Oz quickie doesn’t frighten Vinnie

THE last time the upcountry New South Wales town of Dubbo gave the world a fast bowler, Glenn McGrath terrorised batsmen to the tune of 949 international wickets in a stellar 14-year career.

Flatfooted batsmen with no sense of where their off-stump is will be trembling to hear the rural outpost has produced another fast bowler.

But Cricket SA high-performance manager Vincent Barnes said local batsmen should not be worried about Chris Tremain.

Barnes was with the South Africa “A” side on their tour of Australia.

The 25-year-old may have been fifth on the Sheffield Shield top wicket-takers list with 36 at 21, but 13 wickets at 15 propelled Australia “A” to a comfortable quadrangular series win over India “A”, South Africa and Australia’s National Performance Squad recently.

Tremain has been included in Australia’s one-day international (ODI) squad for the five-match series against South Africa that starts on September 30 at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

“The lot of them, including Chris Tremain, were disciplined and made sure they bowled in good areas but none of them have great pace. They capitalise on movement off the surface and in the air. There FROM MCGRATH TERRITORY: Chris Tremain is another fast bowler from Dubbo was a lot of lateral movement available in the later stages of the test series and at the start of the limited overs competition,” Barnes said.

“Tremain bowled in good areas and was a difficult bowler to get away because of his accuracy and discipline. He uses the seam very well especially when the ball is still new. When he took five wickets when they routed India ‘A’ team, he was difficult to handle but that wicket was not easy to bat on.”

Tremain, with the South Australian pair of Joe Mennie (27) and Daniel Worrall (25), will form part of Australia’s rather green attack. But they had impressive Sheffield Shield returns.

Mennie was the Shield’s top wicket-taker with 51 scalps at 21 while Worrall managed 44 at 26.

Barnes reckons Mennie, also from New South Wales, may be a greater threat. Worrall and Mennie spearheaded South Australia’s run to the Sheffield Shield final.

“Mennie impressed me the most and I think he was a very effective bowler through all the formats but he’s all about discipline and taking advantage of any available movement. They’re upper 130km/h at the most but I do think they’ll enjoy South African conditions if there is something in the wicket.”

None of them have great pace. They capitalise on movement off the surface and in air