Prior Is Right, We Must Give Players Freedom

Asked recently whether fast bowling is a gift one is born with or something that a person can learn, Michael Holding was emphatic. “I don’t think that that is something that can be taught,” responded the former West Indian spearhead, interviewed on the BBC’s Stumped programme. “You’ve got to have the ability to bowl fast. Then people can work on that and get you to bowl a little bit faster over an extended period of time. You can’t manufacture a fast bowler.”

- Isabelle Westbury

Correct training and development can contribute, but without having the right attributes at birth, the rest is futile. Holding offers 6ft 7in, powerfully-built professional basketball players as an example. Teach them well and they may be able to bowl, and bowl fast, but the base skill is one that you either have, or have not. If it was all about brute strength and muscular physique, England might do well to call on Chris Tremlett who, according to his social media, now spends his time pumping iron, which has garnered him biceps the breadth of Steven Finn’s chest alone.

This question of nature versus nurture was raised again recently by Matt Prior on the BBC when he accused “too many” professionals of “floating around in county cricket, having a nice life with actually very little ambition to push on.” During his career Prior was notorious for his single-mindedness and hard graft, and no doubt these attributes were important. Still, it’s hard to imagine that the only thing stopping some county pros from swatting Mitchell Starc for sixes is their lack of willpower. Not only did Prior possess great reserves of self-discipline and determination, but his raw skill exceeded most of the competition. Of all the factors needed to succeed, innate sporting ability seems a pretty large one.

This brings us to the problem of England’s chronic lack of fast bowling stock. By Holding’s reasoning, England should be able to produce, at birth, the same number of people capable of sending down rockets of 90 mph as Australia. Arguably more, given their relative populations.