Look after yourself and train smart: Ryan Harris

Former Australia fast bowler Ryan Harris has confirmed that he aspires to be a coach in the future. The ex-quick also keenness to join Australia’s coaching ranks whenever he has the necessary credentials.

Harris, who retired due to a chronic knee injury at the start of 2014 Ashes campaign in the England, has been honing his coaching credentials since ending his career with 147 wickets from 27 Tests and 21 ODIs.

The 36-year-old was involved as a specialist bowling mentor with the Prime Minister’s and the Cricket Australia XIs that played New Zealand in Canberra last year and has worked also closely with a number of age and senior squads at the Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane.

He also oversaw training sessions with Test quicks Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood as part of their preparation for the upcoming limited-overs and Test tours to the West Indies, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Both Starc and Hazlewood also endorsed the aspiring coach’s skills.

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In a recent interview with ESPN Cricinfo, Harris further shared his knowledge about swing-bowling technique, managing workloads, and keeping injuries at bay.

Wrist position is the most important factor for any swing bowler to attain swing. Without proper swing position, the swing gets cut. Harris explains why wrist positions are important for Swing bowlers.

“Without a really good wrist position, it’s really tough to swing the ball.”

“You want the ball landing on the seam when it gets to the wicket. As a bowling group you want to keep one side of the ball nice and shiny. If you hit the pitch with both sides of the ball, you lose that edge with the ball a bit, so he would have to turn it round. Keep the shiny side for us.”

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He also busts traditional myth associated with swing bowling.

“You don’t have to be side-on to bowl out swing. That’s a bit of a myth. Not too many guys get side-on these days. It’s more about wrist position, your front arm and moving through the crease in straight lines.”

There’s a common notion that swings bowlers have to bowl at medium pace in order achieve full benefits as a swing bowler. Harris also feels the same. According to him, one will have to scarfice the speed to becomincreasing the speed

“I suppose, yes, but when I started bowling quick. When I had my arm nice and high, at a 60-degree angle, tall but not too straight, I felt like I was coming through towards the batsman and pulling my front arm in towards my side, I felt like I could keep the same pace and swing the ball. There were times when I didn’t swing it, and when I looked at the footage afterwards, I was probably striving for a bit of extra pace, pulling that front arm over a bit to the side and not getting my wrist as straight as I’d have liked.”

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“Some guys who strive for pace do lose a little bit of swing, but obviously you gain some speed. Every single day you bowl, it can be different because of the conditions or just the way you feel.”

Aggression early on at the batsman, making him play. It’s no good bowling eight overs first up with the batsman leaving six of them. You’re wasting the new ball and your main skill. You need a bit of patience later on, if things aren’t going as well. Not attacking as much, bowl that stump-to-stump line.

A swing bowler sometime feels stranded when bowling on unsupportive conditions. So what does an bowler do when it’s not swinging, Harris explains, “You’ve got to have a plan B. That could be bowling stump to stump, locking up one end, bowling to a more defensive field, with a cover and midwicket. Plan C could be to bowl cutters, which would be effective on a slow, spinning wicket. But practise this in training. It shouldn’t be something you just do in the middle.

“A lot of guys change the grip, open their fingers so it doesn’t come out as much. If they still can’t control it, a lot of guys bowl cross-seam, which isn’t great with the new ball. What normally happens is, the captain will take the bowler off, bring them back later when the ball is older.”

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The aspiring coache also spoke had some tips for young bowlers on how to stay fit and avoid injury

“Look after yourself. Train smart, concentrate on the parts of your body that cop a beating when you land at the crease – legs, quads, glutes, and then your core. Make sure you’ve got plenty of flexibility.

“There’ll still be injuries at times, because we’re doing such a unique thing that our bodies are not supposed to do. So you can train for it, but there aren’t too many in history who have gone through their careers without at least picking up an injury here and there.”