Gillespie's one no-ball
NAIROBI - If Jason Gillespie is true to his word he shouldn't bowlanother no-ball until some time next year.
Michael Donaldson
02-Sep-2002
NAIROBI - If Jason Gillespie is true to his word he shouldn't bowl
another no-ball until some time next year.
Gillespie, who took career-best figures of 5-22 as Australia routed
Pakistan in the opening match of the triangular cricket series here,
says bowling no-balls is one of his pet hates.
He proudly calculated he bowled only one no-ball last season.
"I hate bowling no balls, I don't bowl many - in fact last season I
think I bowled just one," he said ahead of today's match against Kenya.
"I did bowl one on Friday so that'll do me for another season."
At Australian training here, Gillespie, Glenn McGrath, Andy Bichel and
Brett Lee can be seen helping each other out with their run-ups.
Gillespie pays minute attention to detail and compares his run-up to
that of a long jumper trying to hit the take-off board at full speed.
"That's exactly how I approached my run-up a couple of years ago - it's
like a long jumper because really you just have to hit the same spot
every time. You don't want to be over (the crease) too many times
because that costs the team runs."
Where Gillespie seems to have perfected the skill, Lee has struggled in
recent seasons but Gillespie was hopeful the speedster's problems were
behind him.
"Brett's been tinkering with his run-up a little - just trying a couple
of things to find a little bit of rhythm and smoothness in his run-up,"
he said.
"He bowled fantastic today [at training] - his rhythm was excellent."
Gillespie played down his five-wicket haul in Australia's 224-run win
but did admit it made up for the times he should have been more
successful but for bad luck.
"I feel I've bowled pretty well without luck a couple of times in the
past but the other day was one of those days when the ball didn't always
go exactly where I wanted it but wickets came my way."
Gillespie has played surprisingly few one-dayers since his introduction
to the side in 1996, racking up just 38 games as injury and specialist
one-day bowlers kept him on the sidelines.
But in the past two seasons, the rangy South Australian has been a more
regular part of the team.
He hopes the back and leg injuries which have troubled in the past -
most recently keeping him out of the second and third Tests against
South Africa in Melbourne and Sydney last year - are finally a thing of
the past.
He's getting on top of injuries by bowling less at practice and by
cutting out road running from his training to remove the stress it puts
on knees and back. Yoga and pilates sessions have also helped.