"It's pretty exciting for us to be able to get down to the grassroots level between the age of eight and 18" ... Craig McDermott. Photo: Getty Images
CRAIG MCDERMOTT, the architect of Australia's production line of world-class pacemen, has cut formal ties with Cricket Australia and opened his own travelling fast-bowling school aimed at the next generation of quicks.
The former Australia spearhead was credited with masterminding Australia's overwhelming dominance of India's much-vaunted batsmen last summer, and with guiding the likes of Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Patrick Cummins and Mitchell Starc to international prominence.
After stepping down as the Australian team's full-time bowling coach in May, he continued in a consultancy role at Cricket Australia's Centre of Excellence, culminating in a coaching position with the Australian under-19s team at the World Cup in August before linking up with Ireland at the World Twenty20.
He is now branching out, launching a clinic roadshow called PACE Bowling Australia, a development that serves to benefit those younger bowlers who come under his tuition, but as a result of his departure from the Cricket Australia structure, could deprive Australia's next tier of elite quicks of his invaluable input. His company's clients are unlikely to be limited to young Australian bowlers either, with interest already lodged from India for him to conduct clinics at academies there.
"It's pretty exciting for us to be able to get down to the grassroots level between the ages of eight and 18," McDermott said. "I feel that there is a real gap there in our coaching and in our talent ID and in our coach education in that area, so that's what our company is going to be aiming towards.
"We're trying to run about 60 or 70 clinics Australia-wide every year, and we'll try to expand that from pace into spin and possibly batting down the track."
"It's about trying to prepare our players earlier, to try and educate them from a strength and conditioning and mental point of view. It's something that I've wanted to do for a while. It's a good opportunity for a lot of young bowlers around the country that we can be involved with."
McDermott's privately run clinics will feature video technology examining the physical strengths and weaknesses of teenage bowlers and their actions, and aimed at trying to avoid injuries as they progress.
Cummins, ruled out for a second successive home summer with stress fractures of the back, is also tipped to be a subject of this analysis when he recovers. McDermott is interested to know the results on the injury troubled 19-year-old.
"My knowledge of Pat, his counter-rotation and lateral-flexion numbers, certainly over a two-year period while I was involved with him, his actual numbers came down. They weren't in a dangerous zone to start with, and they certainly came down from that and his speed went up," he said. "It will be interesting to see what gets uncovered in six or seven months' time, when he can actually bowl again."
McDermott was in the training nets at the Gabba on Wednesday, closely watching Pattinson, Siddle, Starc and Ben Hilfenhaus as they put the finishing touches on their preparation for the first Test against South Africa. which starts on Friday.
He maintains a close relationship with those bowlers, keeping in touch with them regularly, and believes they have what it takes to outshine the Proteas' highly rated trio of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel in the three-Test series.
"I think the Australian bowling attack is equally good, if not better," he said. "They've probably got a bit of experience on their side but this attack has shown last year with Hilfenhaus, Siddle and Pattinson ... we knocked India over eight times out of eight. I'm sure they're up for the fight.
"Their preparation has been good, and I think they can knock the South Africans over."
Pattinson, in particular, approaches the series threatening to match the express and aggressive style of the top-rated Steyn, and McDermott believes the Victorian can make as serious an impact as he did last summer.
"Patto is a confident young guy and is certainly bowling well at the moment. It's nice to see that spring in his step," he said. "Hopefully that spring lasts for a long time."
McDermott's clinics will begin in Sydney from November 11 to 14.
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