Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.
BRAD Hogg may be the first spinner in cricket history to admit he bowls "fruit.''
Literally.
Apples, oranges, melons and any other round fruit he can get his hands on.
The quirky private practice method was passed on from legendary Pakistani legspinner Abdul Qadir.
"I once had a session with Abdul Qadir in Sri Lanka and we were sitting in his hotel room,'' Hogg told The Courier-Mail.
"He said that to go through all your spin variations you don't need to go to the nets. You just get your play lunch and get an orange or an apple and go through the range of deliveries that a legspinner can bowl.
Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.
"That's how I get my wrist to work. I throw some fruit around in my hotel room and practice my leggies, toppies, flippers and wrong-uns.''
And Hogg adds with a cheeky smile: "Then when I get out in the middle, I continue to bowl fruit."
Watch Australia's first match of the ICC World Twenty20 against Pakistan, LIVE from 8pm (AEDT) Sunday on Fox Sports.
Hogg's frank and fruity admissions about how he practices his left-arm spin are yet another colourful chapter of his cricket journey.
He is one of the few current-day professional sportsmen who have had a 'real' job, starting his working life as a postie being chased around the streets of Perth by angry dogs.
"I used to store the mail in a carrier bag on the back of my motorbike and there was one particular dog who used to chase me everywhere," Hogg recalls with a smile.
Hogg has relished the chance to be coached by his contemporary, Shane Warne. Source: Getty Images
"I couldn't get rid of him. So then I just used to let him hang on and he dragged along on the back of my bike.
"I'm happy to say that no dog ever bit me."
At age 43, long after most cricketers have given the game away, Hogg looms as a key man for Australia's Twenty20 World Cup campaign in Bangladesh which opens with a clash against Pakistan on Sunday.
What is sometimes lost in Hogg's story is just how skilful he is as a left-arm chinaman spinner.
In the history of Test cricket, only six frontline "Chinamen" — Chuck Fleetwood-Smith, David Sincock, Johnny Martin, Lindsay Kline, George Tribe and Hogg — have played for Australia, and none has lasted more than 13 Tests.
That says everything about the trade's high degree of difficulty.
Yet Hogg is still adding to his resume of international appearances and is set to become the oldest man to play a T20 international.
Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.
And he has done it his own way, with his trademark tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth.
He says he has no control over his tongue when he bowls, although has at times consciously tried to keep it in his mouth. With no success.
"I'm unaware of my tongue sticking out, I really am," Hogg smiles.
"There have been times when I try to keep my tongue in my mouth while I am bowling in the nets, but then I just can't land it a single delivery."
Like the postman he once was, Hogg hopes he will keep delivering. He feels he could play on for several more years but insists he will know when it is time to pull down the shutters on his long career.
"I'd like to play on for as long as I can, but once I start not being able to deliver for the team that is when I will have to give up," he says.
"If I am still delivering, I will keep playing. If I start to become a passenger I will quit."
* Return tomorrow to find out how Brad Hogg developed one of the most devilish deliveries in world cricket, his deadly wrong-un
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Hogg reveals his fruity secret
Dengan url
http://sportifoclube.blogspot.com/2014/03/hogg-reveals-his-fruity-secret.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Hogg reveals his fruity secret
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Hogg reveals his fruity secret
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar