da 888casino： © CricInfo Perhaps it was the number of times he was called ‘ageing warhorse’that prompted Angus Fraser to retire from playing cricket and move onto writing on cricket
Anand Vasu29-Jul-2002
© CricInfoPerhaps it was the number of times he was called ‘ageing warhorse’that prompted Angus Fraser to retire from playing cricket and move onto writing on cricket. Perhaps it was the fact that the bowler sofamous for ‘knackering’ batsmen with his line and length ended moredays knackered himself instead. Whatever the reasons, it’s a pleasureto have the measured and soft-spoken Middlesex and England seamer inthe pressbox, tapping away at his laptop with the same determinationthat saw him scalp 177 wickets in 46 Tests for England. Englandcaptains called on him time and time again to bowl a good line and tieone end down. There’s a twinkle in his eye when he speaks about hisart – and an art it is, though less glamourous than the flashing bladeof a Lara, the tweak of a Warne, or the sheer pace of an Akhtar. Overto Angus.Angus, you would have liked to have a bowl, the way the Indiansbatted today. What’s it about the wicket that’s meant that Englandhave been able to dominate so much?I think it’s still a pretty good pitch. The odd ball is keeping a bitlow, especially when the ball hits one of the cracks on this wicket.It’s a dry pitch and is crumbling a bit. Mind you, when England playedthe West Indies here in 1995 it was a similar sort of wicket. Havingsaid that, there hasn’t been a great deal in the wicket for thebowlers – the England bowlers have done very well. This, combined withsome indifferent Indian batting has meant that England are in totalcontrol.It’s not easy to sustain a good line and length over the course ofa whole session? Can you even remember the last occasion when abowling attack did so well?The fact that India were bowled out for just 221 is a huge credit tothe bowlers. They were bowling to a 7-2 offside field without havingto land the ball a yard and a half outside the stumps. That would havemade it easy for the batsmen to leave the ball. The bowlers kept up amagnificent line and the batsmen had to play at almost everything.They did the same against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford and many timesagainst India in the winter. So it’s not really a one-off thing oranything. I agree that it is hard to bowl a sustained good line over asession but you’ll find that England have bowled well together as aunit before.And this is a very weakened bowling attack in the absence of Goughand Caddick…This is a good second string of bowlers for England. Hoggard andFlintoff have a bit of experience but, by and large, they are aninexperienced lot. Despite this, they’ve shown in the winter whatthey’re capable of. In a way it’s nice to see Caddick and Gough werenot missed at all – either against Sri Lanka or here. England are nottotally reliant on that pair and that’s a good thing. There is lightto look forward to after the pair has retired.Does the performance of the second string make it difficult for theselectors?I don’t see Gough playing for England all summer, to be honest.Caddick will be fit, if at all, for the third Test against India. Ifthis lot of bowlers stay fit, they’ll get a decent run and theydeserve it after the way they’ve bowled here at Lord’s. If anything, Ithink Tudor is the likeliest to come in to this side and that would befor either Jones or maybe White.Craig White coming back into the team and doing so well is a bit ofa surprise, isn’t it?I think it’s the right decision to pick White, although I must say Ithought that the selectors would go for experience and take theDominic Cork option. White bowled with discipline and the ball camethrough with good pace. If you had a look at the speed gun you wouldhave noticed he was consistently at the 83-85 miles per hour mark. Ilike the look of White as a cricketer. He’s not express pace but hasenough in him to let the batsmen know he’s around.
© CricInfoWhy is it that some teams implement bowling to a plan so muchbetter than others? You yourself were a master of line and length.What does it take to do that?It’s the quality of the bowler to be honest. It does require a certainamount of skill to land a ball on a line and length consistently.Also, you must not get frustrated. You have to have patience and goodconcentration to stick by a plan. Bowlers need to try and bowl theball in a way that it pitches on leg stump and hits the top of offstump. I’m not a big fan of the tactic of the left-arm spinner bowlingover the wicket into the legs. I don’t like that at all. I’d rather heattacked the stumps, but if the seamers bowl it as well as they did onthe third day, I’m perfectly happy with it.And how do you motivate yourself to bowling one line even whenyou’re getting a bit of stick?The basic idea is not to get stick (laughs). You can’t hide the ball.Some days you just have to accept that the batsman is better than you.No matter what you do you’re going to have your work cut out for youas a bowler. You just have to keep running in and hope to bowl the oneball that gets the batsman out. Like any game, you need to make sureyou don’t bowl bad balls. If you bowl well and the bloke hits you forfour, you just say, ‘well played, that’s a fantastic innings.’Finally, what’s it been like moving so quickly from playing tobecoming the cricket writer for ?I haven’t yet missed playing. I still turn up at a cricket groundevery day which is half the joy of being involved with the game. Youget to a stage in your career when the pain outdoes the pleasure andyou can’t do what you once could. You can’t force the issue likebefore and make things happen. When you get an opportunity to stay inthe game after your playing days, you just sort of take it. AlecStewart is three years older than me and he seems to keep going. Ihave a lot of time and admiration for the way he does that. Mind you,you won’t see too many fast bowlers going on past 35!