Fast bowlers aren't robots, they need rest: Troy Cooley

Troy Cooley, the former Tasmania pace bowler, is among those responsible for Australia’s dominance in world cricket. As head coach of Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, he ensures that the young fast bowlers are properly nurtured and the fast bowling bench strength remains strong. As part of an exchange programme, the 50-year-old former pacer is in the city with young Australian talents.

Cooley, talking at the press conference at the MRF Pace Foundation, said that fast bowlers need to be managed properly because of the nature of the work they do. He says the trick is in giving pacemen opportunities while maintaining a balance.

“It is important to manage fast bowlers. It’s a high impact discipline that is hard on the body. Bones don’t develop fully until later. A young bowler has to learn to adapt and grow. You need to take care of your pacemen, spread them across matches. Pacemen are not robots. We have to strike a balance,” he said.

Cooley also praised the current Indian bowling line-up while echoing head coach Anil Kumble’ s though that the bowlers themselves should be the leaders.

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“Umesh Yadav is an exciting young pacer. He can generate a lot of pace and can be extremely lethal. Even Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami have great quality and variety. Recently, Anil Kumble (Indian head coach) had said he wants his bowlers to be leaders. These two pacers definitely can lead the attack provided others give them good support.”

He also played a key role in James Anderson’s rise to No.1 Test bowler. Speaking about the world’ top fast bowler, Cooley says, “He has been unique and a strong-willed man. One of the things which we corrected early in his career is his tendency to run down the middle of the wicket. He is a genuine swing bowler and his action meant that his head would always fall sideways.”

“But I feel he was very lucky to rectify his action. During the early phase of his career, he had to sit out of the team for a long time because England had too many good pacers. Then he worked with me and Lancashire coaches. That phase helped him to mature and train long enough to correct all his shortcomings.”

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He also spoke about Mitchell Starc’s rise as Australia’s leading bowler and the injury concerns which he has been recently facing.

“After Mitchell Johnson retired, Starc has shown great character when he picked up the responsibility of leading our bowling department. He is still very young and needs to learn a lot. But so far, he has been phenomenal. He has been on the road for the last three years and didn’t have a rest for a long time. So probably, that took a toll on his body somewhere.”

Mohammed Amir’s comeback to the Test format is widely talked about subject in the past couple of weeks. The left-arm fast bowler who made his international return earlier this year will be staging his Test comeback at the same venue were his promising career suffered a career-threatening halt.

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“He is one of the most talented young pacers. I am eagerly looking forward to his comeback in Tests. Hopefully, now everything is fixed and he can really achieve huge success for his country.”

Cooley also feels that the pink ball cricket will be good for cricket and will bring more viewers to the game.

“Test cricket has taken a step forward with this fantastic move. It has taken the game into a time zone where everyone can come to the ground and watch Test matches after their work. A lot of things have been said about the ball. But then you have got to accept that the ball behaves differently and as a player, you should adapt to it. As long as the balance between the bat and ball is even, you have got a game.”