Visitor To Zimbabwe: Carl Rackemann interview

Carl Rackemann is currently in Zimbabwe as a bowling coach on temporary employment with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. Here he talks to John Ward about his visit, while rain was preventing play on the fourth day of the Third Test between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.

JW: Carl, how long as you spending here in Zimbabwe?

CR: For three weeks, through to the end of the one-day series.

JW: Is this your first visit to Zimbabwe?

CR: My fourth visit; two trips playing Super Eights for the Save the Rhino games a few years ago, and just a month ago when Australia were here, I was commentating.

JW: When and how were you first contacted for this trip by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union?

CR: On the last day I was here a month ago. I was to leave that Monday night and I got a call in the morning from Andy Pycroft and we had a talk. He asked me if I would be interested and available, and I said I was interested but had a bit of tidying up to do back home before I could say I was available. Fortunately back at home those who had to do without me for this period said fine, away you go, so it was all clear.

JW: Can you go into some detail about what you have been doing over here?

CR: It varies depending on who we're dealing with, but with the Test bowlers the focus has been on how they approach their bowling out in the middle, and with the guys not actually playing in this Test, some of the others in the national squad and some of the B team bowlers we have been looking more at the technique of bowling and their bowling actions. Obviously that's not something we want to work on with the Test guys because they don't want to be trying out new things in the middle of a Test match. That's a bit slower process, any work we want to do there, bearing in mind that the guys playing in this Test have basic actions that technically aren't too bad. Just a little work here and there with a couple of them that we're going to do in time, but we have been working harder in the nets with some of the other fellows - odd aspects of the mechanics of their bowling actions, because they have time to work on it without going straight into a game. So it's a slightly different set-up with them.

Last Friday I went to see an Under-14 team that was going away, and had a tiny bit of time so far with some of the Under-19s and the Academy bowlers, but haven't had too much opportunity with them yet. Hopefully I will have before I go.

JW: Have you found any common problems among the bowlers in this country?

CR: There are common problems in bowlers all over the world and there's nothing here that you don't see in Australia or anywhere else. But a lot of it is to do just with the way the body operates during delivery and the balance, and aspects of the bowling action that predispose you to having problems or make it easier for you not to have problems.

The effect of problems is three-fold: what you are looking to do fundamentally to start with is to have a bowling action that won't cause you problems from an injury point of view, then a control point of view. What you need to do is bowl the ball where you want it all day, not half the time. If your bowling action has kinks in it, it's going to make it harder for you to bowl the ball consistently where you want it.

The third aspect is what you do with the ball. From the fast bowler's point of view that means getting swing in the air and movement off the pitch, hitting the seam, and some of that is the technical aspect of how you hold the ball, the position of your wrist, but it's also your bowling action. With certain bowling actions, if you have problems with balance at delivery or your body position at delivery it will just mean that you can't swing a cricket ball, you can't consistently stand the seam up. So it all comes together from different directions as well; it all has different impacts, but you get back to the central theme that if you have a nice, smooth, tidy action where the top half of the body and the bottom half are working together and not against each other, and your balance is good and your head is steady and your body works through the crease, then everything else falls into line nicely. As soon as some of these things start going awry, then things unravel.

JW: How have you been working with Bob Woolmer?

CR: Well, I arrived on Wednesday, the same day as Bob, but when I got here practice was just about done, so there was just Thursday last week when we were both here. He stayed with the batsmen and I stayed with the bowlers; there wasn't really much in the overlapping department there.

JW: Have you been to any of the development areas yet?

CR: Not as yet, but Dave Houghton is going to take me round coming back from Bulawayo on Monday to look at some of the districts here.

JW: Are there any bowlers who particularly impressed you that you are free to name?

CR: I guess what I would say to that is that there is quite a deal of talent to work with. I'm encouraged by that. The guys in the national squad have all got a lot of ability, and going back to that Under-14 team I mentioned there are some really good kids there. There have been one or two older boys, 16 or 17, that I've seen bowling in the nets; there's plenty of talent around, so if they have the opportunity of some coaching and then the opportunity to play the game more, that's all going to contribute to their progress.

JW: And your general impressions of cricket in this country?

CR: Well, I think everyone is aware of perhaps the major problem, which is the lack of a true first-class structure. Obviously there is plenty of good cricket happening at school level, but Test players are developed through a first-class competition. In the absence of, say, six teams playing a first-class series through a summer where guys are playing at that level, the level below Test cricket, there is a problem. I know there is a long-term plan and it cannot be done overnight, to develop that aspect of cricket in Zimbabwe. So once we get through to that, it will be such a huge advantage to cricket in this country generally and to the Test team.

JW: Do you see anything on which we perhaps need to concentrate more than we are doing at present?

CR: When you say 'more than', it's a question of resources as well. I think the effort that's being put in by the Cricket Union and by Dave Houghton with what there is to work with at the moment is fantastic. There is a terrific amount of effort being put in, and the academy is a wonderful development. Once that really gets under way it will have huge benefits.

But the biggest thing to be striving for is, as I say, developing a first-class cricket competition, and I know there are plans to achieve that.

JW: Any other points you would like to make?

CR: Yes - I'm bitterly disappointed with this weather! You are in a situation potentially to win a Test match here, and having lost the last one against Sri Lanka and been on the downside of a rained-out draw in the First Test I think the guys have really put in well here. It's been a hard game and with some runs on the board we could have been bowling for a win, but things are not looking too good at the moment, are they?

JW: No, but I presume you have to put up with this sort of thing in Queensland at times, only a bit more violently!

CR: Yes, we do, we do! Weather is something that's out of your control!