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Journalism of Courage
Two batsmen in grubby whites,lit harshly by flashbulbs,sprint up the pavilion steps in semi-darkness. It isnt the most beautiful cricket photograph ever,but it tells a great story. England have just beaten Pakistan in Karachi,against the clock and against the background of rapidly descending dusk,to clinch their first series win in the country in 39 years. The not out batsmen,stumps tucked under their arms,are Nasser Hussain,the captain,and Graham Thorpe. Over the course of this tour and Englands next Test series a 2-1 win in Sri Lanka Thorpe was their most prolific batsman,with 553 runs at 61.44 with two centuries and three fifties and clearly Englands best player of spin.
Eleven years later,Thorpe is at the Poona Club,teaching a group of young talents handpicked by the ECB including one-day and T20 internationals such as Jonny Bairstow,Scott Borthwick,James Taylor and Jos Buttler the art of batting in subcontinental conditions.
For some of these lads,itll be the first time playing in the subcontinent,so were giving them options,trying to get them confident on their feet,coming forward and going back,and exploring the sweep shot,trying to find an all-round game which theyre comfortable with, Thorpe says.
Its also about getting them fatigued when they practice,because conditions in the subcontinent can be hot,can be humid.
Over the course of his career,Thorpe specialised in dragging England out of trouble,counterattacking early in his innings to shift the pressure onto the opposition. In Test cricket,you might have men around the bat,so you have to understand where youre going to take your risks,hopefully to move some fielders,and thats really part of trying to play spinners,trying to manoeuvre the ball,so youve always got options where youre able to score,and release shots.
Unlike most English batsmen,Thorpe was natural at manoeuvring the slow bowlers into gaps a case in point is his 118 in Lahore in December 2000,an innings that contained just two boundaries.
So how do you teach that art to younger batsmen? Youre generally trying to create two options as a batsman, he says. Once youve set up,you might be looking to play a particular stroke,but youve got to be able to adjust,and that takes good wrists and what I call nimble footwork.
On the 2001 tour of Sri Lanka,Duncan Fletcher,then Englands coach,spent hours getting his batsmen to perfect the sweep.
Against (Muttiah) Muralitharan,for example,you would want to be prepared to play that shot,even if you couldnt pick him as well as you wanted to, Thorpe says. Its about being able to control the sweep slog sweep,square sweep,fine sweep so you have options against a good spinner.
Thorpe feels that more than Sachin Tendulkar,Rahul Dravid provides young batsmen with an ideal template for tacking spin. Sachin Tendulkar is sort of in his own league,in many ways,but I think Dravid is a very good technician,home and away, he says.
Great powers of concentration,but again,the way he plays spin is a simple way it looks simple and I would encourage our players to look at how he moves his feet,how comfortable he is,and how he breaks his wrists.
Thorpe cites Brian Lara as an influence on his own game. I think 1994 was my first tour to the West Indies,and I liked the way he played, he says.
I couldnt be Brian Lara,but there were certain things which I tried to adopt. There were also people like Alec Stewart,who used to play fast bowling very well. I watched how he practiced and this is really what its all about,picking up skills from who you play with and against,and thats hopefully what our lads will do.
