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Jeff Thomson slams Australia’s Test performance in Asia as embarrassing

Jeff Thomson also stated that Mitchell Starc is amog the among the top bowlers in the world.

Jeff Thomson also criticised Shaun Tait for not working too hard on his game © Getty Images
Jeff Thomson also criticised Shaun Tait for not working too hard on his game © Getty Images

Jeff Thomson, Australia’s former pacer feels it is embarrassing to see Australia’s performance in the recent past in sub-continent. He also spoke about the pink ball experiment which is taking part in almost all corners. The Aussie was the fastest bowler in the world in the 1970s and formed a lethal partnership with Dennis Lillee. He finished with 200 Test wickets from 51 matches. At 66, Thomson has not lost any of the fire. In Kerala to coach young bowlers at the KCA-IDBI Federal Life Insurance Bowling Foundation, Thomson talked about fast bowling, Australian cricket, the ill-effects of Twenty20 (T20s)  and more. ALSO READ: Jeff Thomson to coach at KCA-IDBI Bowling Foundation

According to Times of India (TOI), Thomson, speaking about fast bowling he said, “It’s all about the attitude. You need to have goals. You can have all the talent. But if you are in limbo land, that’s where you stay. So we try to give the kids purpose and coaching. It just depends on how smart you are to take all the information.

He shared his thoughts on the current crop of Indian bowlers and how they can improve. He stated, “It’s not just about the bowlers. It’s the captains and the teams. You got to come out of the mentality of giving fast bowlers a couple of overs and then taking them off. Captains need to back fast bowlers and give them the right field, keep a couple of slips even if a few boundaries are scored. I haven’t been following what the senior Indian bowlers are doing. My job has been working on kids that are coming up. So I can’t comment on fast bowlers with the national team.

Australia were thrashed in the Test series against Sri Lanka and conceded their fifth Test whitewash in three matches or more. On their horrendous performance, he added, “We got walloped in Tests because we batted poorly. They don’t treasure their wickets enough playing T20 cricket and they were trying to smack the ball. It doesn’t work in Test cricket against quality bowlers.”

In today’s times, there are many T20 leagues happening across all corners of the world. On the influence of the Big Bash League (BBL), Indian Premier League (IPL) and other T20 leagues, he quoted, “ The Big Bash and T20s have influenced players all over the world. Guys are getting a lot of money playing just T20s. In T20, bad players can get away. A lot of times ordinary players look superstars in T20 and when they play Tests they are found out.” ALSO READ: India vs West Indies 2016: Jeff Thomson confident of Shardul Thakur performing well

On Australia’s shabby record in Asia and if they value success in sub-continent, he further added,They should do. It’s embarrassing that they have been whitewashed in three series on the trot (Against India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka). It comes back to technique. In Sri Lanka, it was just bad footwork, getting bowled to arm balls. It was dumb stuff.

Shaun Tait, a genuine quickie who generated lot of pace from his action but still played only three Tests. On his failure to make it big in the longer format, Thomson stated, “Tait didn’t like the hard work. He was lucky T20 came along and he had an avenue to earn more money. They are a lot of players like that flying under the radar playing T20s.
One bright spot for Australia was and has been Mitchell Starc in their current tour of Australia. If he is filling the Mitchell Johnson void, he stated, “Starc is the best we have now. Obviously, he’s among the top bowlers in the world. He gets a lot of bounce and he’s got a good yorker too. But he’s a different bowler to Mitchell. He’s a swing bowler. Mitchell was more of a hit- the-deck kind of bowler.

In conclusion he also shared his thoughts on pink ball cricket. He said, “I wasn’t there for the Adelaide Test. But the ball did a bit in that Test, I know. The minute the bowlers have something going for them, batsmen complain. But I don’t have a problem with that.”

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