Test of Will

by Glenn McGrath

  —STEVE REDGRAVE

  Born: 23 March 1962, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom

  Titles: Five Olympic gold medals (1984–2000)

  One Olympic bronze medal (1988)

  Nine World Championship gold medals (1986–1999)

  Two World Championship silver medals

  One World Championship bronze medal

  Three Commonwealth Games gold medals (1986)

  Steve Redgrave addressed the Australian cricket team during our 2007 World Cup campaign in the Caribbean, and we hung off his every word. Apart from being one of the greatest Olympians of all time, based on his feat of winning five gold medals in five consecutive Olympics, he expresses the language of the pursuit of excellence—grunt and strain—eloquently. There are plenty of sports that lay claim to being the toughest of them all; rugby league, ice hockey and boxing all put dibs on that tag, but my personal view is that not many match the demands and rigours of rowing. While my insight is restricted to some training on the rowing machine, I am certain it’s a brutal sport that must force the competitors to ask a lot of questions of themselves. For Redgrave to dominate the rowing world for close to 30 years is extraordinary, and while he was a supreme athlete my impression from listening to him address the Australian team is he was also extremely gracious. A lot of what he said came back to inner courage.

  After Redgrave won his gold medal at Atlanta in 1996, the strain was getting too much. He was famously quoted as saying that if anyone ever saw him near a boat again they had his permission to shoot him. However, he was persuaded to return for the Sydney Games and, while no one shot him, his career appeared to have reached an unfortunate end when he was diagnosed with diabetes in 1997. He proved a setback is only what you make of it because he slogged on to win an historic gold in Sydney. I drew inspiration from his response to a reporter’s question directly after the win, asking him when he knew he’d won the race. When Redgrave said it was after 250 metres, the journalist thought he’d meant to say with 250 metres to go. But Redgrave reiterated that such was his self-belief, and understanding of his ability, he felt as though the race was won after he’d completed the first eighth of the course. I interpreted that as an example of the supreme sense of self-belief an individual needs to achieve their goals in sport—and life. The foundation to Redgrave’s confidence was hard work and iron-willed discipline. I found it inspiring to discover that during his preparation for an Olympics, he only ever allowed himself one day away from training every three weeks, for 49 weeks of the year. If nothing else, his record proves that old-fashioned toil is rewarded. Although he was also unique because he was technically adaptable—from what I understand he’s one of the few oarsmen in Olympic history to have won a gold medal rowing both strokeside and bowside.

  In retirement Sir Steven Redgrave (he was knighted in 2001) has devoted his energies to raising money for a variety of charities. I consider him an athlete who exemplifies the idea that many of sport’s battles are won in the mind, not just in the stadium.

  As a postscript to his willingness to provide his nation’s old foe, Australia, some insights into the business of winning in what was the lead-up to our triumphant World Cup campaign, it made me smile to learn that after England’s skipper Michael Vaughan learned he had spoken to us, he put in an urgent request for Redgrave to go visit his team, too, and share a few pearls of wisdom.

  USAIN BOLT, ATHLETICS

  I’ve learned over the years that if you start thinking about the race, it stresses you out a little bit. I just try to relax and think about video games, what I’m gonna do after the race, what I’m gonna do just to chill. Stuff like that to relax a little before the race.

  —USAIN BOLT

  Born: 21 August 1986, Trelawny, Jamaica

  Titles: Six Olympic gold medals (2008–12)

  11 World Championship gold medals (2009–13)

  Two World Championship silver medals (2007)

  One Commonwealth Games gold medal (2014)

