Sir Richard Hadlee's approach to fast bowling:
Fast bowling, well you need to be a special breed of person in my opinion. You need superb fitness, a sound technique, a physical presence, skill, attitude, mental toughness, they have all been mentioned before, but there is a need to also endure some pain, frustration, but of course the real joy is getting wickets and getting batsman out. That is the reward.
Fast Bowling is an explosive sequence of highly coordinated movements, it's getting the body in the right position at the right time to deliver the ball and put the ball in the right place consistently.
My philosophy of bowling is quite simple, to attack the off stump, force the batsman to play at the ball, intimidate and interrogate the batsman, forcing him into making a mistake.
In other words, I am asking him a question and what is his (batsman) reply or response to the question that I have asked by pitching that ball in a certain place.
Copyright Sharp Focus Ltd 1999