Steve Waugh feels Twenty20 cricket has become a rage and is seductive. Asserting that Test cricket will survive, the former Australian captain says that Twenty20 is a way to make cricket a truly global sport.
In India to promote the Steve Waugh Foundation and work for providing succour to children ailing from leprosy and also Laureus Sport for Good Foundation project, Waugh found time to follow the IPL III matches.
In a chat with The Hindu here on Tuesday, he talked about John Howard being nominated to succeed Sharad Pawar as International Cricket Council President in 2012, Twenty20 cricket and coaching, etc. Excerpts:
What do you think of John Howard being nominated ICC President in 2012?
It's good. The ICC needs his diplomacy skills. If he can run a country for more than a decade, he obviously knows what he's doing. He's a smart man and very passionate about cricket.
Right now the cricket landscape is changing. He's a person who understands how to use power, to negotiate and bring people together.
On IPL…
I think everyone is in a bit of a spin about IPL. Well, over $700 million from the two new franchises; it's hard to imagine that they are going to make money on that investment. But they know what they are doing. There's the danger of IPL becoming too big with 94 games next year. It swallows everything else.
But, it's very seductive. The players and the money are incredible; particularly for a lot of cricketers who, one has to say, are average. So someone has to step in and take control. Now the BCCI are the ones who are controlling world cricket. So they have a major responsibility.
What do you think of the change in footwork of the batsmen and the bowlers, in particular the seamers being more intense and finding ways to outwit the batsmen?
I have been saying that Twenty20 is not a game of luck. It's said the one-day game was a pyjama circus, but people found ways to bat and bowl really well. Simon O'Donnell and I started the slower balls in 1986-87. Someone bowled off the back of the hand and someone off the side of the hand. Good players work hard, modify their game and play well in all forms.
Is Twenty20 the right way to make cricket a global sport?
Twenty20 is a great opportunity. It could become a global sport pretty quickly. It will change cricket forever and cricket will become a truly world sport. The danger though is that it could cannibalise everything else. But it's only in a Test one would be physically, mentally and technically challenged.
Jacques Kallis's wonderful run in IPL III
The quality and world class players will always adapt to all forms of the game. You always pick two or three players as the mainstay and develop the other players around them.
How do you see the future of cricket?
I think Test cricket will definitely survive. I cannot say that about 50-over cricket. Twenty20 is the rage. Over the next 12 or 18 months or so the danger is that Twenty20 is going to become bigger. People can become sick of it. One can become desensitised by that.
Shane Warne still believes that international teams do not need coaches…
Oh…. I think he's still caught up with the Ian Chappell theory. The coach might be the wrong word; maybe we are all using the wrong word. International teams need someone who can help them out, really guide them off the field and make sure that when they walk on the park the captain and the team is nicely relaxed and focussed. Young players need the coach. Maybe the term coach is wrong.
How different were Bobby Simpson and John Buchanan?
Simpson is the only real coach we have ever had. He could do anything about batting, bowling and fielding and knew that what he was telling you was right. He was great in skills, Geoff Marsh was good in team spirit and camaraderie and Buchanan followed a holistic approach; getting to know and challenging the players. But I would not call him a technical coach. You would not go to him for batting or bowling advice. And that's why maybe Shane said they did not really need a coach. Buchanan was a performance manager.
It depends on what you want. If it's a young inexperienced side, you would need someone like Simpson; for an experienced team maybe Buchanan or Marsh was the right guy.
