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"If you can’t play spin, don’t even go [to India]" : Kevin Pietersen's advice for Australian batsmen
Former England star Kevin Pietersen has offered some typically forthright advice to Australia’s batters as they prepare for the upcoming four-Test Qantas Tour of India. Either find a fast way of learning how to properly play spin bowling or don’t bother getting on the Mumbai-bound plane was the counsel from the man whose batting heroics were pivotal to England’s come-from-behind triumph on the sub-continent in 2012.
The only team to mount a successful Test campaign on Indian soil since Australia secured a 2-1 win in 2004. Pietersen, who scored 338 runs at 48.29 in that landmark four-match series including 186 in the pivotal second Test after England had lost the first, has decried the need for batters to prepare for Indian conditions by training on spin-friendly pitches.
The 36-year-old claims that by committing to a series of practice drills to develop clear game plans and decisive footwork, batters can hone their techniques to handle spin even on the vastly different pitches that Australia provides. And he cites the example of his preparation for his recent KFC Big Bash League stint with the Melbourne Stars as an example, having fine-tuned his batting against spin bowling on seamer-friendly practice pitches in South Africa shortly before arriving in Australia.
Asked for his thoughts on how Australia’s batters might best prepare to tackle the world’s top-ranked Test team in an environment where they have won just one series since 1969, Pietersen pulled no punches.
"You’ve got to learn to play spin quick,” he told cricket.com.au in a one-on-one interview last November.
"Learn to play spin very quick.
"If you can’t play spin, don’t even go.
"When you get there (India) you’ve got to practice it, and you can actually practice it here - I can do spinning drills in Australia, I did them ... on a South African wicket to make sure that my feet were going and picking length.
"You can, you don’t need to be on a spinning wicket to play spin properly or practice spin, you can be on any type of wicket. "It’s about picking length, and picking lines and getting your feet going."
The failure of Australia to win a Test match in India since that series success more than a dozen years ago has been largely pinned upon the failure of successive batting line-ups to deal with the spinning conditions. Not just in India, but throughout Asia where Australia’s record since 2004 speaks for itself. Just three victories from 20 Tests played (two of those in Bangladesh more than a decade ago) and only two batters in the current squad with a Test average above 40 in Asian conditions.
Captain Steve Smith (41.57 from seven Tests) and Shaun Marsh (78.6 from three), with the latter not an incumbent member of Australia’s Test XI. Opener David Warner averages 33.17 with a solitary century from nine Tests, number three Usman Khawaja averages 19.17 from four matches with a highest score of 26, and a poor tour of Sri Lanka last year that cost him his place in the team. And Warner’s current opening partner Matthew Renshaw and number five Peter Handscomb are yet to play Test cricket outside Australia, while the likely options at number six – allrounders Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and Ashton Agar – have been unable to nail down a Test berth in the past.
During Australia’s most recent Asian sojourn – a disastrous 0-3 humbling at the hands of a little-known Sri Lankan outfit – no batter reached 60 until the final Test, when Smith and Shaun Marsh both posted centuries. More concerning was the pattern of dismissals, with top-order players routinely committing themselves early to push forward at deliveries that often found their way on to, or past, the inside edge of a probing bat. Pietersen, who scored four centuries and six half-centuries in his 22 Tests in Asia between 2005 and 2012, warned the habit of ‘planting’ the front foot as is often practiced by Australian batters was a recipe for disaster.
And it was that element of his game – not his overtly attacking nature - that he worked hardest to change before heading to places where he knew spin would dominate. "As soon as you start planting like a lot of southern hemisphere batters do – dead," Pietersen warned. "Don’t plant your front foot. "Wait for the ball, engage. "Where is it? "Pick it, and then play.
"(You have) plenty of time, if you can play somebody (bowling) at 150 (km/h) and get into good positions, (you can do it against) somebody bowling at 50 miles an hour.
"I always looked to score.
"I was always looking for a boundary every single ball.
"So I didn’t really change, it was just my feet that had to change."
Another recurring theme in Australia’s batting shortcomings against spin in Asia has been the inability for top-order players to assuredly start an innings against the turning ball. Often because of the crowd of close catchers around the bat, waiting to pounce on any indecisive strokes and throwing further doubt into minds already clouded by the mysteries inherent in the pitch and the bowler. But rather than be intimidated by the pressure brought by close-in fielders, Pietersen claimed it should be viewed as an opportunity.
With the concentration of fielders close to the pitch ensuring there were greater and larger gaps in the outfield.
"Whack it," was Pietersen’s advice when asked how best to cope with close-in catchers at the start of an innings.
"If there’s guys around the bat, it means there’s opportunities to score.
"And I know in all my innings ... I was hardly ever caught at silly point or short leg.
"I’d love to see the numbers, one per cent of my dismissals maybe.
"If you’ve got a short leg in, there’s a gap at 45, there’s a gap at square leg so I can sweep your first ball, I can hit your first ball through extra cover or I can run down the wicket and whack you straight.
"I didn’t ever fear failure.
"I didn’t get care if I got out.
"It (is not that) I didn’t care about my wicket, but I practiced well enough to know that I was going to be successful.
"End of story.
"I was going to be successful because I had self-belief that I had talent, and I had self-belief in my practice and my training so I knew that I was going to be successful.
