An Interview with Ian Pont about fast bowling

An Interview with Ian Pont about fast bowling

by Abdul Habib
25th May 2009


I'd like to say a big thank you to Ian Pont for this interview and I'm not trying to flatter him when I say that it's one of the best interviews I've been a part of and I've done some very good ones. Ian just loves anything to do with fast bowling and in the end we ended up talking about it for ages.

Abdul Habib: In your opinion as a fast bowling coach, who's the fastest bowler you've ever seen?

Ian Pont: I think Dale Steyn will be the fastest because fast bowlers dont hit their peak till their late 20s. Steyn is only 23 or 24 at the moment and has already bowled around 95mph, but he will throttle this back to hit his lengths in most Test matches. He has the potential to keep pushing his speed up and I've no doubt he will get even faster as he matures. I worked closely with Steyn for six weeks when he was with Essex and he's not just about the speed. Anyone who gets late swing at high speed with his control will always be one of the best bowlers in the world. Then there's Shoaib Akhtar who has been a wonderful bowler for a very long time. I was fortunate enough to have a two hour bowling session with Shoaib when he was at Worcestershire around 4 years ago. During our chat I realised that he was incredibly knowledgeable about fast bowling, he probably knows more about fast bowling than most fast bowling coaches. Shoaib really understands what he's doing on a personal level with regards to fast bowling.


Abdul Habib: What do you make of all the controversies around him?

Ian Pont: I really like Shoaib, I've got a lot of time for him and I think he's a fantastic cricketer. Most of Shoaib's problems stem from him getting injured regularly. Fast bowling is all about rhythm and you build rhythm by playing month in and month out. Shoaib's problem is that Pakistan aren't playing a lot of cricket at the moment so it's hard for him to get motivated. In addition to that if you keep getting injured or you're repeatedly out of the game for whatever reasons then it means that you're not getting a lot of cricket. Without regular cricket it's very difficult to keep it going as a bowler. In my opinion Shoaib doesn't have to prove anything to anybody, he's up there with the all time greats.


Abdul Habib: What's the best way for a fast bowler to increase his pace?

Ian Pont: The best way to increase your pace is to delay your bowling arm for as long as possible because then you create an elastic effect like a slingshot. If you look at Mitchell Johnson you'll notice that his action has been slightly altered and as a result his speeds have gone up too. If you watch Shoaib when he's bowling then you'll notice that at one point his hand is level with his head, it's literally stretched out. Shoaib has a really good stretch reflex and long arm pull. The longer he delays his arm and the more he drives his hips ahead of his arm, the faster he gets. Like a catapult. So yes it is possible to improve speed, any bowlers speed can be increased but the question is are they willing to put in the work needed to do it?


Abdul Habib: Did you ever see Mohammad Zahid bowl? He's been rated as the fastest bowler ever by guys like Lara, Waqar, Hooper and even Shoaib Akhtar who said that Zahid was faster than him.

Ian Pont: No I've never seen him bowl but it wouldn't surprise me. Pakistan have this happy knack of producing great fast bowler after great fast bowler, not only that but there are many Pakistani fast bowlers who could've achieved greatness but for a variety of reasons they never did. I do a lot of one to one coaching around the UK and a couple of 16-17 year old Pakistani kids came to my MCI Academy in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire. One of them was really rapid, he was clocking around 80mph at just 16 or 17 years old and that was with a bad back! He'd spent a lot of time in Lahore and had been to some camps in Lahore with Intikhab but he's still not on anybody's radar...


Abdul Habib: ...what was his name?

Ian Pont: I don't remember, Hassan maybe? He was very lively and there are probably a thousand Pakistani kids like him scattered around. As a fast bowling coach that's a very exciting thought because it's great to see kids who are naturally gifted with that sort of pace.


Abdul Habib: You're definitely right about that, I did an interview with Aqib Javed and he mentioned several young quick bowlers who were in their late teens and bowling around 140 clicks. The problem is that they're not willing to put in the work it takes to make the transition from the tape ball to the hard ball.

