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One thing that helped me in my focus and concentration in the game, is that I had four key words that constantly went through my mind, not necessarily on a ball by ball basis, but perhaps more so when things were a little bit tough. And there were infact times when you do get smacked around the ground. The thing is that the bowler actually dictates the game, not necessarily dominates it, but dictates the game because wherever he pitches that ball affects the outcome. There are runs scored, wickets taken, dot balls, whatever may be.
And to me the bowler, particularly the fast bowler has tremendous responsibility because obviously he has got to attack the batsman, get him out and also restrict runs as well.
The four key words that went through my mind were rhythm, off stump, desire and Lillee. Lillee is not a flower - I can assure you of that!
To bring about rhythm, I mentioned to you before, bowling is about rhythm, timing & coordination.In other words, being relaxed. If the body is stiff & tense, it will not function for you. So you must be relaxed.
Off stump was my target area, I was trying to get that ball consistently in that place, time and time again.
So I was trying to be a relaxed, consistent and reliable performer.
Desire - it was my job as a bowler to get the batsman out. He was an obstacle, he was a problem, and he had to be destroyed, eliminated, within the skills. And those were the skills I had. Very Important.
And Lillee, because I said Dennis Lillee to me was a tremendous role model. And I think young fast bowlers need to have a role model. They need to study miles and miles of video footages. I did, particularly with Dennis Lillee and others.
And I conferred to myself when times got tough, what would Lillee do in this situation? And Dennis Lillee would never ever give up. He was a 100% man. And I think it's very important that any young fast bowlers have these role models, to study the problem, to put themselves in those situations, so when the going gets tough, they got a resource that they can use that can help them get back on track.
Copyright Sharp Focus Ltd 1999 |
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