There's a way if Lloyd can generate the will (25 November 1998)

25 November 1998

There's a way if Lloyd can generate the will

By Mark Nicholas

Memo to David Lloyd for his next team talk after the first Test match in Brisbane was abandoned as a draw: RIGHT lads, this is the way it is. Australia are a very good team. They have a little more variety in their bowling and they have solidity, most of the way down the order, in their batting. They are strong mentally and have some key, cool heads when under the cosh. They are in the habit of winning and will be hard to live with, let alone to beat, in their own country.

This though does not make our situation hopeless. Far from it. Often in sport, in life actually, the underdog prevails. This happens because he plans well, eradicates error and concentrates so fiercely that he accepts every opportunity to gain even the slightest advantage. He thinks on his feet, never gives in and falls back on a calm temperament if things are not going his way. In short, he gets the maximum from himself.

Mother nature has given us our lucky break for, if we are honest with ourselves, which we must now always be, we should be one down in the series. But that's all right, sometimes we're on the end of bad breaks too.

We have some darn good cricketers in this dressing room but we do not always do the simple things well. If we start to, if we work session by session, reviewing what has gone and plotting for what is to come, we can make the most of our talent and give Australia, who remember will feel pretty cocky right now, a serious shock.

OK? Good. Now listen up. First, their batting. Bring Mark Taylor forward, don't let him sit on the back foot. Try to run the ball back into him, looking for lbws and play-ons. Bowl one side of the wicket to Michael Slater and bore him with a fullish length just outside his off-stump.

We'll use Alan Mullally at him as much as possible because the angle of delivery seems to drag his bat away from his body. Give Justin Langer nothing outside his off-stump, nothing at all. Cramp him for room. Force him to play to square leg and block the area off with a leg gully, a square leg and/or a squareish midwicket fielder.

Mark Waugh: he's a bad starter. His bat is away from his pad at present and he's tending to play low with his hands. Get at him immediately, don't let him settle. Try to swing the ball and vary your length so he can't premeditate the position of his feet. His brother? Mmmm. Let's keep the slips and gully in, come what may, even if it means operating with a 7-2 off-side field.

He does nick the ball a lot and for all his steel, his counter-attacking nature, especially his sometimes random play off the back foot, always gives the bowler a chance. He is more fallible than he would have you know - ask Andy Caddick. Slips in for Ian Healy too, nothing - I said nothing - to cut.

Healy loves to cut and he has a tendency to play on if you bowl short of a length because he plays with an angled bat. And Ricky Ponting? Good question. Tap in on his huge self-confidence, arrogance almost. He just doesn't think English people can play cricket. If you stop him scoring, he'll be humiliated and take risks in order to dominate. Then you've got him.

Their bowlers? Well, they've left Stuart MacGill out of the team for Perth, which is good because we've not cracked this leg-spin thing yet, have we lads? Glenn McGrath is the threat, the match-winner. He can decide the series, so we must resolve to see him off.

We can't keep getting out playing the hook shot. For one thing it suggests he's winning the psychological battle, for another he bowls too accurate a bouncer - throat-high, off-stump - to be worth the risk involved in trying to control the shot.

If you're in, seeing it like a football and dominating, then fine, have a hook if you fancy it. Otherwise I'd let him be, tire him out and climb into the others.

Admittedly we've lost a bit of ground after the heady days of August against the South Africans, but we can claw it back if we want it badly enough. There's a long way to go in the series.

We've got to surprise Australia by showing grit, intelligence and greater all-round efficiency. They've probably written us off, everyone else has. Now's the time to sneak up on 'em and kick ass. There's no such thing as invincible.

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