When I see the Australian cricket team on the field (especially when fielding and stealing singles when batting), I see nothing but baseball fundamentals, especially when it comes to defence (fielding). Could this be their secret training formula??? (I had this brewing in my mind for a very long time. Finally I'm garnering the courage to post this.)
WHY??
In baseball (BB) a common adage goes that great defence and pitching wins games and consistent great defence and pitching wins championships. All great champion teams have great defence to complement their good hitting (offence). In BB, a team relying on hitting (offence) alone does not do well over the course of an entire season as hitting can go cold for a very long time and stall the team in a never ending slump. High quality defence in BB is also of paramount importance in high voltage low scoring games and other important games like the playoffs, League Championship Series, World Series etc. etc. The demands on professional BB athletes are monumental and only the best of the athletes play Major League BB (MLB) and only the fittest amongst them last an entire MLB season, even with the rest days included. And when I say an entire MLB season, it consists of full 162 something completed games and can get very punishing on an individual player. It is more punishing than cricket any time. Where games are rained out, they are not written off like cricket as a draw but rescheduled the next day as a double header where that washed out game as well as that day's game are played to completion. That is why it is only the ultra-fit athletes that last an entire MLB season. And there are also greats like the legendry ex-Baltimore Oriole, Cal Ripken Jr, that did not miss a single game for many seasons and created an MLB record. Moreover for some teams the season also extends to the Post-season playoffs and it is the MLB finalists (teams playing the World Series) that end up playing the most games in a given MLB season. At the end of the winning season, the true men of men emerge in all athletic glory. Such is the beauty of baseball.
The winning formula in BB is nothing but consistent application of baseball fundamentals, day in and day out, grinding the punishing schedule like a machine right from the first pitch. And fundamentals in defence other than pitching are athleticism of the highest order. It is high class fielding, esp at the short-stop (SS) and the third base (TB) positions. Accurate and shot-gun throws to first base to effect routine outs. Shortstops and third basemen generally have very strong throwing arms, throwing arms that can last an entire MLB season and beyond. In a typical MLB preseason spring training, SSs and TBs go through infinite amount of drills called the SS-drill and the TB-drill to hone and perfect the art of fielding, throwing accurately to the first base or the catcher as the situation requires, double and triple play drills where the entire infield is involved. Infielding also involves taking improbable acrobatic catches and blinder catches where the ball rockets of the bat like a pistol shot. The accuracy of the throw is not only to get the routine outs but also to avoid costly errors: errors that could cost a game and even a season (See Boston Redsox-NY Mets World Series Game-6). Even in the outfield, the demands on the BB fielders are no less. The best BB outfielders are supreme sprinters and great leapers to make spectacular catches by leaping off the outfield wall (See the ex-Minnesota Twins' Kirby Puckett's spectacular catch in centrefield in Game-6 of the 1991 MLB World Series against the Atlanta Braves). They should also have very very strong throwing arms, especially in run saving situations so that they can rifle the ball and convert triples to doubles and doubles to single base hits. The baseball catchers, in addition to being quality hitters, should be physically built like a bull to withstand high impact collisions with the base-runners at the home-plate (see collision between Twins' Catcher Brian Harper and Atlanta Braves runner Lonnie Smith in the Game-3 of the 1991 World Series). They should have a gun of an arm to rocket the ball to any of the bases to prevent base stealing (Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers). And in hitting itself, the aim of the hitter should be to reach the safety of the bases as quickly as possible. In other words he should preferably be a good sprinter. The above mentioned are just some of the BB fundamentals.
The Australian cricket team is either using an MLB coach secretly for its fielders or using MLB training manuals. The similarities are quite obvious to me in games involving Australia whether they are Tests or One-dayers. They are all about getting the fundamentals right, especially when it comes to fielding and to be done on a consistent basis in not just one game but throughout a Test-series and beyond with an aim to maintain a winning consistency and maintaining global dominance for years on. Here are some of the many similarities that I see:
1>Fielding the ball by the close-in fielders and accurate throwing to the wickets just like the BB infielders.
2>Terrific pace when chasing the ball by out-fielders preventing sure fours just like the outfielders in BB fielding base hits.
3>Catching in the infield and outfield similar to the athletic baseball infielders and outfielders and making extraordinary catches and run-outs.
4>I have a strong feeling that the Australian fielding team is using the rigorous SS and TB fielding drills as done in the MLB pre-season training.
5>The development of strong throwing arms by outfielders. A pistol shot arm by a cricket fielder in the deep like long-on or long off or third man also becomes a highly effective weapon towards the same end and becomes a run saving machine. The Australians have a few outfielders with a gun of an arm.
6>Strong throwing arm by the catcher to effect outs during base stealing. In cricket a wicket keeper with a very strong throwing arm is a boon to the team.
7>Emphasis that the catchers in BB are good hitters of the ball. A solid hitter wicket keeper in cricket like the great Gilli is an asset to any team.
8>While in offence (batting), emphasis on speed during base running and also during base stealing. In cricket Australia has developed the art of high speed running between the wickets and basically manufacturing a run where there was none just like base stealing in baseball. Where during Australian fielding 4s becomes 3s, 3s become 2s, 2s become 1s, and 1s become no-runs, it is the opposite when the Aussies bat. No-runs become 1s, 1s become 2s, 2s become 3s, and 3s routinely become 4s. The Australians end up saving almost 100 runs per innings when they field and make 100 more by their high speed running when batting giving total advantage of almost 200 runs per innings over the opposition.
9>Supreme athleticism on the BB field to take mind boggling catches and tagging runners out. I repeat: In the same light, see some of the improbable catches that Australian fielders sometimes take and also the extraordinary runouts that they virtually manufacture out of nowhere....... it is out of this world.
10>The BB focus on supreme athleticism and on being fitter and stronger than your opponents on a consistent basis and the emphasis on fitness to improve sporting longevity. Australia follows the same philosophy (see players like Gilli, Hayden, McGrath).
And just like BB, consistent winning cricket is nothing but the relentless application of the fundamentals, grinding it day in and out. Whether the Australian team is really using MLB fundamentals and training techniques or not is moot, but it would certainly behoove any cricket team well to adopt MLB training techniques. If the other teams, especially lower Athletic Index teams like India, follow these BB training techniques, it will help in a long way to narrow the very wide gap that Australia has established over the other teams. Moreover, it will give the teams from the subcontinent that elusive consistency which they have historically lacked and continue to lack. So, India, ps take notice and hire an MLB fielding coach asap.
Y'know. Uncle Pom. One of your bredwins from Norf Landan. You know, roughneck Inspector Lag's on the set - the rebel, making more noise than heavy metal...
Originally posted by Comical Smoking Monkey: Y'know. Uncle Pom. One of your bredwins from Norf Landan. You know, roughneck Inspector Lag's on the set - the rebel, making more noise than heavy metal...
