Young cricketers learn from Test legends
January 26, 2012
Graham Yallop during his trip to Mildura this week.
By VINNIE RODI
CLOSE to 80 of Sunraysia’s most promising young cricketers have had the chance to learn from two former Australian cricket greats this week, with former Test captain, Graham Yallop, and left-arm spinner, Ray Bright, hosting a special clinic.
In Sunraysia representing the Shaun Brown Cricket Coaching group, the clinic was open to youngsters aged between seven and 15, with emphasis on passing on the basics of the game.
Held over two days, day one of the clinic (Wednesday) saw Graham lead proceedings (with Ray taking charge yesterday), with the former Australian captain saying he had been impressed by the turnout.
“I’ve always been impressed with how regional cricketers approach clinics – especially the kids,” he said.
“They are always filled with enthusiasm and a willingness to learn, and it’s always a pleasure to come up here and host this type of clinic.”
Graham – who boasts an incredible international career – said the aim of the clinic was to pass on the basics of the game to youngsters, helping them improve their game, and stay interested in the sport.
“It’s amazing to see the large amount of young players who simply haven’t mastered the basic skills,” he said. “Little things like footwork, front and back-foot defence, and knowing how to drive a ball are concepts that should be drilled into players from a young age.
“Unfortunately the coaching system in Australia isn’t what it used to be, with less specialist coaching available to young cricketers across the board.
“The aim of these types of clinics is to help youngsters learn the basics, correct techniques, and generally help them get to a stage where they are enjoying their cricket, making plenty of runs and taking wickets.”
Graham said that while the growth of Twenty20 cricket internationally had been a factor in the slow decline of technically-sound youngsters in Australia, he said the problem was more associated with the lack of qualified coaches in the country.
“A number of these kids will sit down and watch competitions like the Big Bash, and watch a number of their favourite players rock back and hit these big sixes,” he said.
“What they don’t realise is that that type of ability comes from having a great technique, and then adapting it to different formats.
“In my opinion Cricket Australia needs to address the matter of coaching across the country.
“We need more specialist coaches working with our young cricketers right through their development.”
Graham boats a storied cricketing career, which includes stints playing for Victoria and Australia.
A technically correct left-handed batsman, Graham batted in the top order for Australia during a stop-start career. He made his Test debut at age 23, coming up against a formidable West Indian team in 1975/76.
Against the wishes of selectors, the then captain of Australia, Greg Chappell, named Graham at number three, putting the debutante ahead of himself and his brother Ian.
The young Graham put his head down during his first Test series, playing the last three Tests averaging 44.
He was unceremoniously dropped soon after the West Indies series, and wasn’t recalled to the Test side until the 1977/78 series against India.
In his first Test Match back in Australian colours, Graham scored 121 – his first Test century – and soon found himself a regular in the side.
Chosen for the following tour to the West Indies, Graham proved one of the few Australian players to stand up to the express bowling on offer, and was even prompted to wear a helmet in the Barbados Test match following a blow to the jaw in a tour match.
In four Tests he scored three half-centuries, accumulating 317 runs at an average of 45.29.
Graham had played just five Tests in the previous three years (for a total of eight) when suddenly – with Australia’s best players poached for Kerry Packer’s innovative World Series Cricket competition – he was appointed captain for the 1978/79 Ashes series.
The unprepared and unsupported Graham made a naive prediction before the series that his team would win 6-0. Instead the undermanned Australian team was annihilated 5-1 – its worst defeat in a Test series.
Although Graham’s authority disintegrated, his ability to make runs held up and he scored centuries in the first and last Tests. His 121 in the sixth Test at Sydney was a lone masterpiece as the team scored a meagre total of 198.
He again led the team in a Test against Pakistan just weeks later – losing again – before injuring himself in a club match, forcing him out of the second (and last) Test in the series.
It was a Test match that saw Australia finally reverse their losing streak under Kim Hughes – a result that saw Graham unceremoniously dumped as captain.
While fellow players Kim Hughes and Allan Border enjoyed selection surety even when struggling with form, Graham drifted in and out of the team, often selected to plug a middle-order gap when Greg Chappell declined to tour.
After a golden summer of form in the Sheffield Shield competition in 1982/83, Graham was given an extended run of Tests in Australia during the 1983/84 season.
His monumental 268 – scored over two days in the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan – was the highlight of a series where he totalled 554 runs at average of 92.33.
In his short Test career, Graham averaged better than one century every five Tests, and never went more than six consecutive Tests without a hundred.
Ray Bright – the other coach who visited Sunraysia for Shaun Brown’ Cricket Coaching – is regarded as one of Australia’s better left-arm orthodox spin bowlers.
Bright made his first-class debut for Victoria at age 18 against New South Wales in Sydney in the 1972/73 domestic season.
He made his One-Day International debut for Australia on a tour to New Zealand in the 1976/77 season, and was also named 12th man in the Centenary Test against England at the MCG a few weeks later.
He toured England in 1977, and made his Test debut in the Second Test at Old Trafford.
Over the next decade he was a fixture in the Australian squad without ever holding down a regular place in the Test or One Day teams, playing 25 Tests and 11 One Day Internationals during his 12 year international career.
Arguably his finest moment in international cricket came in the famous tied Test in Madras against India in 1986, when he took 5/94 in India’s second innings.
Despite a relatively modest international career, Bright was a stalwart at Australian domestic level for Victoria, ending his first-class career with 471 wickets at an average of 32.08.
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