The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Best qualified man should get the coach’s job, says Dennis Lillee

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Best qualified man should get the coach’s job, says Dennis Lillee

Special Correspondent

Chennai: Pace bowling legend Dennis Lillee feels the nationality of the contenders should not be a factor while selecting the coach of the Indian cricket team.

“Whether he is an Indian or a foreigner, he should be the best qualified man for the job,” Lillee said at the MRF Pace Foundation here on Wednesday.

In what promises to be a busy 12-day camp, Lillee will be guiding India cricketers, Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan, a bunch of Australian pacemen including left-arm swing bowler, Mitchell Johnson, apart from a host of budding cricketers from the emerging cricketing countries in Asia.

Former England pace bowling coach, Troy Cooley, will be part of the camp. Former Sri Lankan cricketers, Rumesh Ratnayake and Roy Dias, and former India all-rounder, Roger Binny, all coaches appointed by the Asian Cricket Council, will be working with Lillee.

Watson doubtful

However, Lillee said that Australian all-rounder, Shane Watson, is doubtful for the camp since he has picked up yet another niggling injury back home.

Lillee said India had a good pool of promising young pacemen, but added the attack, with the exclusion of Zaheer Khan, lacked experience. Fitness, which would only come with the right bowling technique, was essential for their progress, he observed.

On S. Sreesanth being less successful in the ODIs, Lillee noted, “probably he is going for too much variety. He will learn with experience that, at his pace, he should be bowling a consistent line and length and trying to move the ball.” Pathan, he said, had gone “a bit backwards because of a glitch in his action.” He added, “now, Sekar tells me that he is bowling well again.”

No to new rule

Lillee believed the bowlers were already suffering in ODI cricket and proposed rule changes like a free hit following a no-ball should not be introduced. “You can as well get a bowling machine to bowl. Things are already hard for the bowlers.” Turning his attention to the Australian attack, he said Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne would be missed. “It will be difficult to fill their slots. It should be an interesting period.”

The Head coach at the Foundation, T.A. Sekar, said Munaf was on the path to recovery from a strained back.

“He is bowling at the nets from a shortened run-up. Right now he is not bowling more than 20 balls at a stretch.

“He must be bowling at around 50 per cent of his ability. I do not want to push him at this stage since he is following a programme given to him.” Sekar is working on Munaf’s technique.

Pathan had almost recovered completely from a strained throwing arm, said Sekar.

“Actually, he developed the pain in his bowling arm because of a faulty bowling action that put a lot of stress on his shoulder.

“Now he uses the non-bowling arm more, releases from a higher arm and this has helped his throwing too. I am extremely happy with the way he is bowling at the nets,” he added.

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