‘Ambrose never visited the gym’

What made the West Indies the best team in the world was essentially the way we trained. We would do a lot of stretching of specific muscles...

What made the West Indies the best team in the world was essentially the way we trained. We would do a lot of stretching of specific muscles and not overall gym work like today’s fast bowlers. That, I think is the main difference between then and now. Today, most of the fast bowlers spend a lot of time in the gymnasium. You need strength for sure but you’re not a lifter.

As a bowler there is no substitute for bowling in the nets. The more you bowl, the better you are and the fitter you can be. That is what the great West Indies fast bowlers used to do.

Take Macko (Malcolm Marshall) for example, he was just phenomenal. Even Courtney (Walsh), he never missed a game. Even if these guys had a niggle they wouldn’t shirk and still end up with great results. But again these guys were never great followers of the gym. Right through his career, Curtly (Ambrose) never visited the gym and would work on his strength by trying to bowl a lot.

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The most important regime that we had developed over a period of time was doing a lot of sit-ups. Everyday we would do about 50 sit ups and that was very important, it helps prop up the lower part of your back, the key area for a fast bowler. .

Today there is a myth going around that there is too much cricket. Well, I disagree. I would say there are more international matches instead of just more cricket. Those days we used to play tours with 6 Tests and 6 ODIs and three-day games. Now there are more ODIs, fewer Tests — which means a bowler’s workload comes down.

Today’s bowlers do not even play their domestic cricket like Sheffield Shield or county. Macko, Courtney did that for 15 long years, playing international, domestic and county cricket.

There were injuries, of course, but the guys were all lion-hearted. I still remember that Test match in England when Macko bowled with that broken hand and still picked up a bucketful of wickets to help us win the match.

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I have not seen Irfan Pathan or the other young bowlers India have. I’d like to know the kind of programme they have and their strength work in the gym. Also whether guys tend to do a little too much when they are at nets. Some people tend to do that. Try and run in too quick quite early in their career. That I think would be detrimental to any young bowler’s career. What is important is the rhythm, if you want to bowl quick you need the right rhythm.

Another important aspect is that the West Indies fast bowlers never got side-on while they were bowling. If you bowl that way there is a chance that you might have a problem. Look at Courtney, Curtly were all front chested bowlers, so they never had problems with their back and groin.

If you have a good side, it is imperative that you stay together and try keep them fighting fit or else the whole thing would be a waste.

(Dennis Waight was physiotherapist to the West Indies team from 1979-2000)