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I don't see batsmen as people: McGrath

R Mohan

"I bowl bouncers to hit people. If it hurts them, that's okay, it's not my problem." Those words, aggressive, callous, even pompous as it may sound, has been attributed to Glenn McGrath, the Australian fast bowler who destroyed India.

"A cricket ball is hard and it wasn't designed to hit people, but that's not my worry. Once the ball leaves my hand it's out of my control and if the batsman doesn't like the consequences then he shouldn't be there. It's the way I bowl and I know it's not nice," is what McGrath is reported to have told a writer of the News of the World.

The views attributed to McGrath reflect those expressed by Australian fast bowlers like Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson, who went on record to say they like to see a bloodied batsman's face.

"The fact is that nice guys don't win. Out there on the square it's a war zone, it's them or you," McGrath reportedly told the tabloid. "Being a fast bowler is a very aggressive form of cricket".

McGrath may have derived inspiration from such aggressive thoughts when he dismissed two of the world's best batsmen in two matches and then some more. "I probably enjoy getting Sachin out more than Brian Lara these days. He's a class player," says McGrath.

He is the bowler who put the hex on Lara, getting him out on many occasions exploiting a weakness in his square drive. He bowled Lara at the Old Trafford to set up an easy victory for Australia over the West Indies and then ran amok among the Indians at the Oval last Friday. The Australians haven not won a match at the Oval for 29 years.

McGrath was clocked at five mph less than Srinath on the opening day of the world cup. But it is not in pace that McGrath's effectiveness lies. His trajectory was designed to test the Indians most and he succeeded in stressing once again the point that Indian batsmen are great when the ball comes around knee high but not when it kicks up.

Asked what he felt about batsmen, he said, "I don't feel anything for the batsmen. I don't see them as people; they're just a wicket, three stumps in the ground that I want to rip out."

UNI