  Jamaican juggernaut Usain Bolt is tall, powerful and charismatic, and in 2009 he became the fastest human to have ever stepped foot on the planet when he scrambled over 100 metres in a lightning fast 9.58 seconds. I view him as a genuine showman and the fact he can talk the talk and walk the walk means Bolt shapes up as the ultimate sportsman. I know he likes to showboat before a race, but I have always seen that as a sign that he’s enjoying himself and encouraging the crowd, and the billions of people watching him on television, to share in the moment. In 2015 when he was asked about his preparation ahead of the World Championships, he said: ‘I never doubt myself, I look forward to competition … If I can execute right … then I know I’ll run fast.’ I think that most athletes would agree that view simply highlights the faith that comes with great preparation. Bolt is someone who I think not only inspires people by the way he always comes through, but I think the way in which he competes is something athletes should want to emulate. When he takes his place on the starting line the whole world watches because he’s proven that whenever his spikes strike the track, magic can happen. And the unexpected often happens even before he gets to the starting blocks; like the time he competed at the 2015 London Anniversary Games, when he videobombed a television journalist by dancing behind him as he gave his spiel.

  I like that Bolt proves there are no limits. I remember reading, after the one-time fast bowler broke the 100 metre world record during the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, that some physicists claimed they’d worked out the formula for his amazing feat. The discovery was published in the European Journal of Physics and the team said their model had pinpointed the power and energy he needed to expend to defy the drag caused by air resistance, something they said was made even stronger by his imposing 196 centimetre (6 foot 5) frame. The mathematical model that was proposed suggested the following:

  • His 9.58 seconds was achieved by reaching a speed of 12.2 metres per second, which was the equivalent of about 43.5 km/h.

  • His maximum power occurred when he was less than one second into the 100 metre sprint and he was only at 50 per cent of his maximum speed.

  • This demonstrated what was called the ‘near immediate effect of drag’, when air resistance slows moving objects.

  He is yet another example of an athlete who started with nothing. I’ve read that he was raised in a village a three- and-a-half hour drive from Jamaica’s capital of Kingston. From all reports it’s a place with no streetlights, limited running water and where old men still ride donkeys. It was the place where he played cricket with an orange for a ball and he was raised on yam and dumplings. By achieving such greatness, Bolt proves that natural ability and championship qualities can be found anywhere. While it’s important that those traits are harnessed properly, Bolt has also proven that pure enjoyment is as vital as tough training, harsh dieting and regimented goal-setting.

  16

  THE WORLD’S BOWLING SCENE

  Aww, mate, I just shuffle up and go wang.

  —Jeff Thomson on one of cricket’s most fearsome bowling actions

  To be the No. 1 team in the world you need a quality bowling attack. No team can be loaded with the best batsmen and cursed with poor bowlers and expect to make much ground in the ICC’s rankings. If you have a strong bowling unit, especially a pack of fast bowlers who are hungry and mean, it has a positive effect because they have the spirit and ability to lift their team. That’s the reason I believe South Africa has been up around the mark as the world’s best—as has Australia in more recent times—because of their attack.

  After I retired I didn’t watch too much cricket. After turning on the television and seeing a few overs bowled, my inclination was to think how happy I was to not be doing that anymore, to switch it off and do something else. However, in more recent times, due to my roles as coach of the MRF Pace Foundation and as a commentator, I’ve closely monitored the current breed of pace bowlers. I have noted my observations below. There is a great battalion of pacemen in world cr
icket and these are the ones who I really enjoy watching. In one or two cases, they are players I’d like to see more of, and for a variety of different reasons.

  THE AUSTRALIANS

  Australia’s tradition of pace bowlers goes back to Fred ‘The Demon Bowler’ Spofforth, who terrorised the English in the 18 Tests he played against them in the nineteenth century. His prowess is emphasised by the fact he took 94 wickets at an average of 18.41. He was followed by the likes of Albert ‘Tibby’ Cotter, Ray Lindwall, Jeff Thomson and Brett Lee. Australia is now in a position where it has some tremendous bowlers ready to make their mark after the early stages of their careers were frustrated by injuries that led to long stints of rehabilitation.

  They have come through and I have no doubt the likes of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood have it in them to spearhead an exciting new era of pace for their skipper Steve Smith.

