McGrath comments on injuries to Lanka's fast bowlers
Fast bowling legend Glenn McGrath praised the efforts of Australian fast bowlers for keeping up their reputation against Sri Lanka in the ongoing series on subcontinent tracks that are more friendly for spinners. His extol was more on Mitchell Starc, who ended up as the second best bowler with 24 scalps next to left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, who ended up with four victims more.
"There are lot of quality fast bowlers around now and Mitchell Starc is bowling incredibly well at the moment. I'm impressed with Josh Hazlewood as well. Both have done well on these conditions," McGrath, the world's fourth all-time best Test bowler and the top amongst fast bowlers told the Sunday Times.
McGrath, who ended a glittering 14-year Test career in January 2007, sits behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, former team-mate Shane Warne and India's Anil Kumble with 563 wickets. In 250 One Day Internationals McGrath captured 381 wickets and is considered one of the greatest bowlers in cricketing history, and a leading contributor to Australia's domination of world cricket. McGrath stated it's the Australian way, where he was an integral part of, was one of the key components to his accolades.
"We always offer a little bit of extra pace and bounce and always make full use of the wicket. It's just the combination of the attitude we play with and the Australian way, which is to go out there give it everything you've got, compete hard, do hard and then everyone is really good friends off the field."
A reputed and well respected Australian cricketer praised by the whole world, McGrath sees no dearth of talent in fast bowlers nowadays but he insisted the youngsters should be more committed to become a top class wicket-taker. McGrath has always admired the passion for cricket in the Asian subcontinent, where tracks vary.
"There's no shortage of passion and love for the game of cricket here. To be a good fast bowler is the toughest part of the game. You got to be prepared to work harder than anyone else. Be prepared to put yourself a bit more pain than anyone else. At the end of the day you'll break the walls in the middle. Got to work hard when you keep going up in the levels, work hard at every time you get there. That's my only advise to any young fast bowler, make sure you work hard, believe in yourself, always try to improve and enjoy every bit of it," expressed McGrath, now a part time bowling coach, commentator and a brand ambassador.
The 6 foot 5' tall paceman revealed that he was never a speedster but the height was a great advantage to his career.
"It has helped me with extra bounce since I was never able to reach the speed of 150mph or 160mph. But I got that bounce and that's what got me a lot of wickets."
McGrath fondly recalled the last occasion he visited Sri Lanka in 1999, when the Australian side led by Steve Waugh suffered their first defeat against the Islanders. Incidentally McGrath's revisit after 16 years, followed Sri Lanka's first ever 3-0 whitewash against Australia. But his purpose of coming down was not cricket, instead it had connection with something what takes it to become a perfect cricketer -- maturity.
"It's been nine years since I retired from the Australian team. But life has kept me busy. I'm doing a bit of coaching and commentating. I'm enjoying time at home with my family, the McGrath Foundation is going well. I'm over here doing a bit of work with Hardy's Wine as their brand ambassador, where I have connections for the past three years. It's one of Australia's finest products," stated McGrath, who also spearheaded adding the colour pink to cricket through a breast cancer support and education charity in Australia.
"The support for the McGrath Foundation has been amazing, especially at the iconic Sydney Test where the whole stadium, wickets, backdrops, spectators turned pink. We have managed to do a lot of support across Australia with over 110 nurses doing a great job," added McGrath, who had the backing from his former team mates for this cause.
Having trotted the globe with the Australian team for years as a cricketer, McGrath now travels around promoting Hardy's Wine and among his priority list are Sri Lanka and India. Sri Lanka, he said, is a place he would like to visit very often in time to come. On his way here, McGrath was in Chennai, India doing his stint as a coach of the MRF Foundation, where he nurtures the young talent. But he is still very much intact with the present day happenings. McGrath thinks Sri Lanka needs to back its fast bowlers to create a strong pace attack unit.
"South African bowlers have always been great with Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and the new guy Rabada doing a great job. England with Stewart Broad and Jimmy Anderson has quality as well. Pakistan always have a lot of fast bowler and there's new left-armer from Bangladesh. There are some good fast bowlers in Sri Lanka, but they have struggled with injuries of late, which the Australians have as well. I'm sure there are quite a few back in the corner here and you need to back them all the way. I have been impressed by their talent but during the Test series it was the spinners who took the majority of wickets."
During his two-day visit here, McGrath was at the NCC pavilion as chief guest for the opening of the Harold de Andrado library on Thursday. At the NCC he met a host of former and present Sri Lanka and NCC cricketers led by Farveez Maharoof, who also happens to be his team-mate at the IPL franchise, Delhi Daredevils. He stated that after seeing the island's true beauty he would make it a point to visit Sri Lanka very often in time to come.
"Part of my job is to grow the Hardy's in India and Sri Lanka. I'm here just for a couple of days, but might come out here quite often. It's been 15 since I was last here. It would be nice to bring my family next time. A lot more development Sri Lanka is going on very well it seems. I was surprised, I'm definitely going to come back here," said McGrath.