T Dexter: The art of nurturing what comes naturally (16 Sep 1998)

16 September 1998

The art of nurturing what comes naturally

By Ted Dexter

SOME recent research has suggested that it is the ability to practise effectively that leads to excellence rather than any innate ability. I wonder how the legions of Denis Compton fans would have reacted to such information had it been the common currency in 1948.

Perhaps the researchers would have classified the dashing Denis as falling short of their excellence criteria, citing Don Bradman as their batting role model and perhaps Alec Bedser as their bowler.

There is the famous story of the young Bradman hitting a golf ball with a stump to sharpen his instincts and the sheer number of overs bowled in the middle and in the Surrey nets are the very stuff of the Bedser legend.

Incidentally, I hear on good authority that the now 80-year-old Bedser twins played consecutive charity golf days, pulling their own trolleys over 36 holes each day.

They appear not to have a twinge or a stiff joint between them and should definitely be the subject of a whole new research project on longevity and the benefits, or otherwise, of hard, repetitive physical toil.

The most diligent batsman for practise in my experience was Geoffrey Boycott, and nowhere were the benefits more obvious than on Ray Illingworth's tour to Australia in 1970/71 when the Ashes were regained.

Boycott, then 30, arranged his own net practises with local bowlers lured by the prospect of bowling out England and Yorkshire's finest player. He remains the only batsman I have spent time to watch in the nets and if by any remote chance their was a dollar on his stumps, then nobody was getting very rich.

There were no holds barred. He invited all and sundry to have a go at him, bouncers included and no helmet for protection either. His footwork was so sure and the balance so perfect that he never got a scratch.

His 77 (out before lunch!) in the first innings of the Ashes-winning fourth Test at Sydney and 142 not out in the second innings were way beyond any other player on both sides. Lawry and Redpath reached 60 for Australia. Edrich and D'Oliveira made fifty for England.

BUT the point at issue is the extent that natural ability played a part and the two most commonly quoted variables are eyesight and ball-sense (or co-ordination, if you like). Boycott started his career in spectacles before moving on to contact lenses and however effective the lenses may have been, it is self-evident that pure eyesight was not a major factor.

I saw the young Boycott at the very beginning of his county career and he was a naturally good timer of the ball with the square cut a particular favourite. It is a shot which needs quick footwork to play consistently well so there was athletic ability there as well. But nothing like the power and spring of a fledgling Viv Richards, who I first saw almost bursting the side netting on his first appearance in the Lord's nets.

What few observers give credit for in the search to discover the secrets of the great players is the discipline allied to self-confidence which allows them to wait a few extra hundredths of a second before committing themselves to the stroke. People ask me how it is possible to gauge the length, direction and bounce of a ball moving at 90 miles per hour and then still have time to hit the thing for four.

Gary Sobers was filmed against Denis Lillee, standing stock still with the ball already one third of the way down the pitch. He had less time to play the stroke but he knew exactly where it was.

Nobody was more comfortable with the ball lifting up to head height, and it turns out that Gary and his pals had a special practice area where a tennis ball was suspended at about shoulder level and this would be whacked around to help the reflexes.

Perhaps it is practice that makes perfect, after all.

Finally, I was pleased to see Ben Hollioake and Alex Tudor make the plane to Australia.

I saw them both in April 1997 in the England A v The Rest match at Edgbaston and picked them out then and there as England players of the near future.

I am ashamed to say that I rather gave Mark Butcher the thumbs down in the same match despite him making 153. Here's wishing them all the very best of luck Down Under.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)