Ian Pont: When you get to a certain level of cricket you have to find some way of dedicating yourself to getting as physically fit as humanly possible. I don't believe that you can bowl consistent express pace without being really fit, you may bowl the odd quick one but you wont be able to keep it up. Something like 9 times your body weight is supposed to go through a fast bowlers front leg, you need strong legs to cope with that. Too often I see fast bowlers who are big up top but have little sparrow legs, that's the wrong way round. Andre Nel is a great example of a well built fast bowler. He's got tree trunks for legs which means that he's well supported and that's why he rarely breaks down. If a young kid is thin, whippy and wiry that's fine to start with but he cant continue like that. It will get to him in the end if he's not stronger than that. Fast bowling is the hardest job on the planet, running in off a long runup in 35 degree heat on unhelpful wickets is back breaking work!


Abdul Habib: Do you think fast bowlers like the young Wasim, Waqar, Holding, Imran and Donald were faster than the ones we have today?

Ian Pont: It's difficult to say, if you're asking whether we can use old film footage to work out those bowlers speeds then I dont agree with that. Personally I don't think anyone is bowling quicker today than they were bowling back then nor do I think they were bowling quicker than express pacers are bowling today. Only Shoaib, Lee and Thomson have been clocked around 100mph. No-one else. I believe the speeds being bowled have remained much the same but that there are fewer express pacers around today than we had back in those days. These days we play so much cricket that serious injuries and stress fractures are far more prevalent than they used to be. We also monitor players fitness levels a lot better and as a result we cotton wool them too much.


Abdul Habib: Waqar Younis recently said that we're not producing fast bowlers anymore because there is overcoaching going on, would you agree with that?

Ian Pont: At the risk of incurring the wrath of every Pakistani cricket fan, I'll slightly disagree with Waqar and say there's no such think as overcoaching, just the WRONG coaching. For example if you want to learn about something and I can give you accurate and insightful information about it, then I cant give you enough information can I? But on the other hand if I give you one piece of wrong information then that can do untold damage. So I would say the problem isn't overcoaching but wrong coaching, youngsters aren't getting the correct advice about how to bowl fast.


Abdul Habib: What's different about your coaching?

Ian Pont: I coach speed into people, I dont coach speed out of them. The methods I use are known as ABSAT (Advanced Biomechanics Speed & Accuracy Training). Most coaches will tell young fast bowlers to slow down and to try and hit a good line and length first. It's only after that they let them try to bowl fast, I believe that's entirely the wrong way round. My attitude is to give a youngster the ball and say 'ok lets see how fast you can bowl' and I encourage them by saying things like 'speed up son, is that the best you've got.' It's only after they're bowling as fast as they can that I say ' you see those little wooden things at the other end called stumps? Try to aim at them occasionally.' Take the case of Atul, his entire bowling style has been coached into him but instead of losing speed he's gained up to 30mph. So it's not about overcoaching but the wrong coaching and if that's what Waqar meant then I agree with him.


Abdul Habib: The standard thinking is that fast bowlers are born not made but you disagree with that. Why?

Ian Pont: Atul is the perfect example, he came to me bowling at 70mph and I helped coach another 30mph into him by changes of technique and complex alterations to his body position. He wasn't born a fast bowler but he was made into one.


Abdul Habib: But didn't you say that Atul has fast twitch muscles? Wouldn't that mean that he was born a fast bowler?

Ian Pont: Not really. Some would say Atul was born a sprinter, yet he learned how to do that. If he hadn't come to me and had his action changed then he'd have been bowling at 70mph for the rest of his life. Fast bowlers are created with the right training, nutrition, information and coaching support. You cant just take an old lady off the street and make her bowl at 140 clicks but neither can you take a 7 foot guy off the street and get him bowling at 140 clicks without any intervention unless he's a one-off. It's not all about the build and the genetics, it's about nurture as well. I believe you can take someone who isn't overly athletic, give him the right information and turn him into a fast bowler. That doesn't mean everyone you try to turn into a fast bowler will succeed but it doesn't mean they will all fail either. A lot of it has to do with their own dedication and whether they're willing to put in the work required to become a fast bowler. Atul is 5'11 and looks like a power lifter so he doesn't fit into your standard fast bowler category, when people learn he's a fast bowler they refuse to believe it because of the way he looks yet he is. So the statement that fast bowlers are born not made isnt true for me. You can argue that in many circumstances some are made. The problem really goes back to the coaching. Because coaches don't understand HOW to coach pace, they think you are must born with pace. All I will say is this standardises everyone when it's obvious there are not standard builds for any fast bowler. Some are tall, some short, some stocky, some skinny, some with stamina, some with explosion. People who say you are born with pace just don't understand how it works.


Abdul Habib: What parts of the body are the most important for fast bowling?

