Lawson: Rubel not impressive, says he's only half fit & Fast Bowling Prospects very promising no different than Australian Teens

[cricman]

Staff Correspondent

If GP-BCB Academy’s short-term coach Geoff Lawson is to be believed then Bangladesh will tour Zimbabwe with most of their fast bowlers half fit at best.

Fast bowler Shafiul Islam already complained of a stiff shoulder and a sore back while Robiul Islam received four stitches in his forehead following a clash of heads in the dressing room at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Lawson has now cast a shadow on the fitness of Rubel Hossain, who along with Shafiul and Robiul, is set to form Bangladesh’s pace attack in the one off Test series against Zimbabwe.

‘He doesn’t look particularly fit to me,’ Lawson told reporters on Friday. ‘I have seen him in the academy ground and it seems he needs more fitness work.’

Lawson, who will leave today after completing his one month stint with the Academy, has also gone through videos of Rubel, known to be the fastest bowler in the country but is not impressed with his bowling action.

‘I have seen him in patches. I saw the videos and just observed, though I haven’t been asked to deal with the national team,’ said Lawson.

‘I think he needs to do a bit of work with his bowling action too,’ said Lawson, the former head coach of the Pakistan national team.

http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/sports/27193.html

[cricman]

Geoff Lawson's period as the specialist fast bowling coach for the GP-BCB National Cricket Academy ended yesterday with mostly encouraging words except for a warning that could greatly help the Tigers in the immediate future.

The former Australian cricketer, who arrived on July 4, mainly worked with the pace bowlers in the 24-man Academy side. He also had sessions with discarded Test bowlers and observed national team and Under-19 fast bowlers as well.

One of them, Rubel Hossain, looked slightly unfit to the one-time new-ball spearhead of the Australian team.

"He [Rubel Hossain] needs a bit more fitness work. I haven't worked with him and just observed when he bowled in the Academy," said Lawson, who also opined that the Tigers' new-ball bowler needs to do work on his action.

"I think he can do a bit of work in that as well. I watched him bowl for 30 minutes.

"That [slingshot action] is a good thing to have. He does it a little bit but looks like he needs a little more work," he added.

Lawson though was all-praise for the Academy pacemen who were picked for the programme after impressing in both domestic and age-level cricket.

"I think they are no different from young Australian fast bowlers. That surprised me for some reason. There are 4-5 guys here who've improved rapidly.

"They're basically young bowlers, just starting out. I've been highly impressed and technically they're very good," he said.

Having instilled in them the art of swinging the ball both ways, Lawson observed that most have side-on actions with the gangly Mohammad Al-Amin and Alauddin Babu impressing him the most.

"We have two left-handers who swing it, one is quicker (Kazi Kamrul Islam) than the other (Mohammad Rahee).

"Al Amin is tall, comes over the top. He's actually moving the ball both ways. [Alauddin] Babu is quite a matured cricketer in many ways. Mukhtar Ali has improved a lot but has a few things to right. [Kamrul Islam] Rabbi bowls quite fast when he gets it right," explained Lawson, who will remain associated with the Academy as he will discuss reports with head coach Ross Turner after the South Africa tour next month.

But like many big names who have come into this part of the world, Lawson too believed that unless pitches are improved, fast bowlers won't be encouraged.

"The thing that impedes the growth of fast bowling are pitches which are not good for fast bowling. The Academy pitches can do that, the bowlers see the edges carry.

"But whenever I asked them what kind of pitches they play on, they say 'low bounce'. That makes it very hard to encourage guys to bowl fast," said Lawson.

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesig...php?nid=195329

[Shaun petr]

where's ian pont??? Pont where r u?

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[Nadim]

BS full stop!

[Murad]

Rubel some days looks world class. Other times looks third-class. He is good when the pitch help the pacers. He struggles a lot when the pitch is a bit flat.

He definitely needs to work on his actions.

[Nadim]

Originally Posted by Murad
Rubel some days looks world class. Other times looks third-class. He is good when the pitch help the pacers. He struggles a lot when the pitch is a bit flat.

He definitely needs to work on his actions.

It's not ONLY Rubel!!! even WC bowler like Anderson struggle in those kind of flat pitches...

for Rubel, i think its mental issue...he seems lose his confidence when he gets hit and seems very nervous in his first over thus he always starts his spell with an expensive over.

[Catskills]

Apart from Rubel is probably the fastest bowler in BD, I haven't seen anything outstanding in his bowling. I have said it many times before....

[AsifTheManRahman]

So Ian? What do you have to say?

[Murad]

Originally Posted by Catskills
Apart from Rubel is probably the fastest bowler in BD, I haven't seen anything outstanding in his bowling. I have said it many times before....

yeah. He lacks variations. He has a good slower ball. Can swings sometimes. He can also bowl good yorkers(occationally). Bowls too short or too wide. He needs to add more variations if he wants to become a good test bowler. Wish Ian worked with him for a few more months after the world cup.

[MarufH]

Originally Posted by nadim 98
bs full stop!

guys guys... First post is very misleading. Read the second post where he is clearly talking about academy bowlers and not rubel as being same as young ausie bowlers.


