, believe me, different it is. Playing abroad does take some getting used to and there are a lot of things you take for granted at home that knock you out of your stride here. The heat, the sun, the wind, which it seems will forever be in my face this winter, running up on lush grass and then landing on a surface more akin to concrete than soil may sound minor details, but they do affect the way you feel.

The ball also takes some getting used to. Down here we don't use the beloved Dukes but a Kookaburra. Whereas the English ball has a pronounced hand-stitched seam, our Aussie counterpart has a thinner, flatter machine-stitched one. Even though the Kookaburra swings more I would say bowlers generally prefer a ball with as big a seam as possible.

Despite these differences, almost all the principles that apply in England apply here. You still have to bowl with discipline and accuracy but here I believe you need to have a slightly more aggressive attitude. In England most weeks you come across pitches that will offer you assistance, so getting some life out of a wicket can be almost taken for granted. That's not the case here. You have to make the most of the new ball because when it gets soft, as it does pretty quickly, you either hope it may reverse swing or you really do have to bust a gut to get anything out of the surface.

In Australia one of the things you have to accept as a bowler is that the vast majority of pitches you will play on are good, flat batting tracks where even a natural mis-timer of the ball like Mr Atherton can on his day look like David Gower. To be successful here, as all our bowlers are realising, is going to take a lot of hard work. In our games to date the pitches have been good and each state side we have come across has had an abundance of highly talented, technically correct batsmen who are not happy to smash a quick 20 or 30: they want to bat all day.

If you can bowl at 90 mph or turn a ball on glass, then you have a distinct advantage, but for those of us who can't do either you have to do what you do very well to be competitive. Mediocrity gets smashed, as I have already found out.

This does not mean for one minute that we as a breed (bowlers) have no chance of success. If you do get the ball in the right areas you have a good chance as you can hurry batsmen and most of the edges you find will carry to slip on these slightly bouncier pitches.

Each of the bowlers who have toured Australia before have been successful. Darren Gough thoroughly enjoyed the three Test matches he played in 1994/95. Dean Headley had a highly successful 'A' tour here in 1996 and even a niggardly old English-style seamer can have his day.

I suppose my two memorable performances, if I can call them that, were completely different. Melbourne 1990 I will always remember for the wrong reasons: we lost and it signalled the start of my hip problems. Sydney in 1995, however, was nearly all joy as we just failed to win and Phillip DeFreitas's late withdrawal due to injury allowed me to re-establish myself as an international cricketer.

There were other differences as well. Melbourne was played on a low, slow, flat, dry pitch, one on which you would expect a bowler like me to struggle, whereas Sydney was played in ideal conditions for me, on a damp, somewhat grassy pitch that nipped about. These past performances should give us all the encouragement we need next week.

The Australian crowds have not failed to deliver the goods either, constantly supplying our players with plenty of good advice. My re-initiation started at Lilac Hill where I dropped a catch in front of the beer tent. The best line I have been hit with so far, though, is, "Fraser, can I borrow your brain, I'm trying to build an idiot over here", with a few expletives left out.

From this you can gather the locals don't think much of us or me in particular. The first Test next Friday gives us a wonderful opportunity to earn their respect.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)