Ian Pont: Speed comes from the middle of the body, the core and the hips. If you've got a weak core then you simply wont be able to bowl consistently fast over a period of time. You also need strong legs because you cant run without legs, strong legs and a good core are the foundations that a fast bowler is built on. If you're strong in those areas then you can run in and support yourself and your action, if you're not then you cant build a house on sand. The arms, the chest and the shoulders are important too because it all needs to work together and you will be repeating your action thousands of times in your career so you need to be strong in those areas as well. A good brain is important too because you need to be able to understand what you're trying to do.


Abdul Habib: What's the most important aspect of coaching a fast bowler?

Ian Pont: I believe that the bowler himself needs to know what he's doing, I tell kids that the best coach they can ever have is themselves. That's why I spend so long on player knowledge about fast bowling techniques. Every fast bowler is unique so you cant just coach them all from the same text book, you need to be case specific and work out their individual needs. A fast bowling coach needs to fully understand what the bowler is doing and should be able to look beyond the coaching manuals. The problem with most coaching manuals is that they dont teach the process, they teach outcomes. An outcome is what happens at the other end of the 22 yards whilst the process is what the bowler is doing at his own end to send the ball down to the other end. If you get the process right then the outcome will take care of itself. For example if a bowler has a good runup and action then there's a high chance that he'll be doing the right stuff at the other end too. The problem with most coaches is that they concentrate on where the ball is landing and harp on about line and length but they ignore the zig zag runups and ordinary bowling actions at the bowlers end. That's the wrong way round, the process should be strong before a bowling coach starts worrying about the outcome.


Abdul Habib: In your opinion who are the three best pace bowers of all time?

Ian Pont: What a cracking question. The first one I'll name is Dennis Lillee, I didn't see that much of him bowling but he was a childhood hero of mine. Then there's Imran Khan and probably Allan Donald. Actually I don't think I can limit it to 3. How can I leave out guys like Holding, Marshall and Waqar who would be up there with the first 3. One bowler I think doesn't get enough credit is Sarfaraz Nawaz, in my book I said that Sarfaraz is the father of reverse swing and he's the reason we're all talking about it today. Yet you wouldn't necessarily see Sarfaraz in a top 10 fast bowlers list but perhaps for a whole bunch of reasons he should be. Then there's Richard Hadlee and a whole load of others too, it's such a hard question to answer.


Abdul Habib: You're right, there's too many to name.

Ian Pont: Agreed but for me Lillee and Imran certainly. In 1973 or 1974 Imran was an innocuous little medium pacer but by 1977 or 1978 he'd become one of the fastest bowlers in the world. Imran went away and worked on himself, he made himself into a fast bowler. When he returned as a fast bowler I didn't even recognise him, he was ferocious. The change was unbelievable, I was thinking to myself who's this guy? He was a fantastic captain and batsman too. Imran was from the Botham/Hadlee era when we had proper all-rounders who could both bat and bowl properly.


Abdul Habib: If you could have a chance to work with any fast bowler in history, who would u choose?

Ian Pont: Out of the current lot I'd say Brett Lee. He has a strong, repeatable and robust action and I'd love to help him increase his speed slightly if it's at all possible to do that. There's a whole bunch of guys I'd love to work with, Michael Holding comes to mind but then there wasn't really anything he needed to work on.


Abdul Habib: Last time we spoke you said that you'd heard of the 6'10 Pakistani bowler Mohammad Irfan and that you'd like to work with him. Having seen him in photos since then what's your diagnosis?.

Ian Pont: He's really tall isn't he! I'd need to spend a bit of time with him to make some real recommendations but the obvious thing is that he needs a lot more strength. Actually I'm sure the guys in the academy must already be working with him on that. I'm a great believer in video analysis work, where you take the bowler through his action frame by frame and make small suggestions to him. Like telling him that if he moves his foot a bit more in a certain direction then he'd support his hip better and bowl faster as a result. And other things about how to access his long levers correctly and understanding the timing of the body movements to maximise his speed. But without spending some time with him it's impossible to say exactly what he needs.


Abdul Habib: What would be your ideal place to open a fast bowling academy.