"And I had the confidence – it’s not arrogance, it’s confidence – because I practiced incredibly hard and I trained away from cricket incredibly hard."
http://www.cricket.com.au/news/feat...a-tests-england-spin-ashwin-jadeja/2017-02-02
Former England star Kevin Pietersen has offered some typically forthright advice to Australia’s batters as they prepare for the upcoming four-Test Qantas Tour of India. Either find a fast way of learning how to properly play spin bowling or don’t bother getting on the Mumbai-bound plane was the counsel from the man whose batting heroics were pivotal to England’s come-from-behind triumph on the sub-continent in 2012.
The only team to mount a successful Test campaign on Indian soil since Australia secured a 2-1 win in 2004. Pietersen, who scored 338 runs at 48.29 in that landmark four-match series including 186 in the pivotal second Test after England had lost the first, has decried the need for batters to prepare for Indian conditions by training on spin-friendly pitches.
The 36-year-old claims that by committing to a series of practice drills to develop clear game plans and decisive footwork, batters can hone their techniques to handle spin even on the vastly different pitches that Australia provides. And he cites the example of his preparation for his recent KFC Big Bash League stint with the Melbourne Stars as an example, having fine-tuned his batting against spin bowling on seamer-friendly practice pitches in South Africa shortly before arriving in Australia.
Asked for his thoughts on how Australia’s batters might best prepare to tackle the world’s top-ranked Test team in an environment where they have won just one series since 1969, Pietersen pulled no punches.
"You’ve got to learn to play spin quick,” he told cricket.com.au in a one-on-one interview last November.
"Learn to play spin very quick.
"If you can’t play spin, don’t even go.
"When you get there (India) you’ve got to practice it, and you can actually practice it here - I can do spinning drills in Australia, I did them ... on a South African wicket to make sure that my feet were going and picking length.
"You can, you don’t need to be on a spinning wicket to play spin properly or practice spin, you can be on any type of wicket. "It’s about picking length, and picking lines and getting your feet going."
The failure of Australia to win a Test match in India since that series success more than a dozen years ago has been largely pinned upon the failure of successive batting line-ups to deal with the spinning conditions. Not just in India, but throughout Asia where Australia’s record since 2004 speaks for itself. Just three victories from 20 Tests played (two of those in Bangladesh more than a decade ago) and only two batters in the current squad with a Test average above 40 in Asian conditions.
Captain Steve Smith (41.57 from seven Tests) and Shaun Marsh (78.6 from three), with the latter not an incumbent member of Australia’s Test XI. Opener David Warner averages 33.17 with a solitary century from nine Tests, number three Usman Khawaja averages 19.17 from four matches with a highest score of 26, and a poor tour of Sri Lanka last year that cost him his place in the team. And Warner’s current opening partner Matthew Renshaw and number five Peter Handscomb are yet to play Test cricket outside Australia, while the likely options at number six – allrounders Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and Ashton Agar – have been unable to nail down a Test berth in the past.
During Australia’s most recent Asian sojourn – a disastrous 0-3 humbling at the hands of a little-known Sri Lankan outfit – no batter reached 60 until the final Test, when Smith and Shaun Marsh both posted centuries. More concerning was the pattern of dismissals, with top-order players routinely committing themselves early to push forward at deliveries that often found their way on to, or past, the inside edge of a probing bat. Pietersen, who scored four centuries and six half-centuries in his 22 Tests in Asia between 2005 and 2012, warned the habit of ‘planting’ the front foot as is often practiced by Australian batters was a recipe for disaster.
And it was that element of his game – not his overtly attacking nature - that he worked hardest to change before heading to places where he knew spin would dominate. "As soon as you start planting like a lot of southern hemisphere batters do – dead," Pietersen warned. "Don’t plant your front foot. "Wait for the ball, engage. "Where is it? "Pick it, and then play.
"(You have) plenty of time, if you can play somebody (bowling) at 150 (km/h) and get into good positions, (you can do it against) somebody bowling at 50 miles an hour.
"I always looked to score.
"I was always looking for a boundary every single ball.
"So I didn’t really change, it was just my feet that had to change."
Another recurring theme in Australia’s batting shortcomings against spin in Asia has been the inability for top-order players to assuredly start an innings against the turning ball. Often because of the crowd of close catchers around the bat, waiting to pounce on any indecisive strokes and throwing further doubt into minds already clouded by the mysteries inherent in the pitch and the bowler. But rather than be intimidated by the pressure brought by close-in fielders, Pietersen claimed it should be viewed as an opportunity.
With the concentration of fielders close to the pitch ensuring there were greater and larger gaps in the outfield.
"Whack it," was Pietersen’s advice when asked how best to cope with close-in catchers at the start of an innings.
"If there’s guys around the bat, it means there’s opportunities to score.
"And I know in all my innings ... I was hardly ever caught at silly point or short leg.
"I’d love to see the numbers, one per cent of my dismissals maybe.
"If you’ve got a short leg in, there’s a gap at 45, there’s a gap at square leg so I can sweep your first ball, I can hit your first ball through extra cover or I can run down the wicket and whack you straight.
"I didn’t ever fear failure.
"I didn’t get care if I got out.
"It (is not that) I didn’t care about my wicket, but I practiced well enough to know that I was going to be successful.
"End of story.
"I was going to be successful because I had self-belief that I had talent, and I had self-belief in my practice and my training so I knew that I was going to be successful.
"And I had the confidence – it’s not arrogance, it’s confidence – because I practiced incredibly hard and I trained away from cricket incredibly hard."
http://www.cricket.com.au/news/feat...a-tests-england-spin-ashwin-jadeja/2017-02-02
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