The dust has settled from Australia’s disastrous of India
and the start of the football season along with the IPL has ensured the debacle
has diminished from our minds. If
cricket Australia is to avoid such whitewashes in the sub-continent then they
should look to seek the development program of former NSW first class player
Rod Davison.
Rod Davison is currently the head of cricket at the John
Paul College in Brisbane and has taken an initiative to bring the Brisbane’s
private school top cricketers to play on the dusty, slow, and low wickets in
India. While most of the kids are only 16 and only handful are playing first
grade in Brisbane’s grade comp, Davison believes the tour is an ideal
opportunity for youngsters to learn and adapt to Indian conditions from an
early age.
Davison played 39 First class matches for NSW in the 90’s says
“the academy tours are a great way to expose young cricketers to alien conditions
such as the India from a very early age”. The tour is organised by the “Global
Cricket School”, it is well known in English cricket circles, players such as
current England captain, Alistair Cook, upcoming batsmen Joe Root, Jos Butler,
Jonny Baristow have all participated in such tours to India in the last few
years.
In fact a small portion of credit needs to be given to the
academy for England’s triumph in India last year because they provided practice
matches to some of the England batsmen over the last 3 years during the off
season in England.
Davison believes it is such vision that Australia lacked
before the India series. “I don’t think we prepared adequately. We were playing
ODI cricket before such an important series. Cook, Root and Swann are some that
gained valuable match practice against club teams and it resulted in England
triumph in India.
Davison believes it is vital junior teams and academies tour
India frequently. “Just the role of India in world cricket with the IPL and TV
rights, everyone wants to play against India so it’s important the youth teams
tour India. In the past private schools have organised tour’s to England, South
Africa but with modern day needs India is the place to organise the tours”.
During the 10 day tour, the team has received tips on how to
play spin bowling from some of best coaches in Mumbai. Not only have they played 3 practice matches
but also had 3x 8 hour days of coaching in the nets.
The tour has also been a learning curve for Davison. “The
first thing I have learnt is the difference in which we teach the players how
to tackle spin bowling. If you observe the youngsters they play spin bowling on
length. The young Indian boys negotiate the spin by meeting the ball slightly
in front of the pad, it is in contrast to what we teach in Australia”.
Davison believes the Indian technique allows them to meet
the ball earlier so giving the ball less time to deviate off the pitch. It also
ensures if the ball grabs the inner or outside edge the chances are the ball
will go in front of the wicket, away from the catching men around the bat.
“I watched a fair amount of the recent series and a lot of
our players are still using the Australian technique. They are worried about
driving the ball so it reduces their scoring opportunities, something that is
ideal to overcome good spin bowling” believes Davison.
Apart from the cricketing side of things, the tour also
allows the youngsters to learn about the Indian culture, conditions and
lifestyle as whole. “Not all of them are going to play for Australia but the
tour is eye opener as a person, it has taught the guys how to manage their
hygiene and also taught them not to take anything for granted.”
Davison vision is a further illustration as to why past first
class cricketers, especially in the competitive era of the 90’s need their
opinions and inputs to be regarded by Cricket Australia to improve the standard
of Australian cricket.
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