Australia bowling coach McDermott tells pacers to go full steam

Australia bowling coach Craig McDermott instructs his fast bowlers to go full steam at WACA ground nets to get sharper for Friday's third Test

"Let it rip. C'mon, I want to see it rip," was Australia bowling coach Craig McDermott's orders to his quicks at the Western Australia Cricket Association Ground (WACA) nets yesterday. Instantly, Ed Cowan was forced to duck under a lethal bouncer from Peter Siddle. On the other strip, Ricky Ponting was made to hop and defend at Mitchell Starc. "Keep it going boys. Keep it going. I want to see more of it," McDermott yelled again.


VVS Laxman ducks under a short ball at the Sydney Cricket Ground
recently. Pic/Getty Images

McDermott handed four new cherries to his quartet of fast bowlersu00a0-- Peter Siddle, Starc, Ryan Harris and Ben Hilfenhaus. Not often all four bowlers take new balls at the nets, let alone even one bowler. It was also a way to prepare Australia's batsmen to prepare for tomorrow's Test.


Craig McDermott

Interestingly, the session lasted for less than 30 minutes, before the net bowlers were brought on. "The idea is to give them short bursts with the new ball.u00a0 Craigy (McDermott) wants to prepare them for the bouncy track. Even then, batsmen will benefit from this," fielding coach Steve Rixon said.

The Australian fast bowlers looked like a pack of wolves that were sent on a sprint by their alpha male. It was as if McDermott had flung large pieces of meat to fetch, and sent his wolves on a race. If the Indian batsmen ever needed a caveat for what was in store starting tomorrow, this was it.