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Pollock spots Ntini's problem
22/07/2008 22:02 - (SA)
Die Burger
Altus Momberg
Leeds - Shaun Pollock has retired from international cricket but the former fast bowler is still contributing, from his commentator's chair, to the SA team's performances.
Pollock is the one who spotted a technical problem in Makhaya Ntini's action during the recent Test match at Lord's.
The man who took more Test wickets than any other SA bowler, then called on assistant Proteas coach Vincent Barnes before the start of the second Test and told him about his observation.
Pollock is now one of Sky Sport's television commentators and a member of the BBC's Test Match Special panel on radio.
"I had an interesting discussion with Shaun," Barnes said here on Tuesday.
"He and Makhaya played in the same teams for years and he knows Makhaya's bowling almost better than I do."
Pollock said the seam of the ball was pointing too straight when Ntini bowled. "This resulted in him getting hardly any swing. The ball just went straight on," Barnes explained.
"I then looked (on video footage) at the seam when Makhaya bowled against the West Indies. He bowled brilliantly; he was too good for Darren Ganga.
Run in and bowl
"I then used a split screen and showed Mahkaya the difference in the angle of his wrist between that Test and now.
"He almost had an away-swing action (at Lord's) instead of an in-swing action, making it easy to play him, especially for right-handers."
They had not tried to rectify the problem before the second Test at Headingley, Barnes said, but they were going to do so during the three-day match against Bangladesh A that starts in Worcester on Friday.
"One does not want to fiddle too much before a Test. We wanted Makhaya to just run in and bowl," Barnes added.
The Proteas dismissed England twice at Headlingley to win by ten wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the series but Barnes feels the Proteas attack can still improve.
"I was not completely satisfied. They were much better than in the first Test but they can do even better.
"We bowled well at times, as we did when we limited them to eight runs in an hour and when we kept Tim Ambrose and Andrew Flintoff quiet.
"We still tried too hard to bowl them out instead of sticking to our disciplines," he said. "We're going to work hard to be at our best for the next Test."
One player who was working hard on Tuesday was all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who has been below his best with the bat. He was the only member of the squad who went to practise in the nets on the team's day off.
- Die Burger
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