Cricket: Bowling school highly valued

Dennis Lillee. Photo / Getty Images

The MRF Pace Foundation is commonly known to the outside world as Dennis Lillee's bowling school in Chennai.

It occupies a humble corner of the Madras Christian College (MCC) grounds yet, since late 1987, it has helped groom generations of pace bowlers to represent India and others in international cricket.

Graduates include the Indian World Cup squad quartet - Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth - as well as a young Sachin Tendulkar before he decided to shorten his run-up and concentrate on batting. Pacemen Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad (who became Indian bowling coach) were early alumni.

Among the international contingent, Brett Lee, Chaminda Vaas and Heath Streak spent time there while in the New Zealand team, Tim Southee, Hamish Bennett and James Franklin were also observed by Lillee in Chennai.

As one of test cricket's great bowlers, Lillee helped set up the school with Ravi Mammen, who died aged 39 the following year. Mammen's father created the Madras Rubber Factory (MRF), which helped fund the bowling school and is part of its branding.

Southee and Bennett visited in 2007, not long out of secondary school: "We spent a fortnight there and it was good to have his [Lillee's] input," Southee says.

"[Former New Zealand Academy boss] Dayle Hadlee came with us. We were only young, so Dennis didn't tinker too much. I was a bit shy talking to him then - I'd probably ask more questions now."

The humble surrounds and spartan accommodation embody the school's ethos that excellence in fast bowling is generated from thorough preparation, hunger and toil. The school is based on a site no bigger than a large playground or about a quarter of the size of a large test match ground like Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

There are five solid turf nets - four of which are grass and one concrete with video analysis equipment set up - as well as a swimming pool and a gymnasium to complement the lodgings.

Now 61, Lillee visits the school around three times a year for a fortnight at a time, generally in February, June and September. His reputation as a classical fast bowler can cloud the fact he is also an astute coach fascinated by the minutiae of the art of swinging and seaming five-and-a-half ounces of leather.

Former New Zealand pace bowler Danny Morrison has helped out twice at the school, the first time in 1999 and the second last month before the World Cup.

"He finds coaching so simple," Morrison says. "He sees things early and explains it simply to his charges. He asks if they are loading up their weight right; are their shoulders aligned with their hips; is their run-up rhythmic; are their feet and hand positions right. The camera doesn't lie as back-up, but the information is generally at Dennis' fingertips just from watching them bowl live."

Morrison, who took 160 wickets at 34.68 for New Zealand, says Lillee ignited his spark for the game watching him as an 11-year-old in 1977.

"I then had the privilege of spending time with him at the nets in Perth on my first tour to Australia in 1987.

"New Zealand Cricket also brought him across on a five-year deal in the late 1980s to help the likes of myself, Willie Watson, Chris Cairns and Simon Doull. Students of the game worshipped him and he relayed the information so easily.

"That factor worried me from my time spent there recently. Students of the game are dwindling in the younger crowd. I don't know if it was coincidence - but I think the Indian Premier League means those attending the school did not seem to have quite the same depth of cricketing knowledge as in the past.

"They knew fewer icons of the game. I think that is the danger of Indian society becoming more of a celebrity culture. The rise of Bollywood means people want things here, now or yesterday. Hopefully the bowling school can continue to sustain itself."