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Michael
Kasprowicz: The Comeback Man of Aussie Cricket |
- Karthik Narayan
 Michael
Kasprowicz is a voyageur literally, being on the
Aussie bench strength for all these years. Not
being played much at all speaks for his
miserable attendance in the team…29 ODIs in 7
years and a similar number in the tests, one
would find the guy on the field carrying drinks
more than carrying the cherry in his hand and
delivering the ball time and again. In the few
games he has played, he has shown tremendous
commitment in the field, whenever he bowls or
fields, he just gives 100% out there.
On of the most relieved
person in the Aussie camp that Sachin is not
playing in this series, apart from Warne would
be Kasprowicz for in the 1998 series in India
and soon after at Sharjah, Sachin stormed the
daylights out of this bowler. That just
shattered the confidence of this young man, and
soon after he became very jittery. He would
never forget that series in his life. That was
torrid in the heat; his workhorse work could not
do much damage. It was so ill fated; the Aussie
team was left hanging their tongues in the hot
conditions.
Frustration bore its evil
fruits on his face, and he could not resist
jumping the wall to escape. He had no escape in
that series. Later in his career after a
promising start, he fell victim of the injuries,
that did not help as well and his place in the
team had gone for good, not until he regained
his rightful place in this wonderful team of
All-Winners.
Just as you see this chap
stroll over a wicket, without the regular
flourish, the beating the air with the pumping
of the fist, or any of the great celebrations
for a wicket, you wonder if this guy preaches
Yoga on the field. He looks so calm, does not
get flattered by big names, and just goes on
with the game. He knows his place in the Aussie
team is not permanent, there are so many people
waiting in the wings. The young would love to
relish on the opportunity and cash in on the
same. Maybe the odd smile, the handshake and
that’s all… no going over the moon for a wicket
in International Cricket, a feature so common
for Australian cricket, he belongs to the Serene
Club of Cricket.
The number of wickets
obtained by this bowler may not be many, but he
has the quality bowling. It’s average by
Australian standards, definitely not in the
mould of McGrath or Warne. He was always going
to be overshadowed by these fierce all time
greats in the Team. He has had lots of
competition for his place in the team.
Gillespie, Adam Dale, Damien Fleming, Andrew
Bichel were some
of them and so he was always the
lesser-preferred player.
For
a tail-ender, he has over 4000 runs in 211 first
class games with a highest score of 92. His test
career with the bat has not been so bad; he has
a highest score of 25. So he is much better to
just hold out one end and keep the gates of hope
open for Australia. The major highlight of his
career was the Ashes Test of 1997, the 6th Test
of that series at the Oval. He shot the English
out for 163 with 7 wickets in the second
innings. His wickets included the English
captain Mike Atherton, the mercurial Alec
Stewart and Graham Thorpe. Australia lost that
test with Tufnell bamboozling the Aussies. Sadly
that bowler had to go away without showcasing
his talent much at this level.
This Queensland born player
has played very little; the gap between matches
would run in years. He played one test in
Kolkata (that very own part of History test!) in
2001 and his next test came against Sri Lanka at
Kandy in 2003-04. Like wise his ODI gap was too
much to take stock of. After the match at MCG in
1999 against Sri Lanka, the next match was in
the TVS series against India at Guwahati in
2003-04. Even in the Test scenario, he has 23
tests and 71 wickets with 3 five-wicket hauls.
In 29 ODIs till date, he has taken 49 wickets. And
the unique thing about his 29 matches is, it has
been stretched over 7 long years. And except 4
matches in which he has gone wicket less, he has
been taking al least one wicket in every ODI he
plays in.
Kasprowicz bowls within his limitations.
Accuracy has always been his forte. He is not a
tear away fast bowler like Brett Lee, Shoaib
Akhtar, Shane Bond.. but he bowls genuine pace
at around 130 KMPH. Kasprowicz has a smooth
bowling action and he has a great deal of
variation in his repertoire. He is up to the
task most of times in spite of the track being a
placid one or a seamer friendly one.
He has a better record in
the sub-continent where he had to face the wrath
of the strong Indian, Pakistanis at their home
and helm. Bowling as the lead bowler in placid
tracks, ball after ball, getting hit all over
the park, fewer wickets than one would imagine
at the end of the day. Records would not tell
the whole story, he had to spearhead the attack
and not reap the much-deserved rewards.That may
be the reason that he has been preferred over
Brett Lee for the tests in the ongoing series in
India (Oct 2004).
He has showed the fairness
and spirit that has been part of this Aussie
team right now of walking when he knows he is
out. In the ongoing Chennai Test, even as this
article is being written, he has depicted that
extremely good spirits by walking much to the
chagrin of David Shepherd the Umpire.
Cricketfundas.com
wishes this good hardworking fast bowler all the
very best for the rest of his career which looks
good enough to last for more matches rather than
years. His best is yet to come, and as the day
progresses one can only see this bowler bloom
and blossom into a seasoned campaigner for
Australia, shedding the bench warming exercises
all these years for the better!
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