M Owen-Smith: Woolmer's vision for the summer (30 Aug 1997)

30 August 1997

Woolmer's vision for the summer

Michael Owen Smith talks to national coach Bob Woolmer about prospects for a summer that includes away test series against Australia and Pakistan, arguably the two strongest sides in the world.

MOS: How competitive are South Africa going to be?

BW : I believe we will be very competitive in that the Australian series taught us a few lessons on batting. We batted reasonably well but did not score enough runs to dominate. Our bowling is so good that it shielded the fact that we haven't scored so many runs but have still been able to win. The batsmen realised there is a new dimension to aim for. We need a Lara-type catalyst and for one of our players to have a magic season. That's entirely up to somebody like Daryll Cullinan, Brian McMillan or Hansie Cronje. We need someone to produce a dynamic lead.

MOS: Do you agree that this rare off-season has given everybody a chance to reflect and work out what they need to do?

BW : We've had a chance to relect. We let too many external influences interfere instead of concentrating on what we do well. For example, Kepler Wessels' outbursts. His remarks probably did affect the players and influenced the way we were preparing and thinking instead of focusing on how to play McGrath, Gillespie and Warne.

MOS: Have you and Gary Kirsten been working on the problems that McGrath gave him?

BW: We've chatted about it and he feels happy about what he's done. We talked about things like shoulder alignment and the angle the ball is coming from. Gary has worked on it and we'll have to see if McGrath uses the same tactics in Australia. Gary tried to play a too many balls. If I look at the England wins at Edgbaston and The Oval, their batsmen were prepared to do a lot more leaving. In the other tests they decided the batsmen would take them on. That is where they fell down.

MOS: One plus last season was that Daryll Cullinan became a batsman who could dominate at test level for long periods.

BW : Daryll played fantastic cricket and we look to him to be the batting catalyst. You wouldn't say Adam Bacher was the most stylish strokemaker in the world, but he turned the corner - the difference in playing test cricket. Two of our most talented strokemakers, Kallis and Gibbs, have to turn that corner. I know Herschelle hasn't got that opportunity in Pakistan but I have no doubt that over the next 12 months he'll have another chance. Hopefully Jacques' sojourn in England will have really opened his eyes to what cricket is really about.

MOS: Brian Mac has struggled with the bat in Asia before. Can he fill the number 3 slot in Pakistan?

BW : There's no reason why not. He looked to sweep the Indian spinners and take them on. It didn't come off but he decided that was his game plan. In Pakistan it is less likely to turn so viciously. There will certainly be some turn. They will prepare wickets for Wasim and Waqar as well as Mushtaq and Saqlain. If they prepare wickets that turn square then we have Gogga (Paul Adams) and Symmo (Pat Symcox), and I think that they're just as good as Saqlain and Mushtaq. I have no trouble with our seam attack and I want to try and blood new talent as far as the seamers go - players like Kidwell, Ntini and Telemachus. We've blooded Kallis, Gibbs and Bacher on the batting front, now we need to throw in a couple of young seamers so that they understand what it is all about and work on their fitness and strength, make the ball move laterally and so on. We've got scale down our one day performances, then build it up for the World Cup. It is time to bring in a new generation of young bowlers. You can't just go on with De Villiers, Donald, Matthews. You must produce more. Fortunately we've had Pollock and Klusener who have come through but they need to take on a leading role.

MOS: Talking of Pollock, is he going to be sufficiently over his injury to get back to where he was when he made his debut?

BW : Reports are very favourable. He has bowled against the Academy as quickly as he has ever done. He is genuinely quick and is not feeling the effects of his ankle injury.

MOS: Were you surprised at the struggle the Australians had against Pat Symcox?

BW : I don't think Pat realises just how good he is. But I was also interested in how the Aussies capitulated to Tufnell on a turning wicket. The other thing I learned was that if you keep on switching your attack, the Australians don't handle the new guy so well. Against us they made a genuine play of handling Donald. In 2 tests they succeeded, although Allan was desperately unlucky in Port Elizabeth. If Pollock and Fanie had been properly fit, I don't think they would've handled that so well. When Symcox came in after Gogga had played the first 2 tests they struggled against a new face.

MOS: Gogga has been working on his chinaman. What progress has he made?

BW : We can't crack that in 6 months. He has a classic googly action, the way his head dips. To bowl a chinaman from that position he has to do it differently. It will take time for him to control, but I have suggested that he still bowls his quicker delivery as well as the one that comes in to the bat - as long as he get's his line right. The moment he bowls it in the right place he'll be a handful because he spins it and makes it bounce and he's got good pace variations. But if he can get the chinaman going too, that's going to cause problems.

MOS: How different is Pakistan from India?

BW : I prefer Pakistan. India is a beautiful country, but the type of surfaces we played on were not conducive to good cricket. In the first test the ball popped and held and it was hard work making runs. Calcutta, of course, was the exception but the conditions there were the opposite. You had to play on those wickets a lot to be really confident on them. In Pakistan there are more wickets as we know them. The ball comes on to the bat and bounces a bit. Sheikhupura (venue for the 2nd test) is a bit of an unknown quantity. Faisalabad (3rd test) is a reasonably good batting wicket that turns on the last couple of days. Rawalpindi (1st test) won't be quick but it will bounce, and that's a good wicket to play cricket on.

Source:: The Star