Bob Dubery: Adam Bacher speaks at the Cricket Society of SA (29 May 1997)

29 May 1997

Adam Bacher speaks at the Cricket Society of SA.

A CricInfo special report from Bob Dubery

Adam Bacher is an old boy of King Edward VII High School in Johannesburg, a school with a proud sporting tradition. He is the 16th Old Edwardian to play Test Cricket for South Africa, and so it was entirely fitting that he should address the Cricket Society of South Africa on, quite literally, his home ground - the Old Edwardians Club.

Bacher had a distinguished playing career for his school and scored well against most of their traditional rivals. It was at KES, too, that he became a specialist short-leg fielder. He noted that fielding so close to the wicket had given him many an opportunity to study a batsman's technique and temperament.

Having played international cricket against only two nations - Australia and India - Adam declined to nominate any particular batsman or bowler as being "the best", but he did comment on the players that he has opposed.

The most complete batsman he'd seen was Steve Waugh. Despite a fearsome onslaught from South Africa's 2 specialist sledgers MacMillan and Symcox, Waugh maintained his concentration and channelled aggression. Bacher also noted that Waugh talks to himself constantly whilst batting.

What about bowlers? Number one in Bacher's book is Javagal Srinath. "He's challenging, and he surprises you with the movement that he gets and with his deceptive pace from a relaxed run up.

"He's a great trier, he never gives up and he virtually carries their attack single handedly. I'm not surprised that he broke down in the Caribbean."

Bacher also rates three Australian Bowlers: Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Michael Bevan, the first for his consistency and accuracy and the two wrist spinners for their ability to run through the tail.

Going into the test series against Australia Bacher hadn't faced a wrist spinner for 2 years and decided that he would have to learn to play this style of bowling out in the middle. He enjoyed the experience, and felt that South Africa, as a team, played the wrist spinners better than most sides had.

"Hansie (Cronje, South African captain) helped me with my mental preparation by taking me aside and pointing out the various members of the "Flipper Club". I was determined not to join their number," he quipped, referring to the list of South African batsman that Warne has dismissed with his most feared delivery.

Looking back on that series he felt that South Africa had erred in preparing fast pitches which aided the Australian seam bowlers and allowed captain Mark Taylor to hold his spinners back.

"On a flatter wicket they'd have had to bring Warne on by the 15th over while the ball was still new and he"d have been less effective."

The pitch was also a decisive factor in Australia's emphatic victory at the Wanderers. "That pitch has been playing slower and slower for the last couple of seasons, and a decision was taken to try and inject some pace into it, and there was more pace on the first day. We won the toss, didn't want to bat last and face Warne on a turning wicket and elected to bat on a pitch that offered the bowler"s a lot early on. We got the worst of that pitch."

He observed that the series against Australia was far tougher than that against India. "India didn't apply the pressure and unsettle the batsmen in the way that Australia did. The Australians had really done their homework and it showed in the carefully planned fields they had for each of our Looking back on that series he felt that South Africa had erred in preparing batsmen."

Another player that he"d observed from his specialist fielding position was Mark Taylor. "He's going through a bad patch. It happens to most players, but for Taylor that bad patch has probably come too late in his career. The selectors would persevere with him if he were younger, but his career could well be over now.

"Still, he's done a lot, and he'll end a long test career with an average above 40."

The subject turned to sledging and Bacher offered some insights into what he described as an "art form".

"Sledging is intended to unsettle the batsman, and it can. It puts pressure on you to have Warne bowling at you and telling you what a lucky p**** you are, Healy standing behind the stumps describing the manner in which you are embarrassing yourself and your country and Matt Hayden calling you every name under the sun and glaring at you as if he"d like to give you a couple of right jabs.

"But sledging can work against the sledger too. Matt Hayden is a ferocious sledger, but he put pressure on himself by telling us how we couldn't score runs and then not scoring many himself."

During the 3rd test, Bacher related, the South African team learnt that Hayden would return home instead of playing in the one day games.

"He came out to bat, and Pat Symcox asked him if he could hear the engines warming up, the engines on the next plane to Australia."

A member of the audience enquired about THAT catch in Cape Town. What was going through his mind.

"I was on the longest boundary, and I hadn't been sure about exactly where I should be standing. Then I was surprised by how hard Tendulkar had hit the ball; it came at me a lot quicker than I'd expected. But you know, as I jumped up to meet the ball I KNEW that I was going to hold the catch."

Bacher rounded off his discourse with an insight into dressing room superstitions. Two of his provincial team mates insist on only walking and running on a certain side of the pitch and this makes batting conferences problematic. Transvaal batsman Neil McKenzie likes to arrange the toilet seats and tidy up the dressing room prior to batting, believing that this display of tidiness will be reflected in his play. McKenzie also waters his bat every evening, a practice that he learnt from his father Kevin.

And Adam himself? "I have a lucky pair of Donald Duck socks that my girlfriend bought in Australia. I wear them for every match."

Do they work? "Pat Symcox pinched them and I lost my form completely."