Wellington: Former New Zealand batsman Glenn Turner has advised Kiwi batsmen to play close to their body and not to be impulsive against a menacing fast bowling attack of the Proteas.
Turner believes the Black Cap batsmen may be technically ill prepared to counter the bounce and the 150 kilometer per hour pace of Morne Morkel, the speed and out swing of Dale Steyn and the relatively unfamiliar quantity of new swing sensation Vernon Philander in Wednesday’s first Test.
“You look to play close to yourself and if the ball isn`t close you just let it go by. There is a tendency against fast, short-pitched bowling to go at the ball in a protective manner rather than waiting to see what the line of it is.
By waiting that fraction of a second longer you don`t find yourself chasing it and you judge things better,” a website quoted Turner, as saying.
“If you play at Napier or Brisbane where you can guarantee the bounce you can let on length more than line. In most New Zealand conditions you`ve got to judge it on line more than bounce,” he said.
Turner hopes opener Martin Guptill who was dominant against the white ball this summer, has ironed out some of his technical flaws shown against the swing of James Pattinson in Australia and he also sees similar traits in debut opener Rob Nicol’s game.
“I was interested how Guptill would handle Steyn with his out swing because he`d had difficulties in Australia playing out swing. He was squaring up too much,” Turner said.
“With swing bowling you`ve got to wait and tell yourself not to play at the first line. He was playing French cricket a bit, being squared up a bit then defeated on the outside. It`s going to be interesting the work that he`s done. I`ve noticed that Rob Nicol does the same,” he added.
ANI