New Age sux...

[Beamer]

Tell me if I am wrong. Isn't there a big difference between being 'unfit' and not being 'impressive'? Besides, going through the link, I couldn't find anywhere where Lawson stated that Rubel is not an impressive bowler. He says he needs work and he is also not fit. Misleading topic header if you ask me.

[Banglaguy]

Rubel, apart from one good performance against NZ, isn't the most consistent bowler. Although, he did once bowl at 93 mph... It was hit by four off gayle. He may be unfit, but he is not a bad bowler in any sense.

[Beamer]

He is still raw. Has direction issues, but has pace, and only he can among all BD bowlers make batsmen jump on the back foot. He is also better than anybody with the old ball. There are hints of reverse, and only a fast guy can get it and use it effectively. I find him very promising, though without a question he needs a lot work. Who doesn't in BD?

[Banglaguy]

Originally Posted by Beamer
He is still raw. Has direction issues, but has pace, and only he can among all BD bowlers make batsmen jump on the back foot. He is also better than anybody with the old ball. There are hints of reverse, and only a fast guy can get it and use it effectively. I find him very promising, though without a question he needs a lot work. Who doesn't in BD?

Who doesn't need work? Ash. . .

[jisaan]

all we need is good follow-up.
in the past, we had lots of guys who promised a lot but faded away almost as quickly
hopefully this time it will be different

good point is it may not be a one-off affair with Mr. lawson... the performance in s.africa wud be communicated to him.

i wud take posiitves from the report.

when lawson marks somebody QUITE FAST, that is very important. he is no nonsense. Kamrul Islam Rabbi even impressed Ian Pont, we were told
Babu got KP out twice, bats well, has represented u-19 team with certain success.. he is under my radar for long. hope he has matured enough to put up a good show in s.africa

what disappointed me is his 'NO COMMENT' about our former nat'l team pacers. is that curtains for the likes of tapash, tareq aziz, and my once fav. talha jubair? have they failed to put up anything display of talent? confused!!

[Rinathq]

I think BCB should send some players to Ian in England when we dont have any cricket. Even a month camp can benefit our players. Players like Shafi, Shahadat, Nazmul, Rubel, Robiul, Dolar, Babu, Rabbi and Al Amin would greatly benefit from working with Ian just on Bowling and fitness.

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[AhmedN]

well, what else we can do now... we do not have a better one than Rubel!!

[AhmedN]

Originally Posted by rinathq
I think BCB should send some players to Ian in England when we dont have any cricket. Even a month camp can benefit our players. Players like Shafi, Shahadat, Nazmul, Rubel, Robiul, Dolar, Babu, Rabbi and Al Amin would greatly benefit from working with Ian just on Bowling and fitness.

Posted via BC Mobile Edition (iPhone)

Good idea..hope BCB will read it.

[al Furqaan]

unimpressive as in not like waqar younis, yes. but lack of potential? no.

as has been said before, his control is a lot better now than it used to be. he's consistent in getting reverse swing, and he alone has 140+ pace in any given spell.

[RazabQ]

No word on my by Robin???

[IanW]

Originally Posted by Shaun petr
where's ian pont??? Pont where r u?

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Technically this is the wrong Ian, but directly responding to the work your replacement does in a forum where it can and will be quoted by the press isnt very professional.

If he said 'Yeah, I agree with everything Henry said', then its clear the Board were right replacing him.

If he said 'That opthamologist has no idea what he's talking about', then it's sour grapes.

Ian Whitchurch

PS For those of you who didnt live through the 1980s in Australian cricket, Geoff Lawson's nickname is 'Henry', after the poet, and he's professionally qualified as an eye doctor.

PPS The current crop of young Australian fast bowlers simply arent good. Tall, athletically talented boys are getting swooped on by Australian Rules young, and - for 950 out of 1000 sports professionals - Aussie Rules pays better.

[al Furqaan]

Originally Posted by RazabQ
No word on my by Robin???

its official, you have the same man-love for Robin as I do for Rajib. don't know why though. i think shafiul is the best swing bowler we have. robin was just too raw, and i never saw anything special in him, granted i never watched him, except live at the stadium but its hard to see things like line, length, variation, swing, etc from 100 yards away

[Farhad]

I think the thread title is pretty misleading. He never said Rubel was unimpressive. The closest the article comes to saying this refers to his bowling action only, and that isnt even a direct quote from Lawson.

We all know his bowling action needs work. So does Shafiuls... Even more so in fact.

[Ajfar]

Originally Posted by al Furqaan
its official, you have the same man-love for Robin as I do for Rajib. don't know why though. i think shafiul is the best swing bowler we have. robin was just too raw, and i never saw anything special in him, granted i never watched him, except live at the stadium but its hard to see things like line, length, variation, swing, etc from 100 yards away

You didn't see that delivery that got rid of grame smith in South Africa. He was breathing fire in his first spell in that test match. You too would have fell in love with him if you saw him that time.

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[ahnaf]

Kharap ki bollo? True kothai to bollo