Rodney Hogg does not disguise the fact that he was, at times, a bit of a lunatic. All fast bowlers need an element of madness about them, he says. Hogg played only 38 Tests for Australia but he exploded on the scene with 41 wickets in his debut series (1978-79 Ashes).
After retirement, Hogg ran a fruit shop for over 10 years in Melbourne but is now an after-dinner speaker. In an interview, Hogg discusses fast bowling, the infamous Bangalore Test of 1979, and his rebel tour to South Africa.
Excerpts:
Bangalore Test: I can see it like it was yesterday. When I was bowling, this umpire (K.B. Ramaswami) kept no-balling me. So I did the nut. Kicked the middle stump out of the ground. I had never practised to do that. It is not easy. If you kick the base, you could have hurt yourself. I kicked the top and it flicked out and went right between his legs. The crowd just booed me and threw rocks at me. Anyway, it was a beautiful kick.
Reaction to hitting a batsman: I hit a chap when Australia played a zone team in Nagpur (Mohammad Shahid of Central Zone, who retired hurt for four). I saw I had knocked his teeth off and he was crying on the way back. This is 1979 so this poor fellow didn’t have a helmet. I was very upset. He came back two days later. The batsman is a human like you when walking down the streets but when he has his pads on and a bat in hand, he is the enemy. If you’re nice to your enemy, he will belt you. Did anybody come down and say sorry when Viv Richards was hooking us out of the fence for 10 sixes in a row?
Sandeep Patil’s 174 in Adelaide in 1981: I haven’t seen too many people bat like Patil, with that free flow. I thought his cover-driving was spectacular. Usually the ball has got to be somewhere near the foot to be driven through the covers but he would drive the ball out in front of him. He batted like he was in Hollywood, didn’t he?
Injuries to young fast bowlers: Fast bowlers today train differently; they work on core strength which is great, but I don’t think they do too much running. That’s one reason. When I played I had six months off and six months on. So my body had time to repair. Now, there are three forms of the game and they’ve got to get used to playing for 12 months of the year so they’re obviously breaking down.
Fast bowlers of your generation and modern ones: I don’t think they bowl any faster than us. We weren’t coached, so we had to be street-wise, but bowlers now get their hands held. So they don’t think too much. Having said that, the way they analyse the batsmen (on video) is great now. But you’ve got to physically learn how to get people out.
‘Rebel’ tour to South Africa: I have no regrets whatsoever. I enjoyed the cricket; it was tough. I was obviously at the end of my career, I couldn’t care much about the politics. Not my problem. We were trading with them, so why should we be taking any sort of stance?