  Mitchell Johnson (Test strike rate: 50.8)

  Dennis Lillee identified Mitch as a ‘once in a generation bowler’ when he was just a kid from Townsville. While I know Dennis later regretted casting that spotlight upon him because of the expectations that accompanied his comment, at his very best Mitch really is a special gem. He bowls around the 150 km/h mark and when he gets it right he swings the ball well. He was outstanding in the 2013–14 Ashes series when he terrorised England, taking 37 wickets at an incredible 13.97. While critics are a part of every fast bowler’s life—and Mitch has had more than his fair share over the years—I think he silenced them that summer.

  I’ve stressed that a fast bowler needs to know himself and his game, and I think there was a time a couple of years ago when a few little things weren’t quite ‘there’ in Mitch’s game. By working hard with people such as Troy Cooley at the Cricket Academy and Dennis Lillee, he sorted out his run-up and a few other technical issues. I also think he benefited from the ‘trifecta’, and I’m certain those three factors combined to help him be the force he was in the 2013–14 Ashes. They were: his life off the field was going well for him, he was fit and he was strong.

  Throughout that series we saw a Mitchell Johnson who had great control, and when he combined that with his pace he became what the media calls a ‘lethal bowler’. He was our best. When you have a spearhead exuding the confidence he did that summer, and you see that look of fear in the opposition batsmen’s eyes when they faced him, the impact on the rest of the team is extraordinary.

  People have asked me why he was so successful during that series. The reasons were straightforward: he’s a left-armer; he bowled express pace; he swung the ball well; and he bowled with great control and aggression. It was a formidable combination and there wouldn’t have been too many batsmen in the English squad—or even many around the world, for that matter—who had come up against such a volatile mix.

  I don’t like the theory that suggests pace bowlers need to slow down to attain accuracy and control. I prefer Mitch’s approach, which was to preserve (and persevere with) his pace, even though he was sorting his game out, because he appreciated his speed was what made him unique. If a bowler can remain fast as he gains greater control—just as Mitch did—they can become ‘very special’.

  At the time of writing this book I am at Lord’s where, in the Second Test of the 2015 Ashes series, Mitch seems to have tapped back into his true self, even after some people had all but written him off. As Mitch seems to be proving, that is always a silly thing to do to a champion bowler. In the opening Test in Cardiff he finished with 0–111 and 2–69, and was taunted by my old mates in the Barmy Army singing in the terraces: ‘He bowls to the left, he bowls to the right. That Mitchell Johnson, his bowling is shite!’ A week or so later, I said to whoever wanted to listen that I didn’t think his match figures reflected his bowling—he had bowled much better than his figures suggested. I felt that he was consistently swinging the ball and getting it through at a reasonable pace. My prediction at Cardiff was that if he continued on that path it would only be a matter of time before he took a good haul—and it didn’t take long. Another important indicator that he was on song for a big series was that he hit 77 in the second dig of the First Test. I’ve noticed over the years that when he scores a few runs, the wickets follow; maybe it just builds his confidence. As history now notes, Mitch bounced back in the Second Test, where he not only took 3–53 and 3–27, but that old look of terror also reappeared in the English batsmen’s eyes.

  Mitchell Starc (S/R: 55.7)

  He’s a quality bowler who definitely knows his one-day game inside out. In the one-dayers he targets areas with the new ball, he swings it, he attacks the stumps, and he generates speed up around the 150 km/h mark. I love that he also has a very good yorker, which he bowls at will. This is something I regret very few bowlers even attempt these days.

  I have no doubt that the way he goes about his business is why he’s regarded as the world’s No.1 limited-overs bowler. We saw what he did to be named the Player of the Tournament in the 2015 World Cup and it was sensational. I think Mitchell has come to realise that Test cricket is a different beast. It’s a fact you can’t bowl the same lines in that format as you do with the white ball; you can’t attack the stumps the same way, nor can you bowl yorkers all the time.

  It really pleases me to see Mitchell is working out the nuances of Test cricket, because he has decent control and I really want to see him emulate at Test level the amazing feats he’s already achieved at just 25 years of age in the one-day arena. It only stands to reason that the more opportunities he gets with the red ball, the more chance he’ll have to get to know his Test game.