Ian Pont: Interesting you asked me that because I am just starting an MCI School of Cricket for 11-18 year olds at Culford School in Suffolk (details at www.maverickscricket.com). It's for kids who want a top UK education as well as spending time learning advanced cricket skills. It starts in September and is open to all youngsters from all countries. We have an American 15 year old batter coming for example, who is excellent. Other than that, I currently run a fast bowling academy in Potchefstroom, South Africa which was a World Cup venue and that's where Atul has been training for the last 4 months. It's a fantastic location because of the altitude and there's lots of sun which always helps. I'd be happy to open an academy anywhere in the world, I just want to produce fast bowlers. That's my passion. Historically Pakistan, South Africa and Australia have a long history of regularly producing consistently fast bowlers. It's hard to say why that is. It could be down to good facilities, good coaching or just a desire to bowl really fast. Sometimes its down to national heroes. For example young Aussies watching Shane Warne would be inspired by him and you could have a generation of kids wanting to bowl legspin. Or someone like Shoaib Akhtar could inspire a generation of Pakistani kids who try to bowl as fast as they possibly can. Certainly in Pakistan ever since the days of Sarfaraz they seem to be churning out fast bowlers on a regular basis.


Abdul Habib: Before Sarfaraz there was also Fazal Mahmood and Khan Mohammad too.

Ian Pont: I remember watching Pakistan in the 1970's and they didn't even get a full tour in England, they used to have to share it with New Zealand because both teams were considered too weak by themselves. But looking back at the last 30 years and how strong Pakistan cricket has been in comparison to English cricket, it's amazing to see how far they've come. It's all about desire, quality coaching, passion and all that good stuff.


Abdul Habib: I'd say the fast bowling arsenal has helped too.

Ian Pont: There's nothing like the allure of pace, if you've got 3 or 4 fast bowlers who can bowl at or above 90mph then your team is going to win a lot of test matches. Like having 4 Rawalpindi Expresses if you like, the batsmen would have no respite. When the first two come off, the next two come on and when they go off the first two come back on. That's what the West Indies teams of yore were like, they had a token spinner who would turn his arm for a few overs but that was the only respite a batsman got. The rest of the time batsmen were fending off big, mean fast bowlers who wanted to knock their heads off. Throughout the 80s the Windies had 5 or 6 guys like that and they dominated world cricket, I'm not saying they would dominate world cricket now because it's hard to know for sure but they would be the team to beat.


Abdul Habib: I've always thought that the 80s Windies team would destroy the 99-05 Australian team because that Aussie team has never faced a sustained pace assault like the Windies used to dish out in every game. The Aussies have often come undone against the pace of guys like Akhtar, Bond and now Steyn but the lack of anyone to back those speedsters up is what saves the game for the Aussies. But facing the Windies of the 80s would be like facing peak versions of Akhtar, Bond, Steyn and another fast bowler to back those three up all in the same game. I doubt they'd recover from that.


Ian Pont: They've struggled because most batsmen dont like the ball coming at them at a rapid and ferocious pace. It all comes back to the question you asked me earlier about fast bowling back in the 80s and fast bowling now. There arent as many express pacers around today and so teams have trouble playing them when they are confronted by one. These days you dont see bowlers rushing in full of aggression and trying to hit the batsman on the head, I'm not saying test cricket has become easy but I'd say that the intensity is different to what it used to be. Also it doesn't help that the pitches aren't as quick as they used to be either.


Abdul Habib: You said earlier on that apart from you no other bowling coaches teach fast bowling but what about the MRF Pace Academy in India?

Ian Pont: Let me be more specific, I'm talking about coaching speed into bowlers...


Abdul Habib: ...but isnt that what the MRF Pace Academy was set up to do?

Ian Pont: I've been there twice but you'll have to ask them for the answer to that. What I'm talking about is that I dont see coaches approaching bowlers and saying 'you're bowling 80mph right now but give me 3 months and I'll add 10mph to your speed.' You just dont hear that from other coaches but I say it all the time, the only problem is that people dont believe me because I'm the only coaching saying it. I dont think the MRF is about increasing pace, I think it's more about working with people on nutritional advice, getting them healthy, getting them fit and assisting them with their all round cricket ability. Cricketers have their own views about whether the MRF works or not, all I'll say is that you don't hear other coaches talking about speed all the time like I do.


Abdul Habib: The MRF has been around for over 20 years but I cant name a single fast bowler that they've produced.

Ian Pont: Part of the problem is that if you go to some of these places for the weekend or if your grandmother once passed the building you then become a product of that academy. Sometimes we get hooked into a building or an academy as the place to go to when in fact we should be concentrating on the coaching content and not whether the name on the door has the word 'pace' in it. You dont hear their coaches talking about speed all the time, so there's more to being a pace academy than just being named one.


