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Gillespie lives up to the hype, almost

Mark Gillespie has grabbed his chance with both hands. Surely, the selectors would have noticed it. Come Monday, we shall know.

Sriram Veera
13-Oct-2006


Scott Styris on Mark Gillespie: 'It's exciting for us that we have another fast bowler coming through in New Zealand cricket who isn't in the 120-130 kmph category' © Getty Images
"The key is knowing at the top of your mark what you're doing. Keep it simple, follow through with it and trust yourself" - Mark Gillespie on bowling at the death.
I had never seen him bowl before, and pre-match office talk had revolved around two interesting facets of Gillespie. One, his run-up was supposedly a mix of Bob Willis and Dennis Lillee and the other was his ability to bowl at the death. I saw neither Lillee nor Willis in him but the other claim was spot on.
He bounded in with short aggressive steps, a white handkerchief protruding from behind, before hurling himself fluently into a nice cocked-up wrist position and more often that not, hit the right areas. In his first spell he threaded the good-length and moved it off the seam to tease the outside edge. He would go close to the stump to either move the ball away or straighten it and suddenly would move wide of the crease to dart it in. And it's not that he had to create an angle to get the ball in, but whenever he did that it nipped back in sharply. He got his first wicket in the 19th over with one that straightened from the length to dismiss a well-set Connar Williams, a former India batsman. He even slipped in a slower one, that almost got him a wicket, but the image of the death specialist was still yet to fully form in the mind's eye.
That crystallised when he came back at the slog. Admittedly, Baroda were already waging a lost cause when he reappeared but then none of his colleagues could finish the innings off. Not even Shane Bond. Gillespie hit a different length now. Much fuller and regularly pinging the blockhole, he delivered from slightly wide of the crease, and bent the ball in repeatedly. The yorkers appeared, one of them crashing into the base of the middle stump, so did the surprise bouncer that took out Yusuf Pathan. There was no need for the slower ball now, for Baroda were almost down and out and even the attempt to hit had evaporated.
"I've been hurt before at the death. It's a hit and miss time of the game but it's a part of the game I love
As evident by that quote, it's a mature head that is sitting on young shoulders. Vaughn Johnson, who has been working with him over the past eight seasons, is the man who will know more. "He's starting to become quite an intelligent bowler," he told reporters last week. "In a cricket sense, he's got quite a good brain. He's a bit loose at times but he's a good kid. He's had a fair few bollockings over the years and hopefully that's done him some good." But he hinted at a troubled character. "He can be a bit different. He's one reason I've got no hair." And now, it's up to John Bracewell and Stephen Fleming to handle their new option with care.
Scott Styris clearly looked chuffed that New Zealand have found a fast bowling prospect. "He is bit quicker than you think, he bowls a lots of bouncers as well and he is very good at the death," Styris said at the end of the match. "He will be handful on wickets which have more pace than this. He has it in him to play very well in the international cricket. He is very aggressive and likes to go after the batsmen and doesn't like to take a backward step which is very important in international cricket. He has taken his chances, in the A tour to Australia three months back where he knocked out some very useful batsmen and again here he has grabbed his opportunity. It's exciting for us that we have another fast bowler coming through in New Zealand cricket who isn't in the 120-130 kmph category."
Gillespie has grabbed his chance with both hands. Surely, the selectors would have noticed it. Come Monday, we shall know.

Sriram Veera is editorial assistant of Cricinfo