  I think it’s important that when people hear commentators talk about fast bowlers being aggressive, they realise it doesn’t mean we go out in the middle and yell abuse, curse and carry on … although some do. Instead, what they’re referring to is body language: keeping your head up and soldiering on when things aren’t going so well. They’re the little insights a bowler picks up along the way; they come with experience. It was well reported that Shane Warne was critical of that aspect of Mitchell’s performance during the First Test of the 2014–15 Test series against India in Brisbane. I think if you can ignore the headlines and the outcry that accompanies the fallout from that type of situation, a fast bowler can use it to his advantage. It can either fire you up to prove your critics wrong or you can let it have a negative impact on your game.

  I haven’t spent all that much time with Mitch, but from what I have so far seen he has an enormous, and exciting, future ahead of him. He’s also reaching the age where a male’s bones ‘harden’, and that ought to mean there’s less likelihood of him suffering the injuries that frustrated his career in the early years. He looks the goods, and I hope for Australia’s sake he can convert his mastery of the one-day game to Test cricket. If he can, it will go a long way to ensuring Australia is the No. 1 cricketing nation for many summers.

  Ryan Harris (S/R: 50.7)

  Unfortunately, Ryan was forced to retire when two different scans of his right knee during the tour match against Essex indicated he would be unable to get through the 2015 Ashes series. While he took it stoically—as you’d expect from a man like him, based on the performances he put in for Australia—I really felt for him, because whenever I watched Ryan bowl I couldn’t help but think he was a bowler you’d want in your attack. Throughout his career I’d heard people refer to Ryan Harris as the workhorse of Australia’s attack. I always believed he deserved to be regarded much more highly than that. He was a fighter, as tough as an old army boot, and he was born with that wonderfully ‘mad’ mentality that meant he was prepared to not only bowl all day for his team, but he’d slog through it at a good pace and with quality.

  I have no doubt that Ryan worked hard during the 2014–15 Aussie summer when he was ‘cotton-wooled’ by the powers that be and told to prepare for the upcoming Ashes campaign. As it turned out, his knee had been through one too many campaigns. I think one thing all young fast bowlers should take fro
m Ryan Harris’s career is that the role of the fast bowler is not (despite what you’ll hear some people say) about keeping it tight and this ’n’ that. The job of the fast bowler is to take wickets and he gets them by bowling to a game plan and building pressure. When the fast bowler’s role is stripped back to its most raw definition, the fast bowler must take wickets if he wants to stay in the team. That’s what Ryan’s value to Australia was in his 27 appearances—the big-hearted bloke collected 113 wickets and he slogged his guts out for each and every one of them.

  Josh Hazlewood (S/R: 44.1)

  My old teammate Mark ‘Junior’ Waugh, who serves as a national selector these days, tipped Josh after his starring role on the 2015 tour of the West Indies to eventually surpass my record for the most Test wickets taken by a fast bowler. If that’s the case, I’ll be the first to congratulate him. I agree that he has started his Test career brilliantly. However, if Junior’s prediction is to be fulfilled, Josh will need to look after himself to ensure he achieves one of the hardest goals a fast bowler can hope to attain because of the brutal nature of his job—and that’s longevity.

  I realised early in my Test career that I needed to do things differently in order to be able to perform at that intense level over a long period. That was why I sought the toughest and wisest strength and fitness conditioner I could find—Kev Chevell. It’s up to Josh if he wants to follow a similar path, but I will say I’m a massive supporter of his. He seems to be a good young bloke from the country and from what I have observed he appears to have a very good work ethic and a desire to succeed. I really do hope that he’s around for a long time because I can see great potential in the way he bowls.

  A lot of people compared Josh to me when he was picked as a 17-year-old to play for New South Wales against New Zealand, but the truth is that the media seem to do that to every tall kid who comes along nowadays and bowls a good line and length. I don’t know if Josh has taken the comparison as a sledge or a compliment, but I don’t mind admitting that I feel proud some people see something in him that reminds them of me.