Abdul Habib: You said that you've been there twice, how did you find Lillee's methods?

Ian Pont: ...you're probing me now arent you!


Abdul Habib: (laughs) So how did you find his methods?

Ian Pont: As a fast bowler Lillee will always be an absolute legend and as a bowling coach I'd say that he's held in high esteem by those who go to MRF. But I think there are things can be done better and many things that can be improved upon with more modern coaching methods. That doesn't mean that all their information is incorrect just that coaching has moved on from a lot of the techniques that are still in use over there. That's why my book (The fast bowling bible) is so different to most coaching manuals, because I've implemented the most modern coaching methods available and uses my ABSAT methodology. Methods that 99.9% of bowling coaches out there don't even know about let alone teach.


Abdul Habib: So the MRF aren't embracing new methods and techniques? A bit stuck in their ways?

Ian Pont: Not exactly. I just think that if you've been doing the same thing for 17 years then maybe it's time to see if those methods are still the best ones available. I dont think they focus on speed, they focus on fast bowling and although the two things sound the same, they arent. For example if I tell you that i want to turn you into a fast bowler then you might think I said I want to make you bowl as fast as you can but that wasn't what I said, do you see what I mean?


Abdul Habib: What are your views about Pakistani bowling coaches, are they open to new ideas?

Ian Pont: Success is measured by results. Pakistan has been so successful at producing fast bowlers that I believe they've developed a coaching culture where they think they dont need to be doing anything different. When you do something really well then there's an air of confidence about you which can often blind you to better ways of doing things. My contention is that if they tried some newer techniques then instead of producing a Shoaib Akhtar every 5 years maybe they could be producing 5 Shoaib Akhtars every year with the same level of funding. There's always a better way of doing things and coaching should be an evolving discipline, not one that's stuck in a comfort zone and doesn't want to try anything different.


Abdul Habib: From my perspective as a Pakistani fan, I don't think Pakistani coaches have ever produced a fast bowler from scratch. Our fastest bowlers like Waqar, Wasim, Akhtar, Zahid, Mo Akram and others came to the attention of the PCB when they were already express pace. It wasn't as the result of any coaching process, it was just natural.

Ian Pont: From my experience of the English coaching system, I think a lot of players turn out to be really good in spite of the coaching they get instead of because of it. Part of the charm of subcontinental cricket is that you get world class cricketers just turn up at the cricket boards door without having gone through any organised coaching system at all. But because of that boards like the PCB could argue that they dont need any coaching system because these guys will turn up anyway. The way I see it is that if the PCB had speed specialists working inside Pakistan or attending fast bowling camps then they could have many more fast bowlers. More importantly they could get the best out of the raw fast bowlers who turn up by themselves by maximising their speed potential.


Abdul Habib: Thank you for the indepth interview Ian and best of luck for the future.

Ian Pont: Thanks for the wishes. It's exciting to see new players emerging from outside the current coaching systems. But we should never be surprised. Players will sometimes develop however much they are given poor advice or little help, because they are just destined to be good prospects. What interests me is creating new stars from nowhere and no background. This is the value of a real coach. And right now there are thousands of players waiting to be discovered. All I hope is the cricket authorities look at what's possible, embrace new ideas and concepts and help produce these lads. I have a feeling though that it's not likely to happen soon.

You're talking about the legendary Atul Sharma. I think he was a bit of a con artist and took Ian for a ride as well as everyone else. I think everyone got over excited about his hand release speed and nobody stopped to wonder how that translated into actual ball speed and then into match speed.

In fact I was the first person to bring that question up in my interview with Ian about Atul and Ian admitted he didn't know if a hand release speed of over 100mph would equate to a ball speed in the same range. Plus Atul refused to bowl in any cricket matches, not even to practise and he hadnt played in a cricket game for something like 7 years.

Despite all that he got a contract with the Rajasthan Royals on the back of the hype he had created for himself and then he ran off with the Royals money and he still owes Ian money to this day. Not even India's media machine has been able to track him down so maybe he was an alien. If he really could bowl at over 100mph then he would have to be from an alternative reality India where Pakistan took the name India and India is called something else.

Click below for my interview with Pont about Atul...

http://www.cricistan.com/forums/thr...nt-about-mystery-indian-pacer-atul-sharma.58/