Aussies protect pace trio from over exposure

By Malcolm Conn

SYDNEY, DEC. 6. Just two Tests into the summer Australia, has moved to protect its potent pace attack by putting Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie into a special international cricket only category.

The trio, who make up one of the best fast bowling combinations this country has ever seen, have all been withdrawn from this weekend's round of domestic one-day matches.

None of them is seriously injured and all expect to play in the third Test, beginning in Adelaide on Friday week.

However, the Australian team management is determined to ensure that McGrath, Lee and Gillespie will be in the best possible shape for a programme which contains 13 Tests and a minimum 20 one-day matches across three countries from late November to the end of August.

Tours of India and England follow this summer's five- Test series against the West Indies and a triangular one-day tournament with the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

McGrath has inflammation in his bowling shoulder, Gillespie tightness following a hamstring strain and Lee is being closely monitored after a history of back and, more recently, ankle problems.

Australian physiotherapist Errol Alcott and team doctor Trefor James made the recommendation that the star trio be rested.

Alcott said it was too simplistic to suggest that McGrath's problem, which has forced him out of early matches for NSW and required a scan just a day before the second Test, was simply a result of playing for Worcester during the northern summer.

While not wanting to get into the argument over whether Australian players should be allowed to play county cricket, Alcott said McGrath could have suffered the same injury playing for NSW at the beginning of the season.

Its genesis is a slight dropping of the shoulder which puts more pressure on the shoulder joint as it rotates, a problem suffered by many bowlers over time.

``On the one hand it's very easy to blame an increase in bowling at Worcester but on the other side of the coin it may not have been due to the actual number of balls bowled,'' said Alcott.

``It may have been that his shoulder dropped and that placed the whole shoulder girdle and ball and socket joint in a difficult biomechanical position.

``If he had not been at Worcester but played three games for NSW the same thing might have happened.''

The preservation policy for bowlers, particularly fast bowlers, has been in place for some time but is constantly being refined.

``It's being looked at a lot more closely. That's what we're trying to do,'' Alcott said on Monday.

Not only are the amount of overs in a match monitored, the number of deliveries at training are also counted to ensure the overall workload is contained.

Alcott said his New South Wales counterpart, Pat Farhart, was attempting to introduce the same system at state level.

Over the past decade there has been a concerted attempt to introduce strict limits for fast bowlers at underage level.

Much has been learnt from the dark days of the mid `80s, when many of the young fast bowlers who attended the Adelaide Cricket Academy during its infancy broke down.

Gillespie, who has an unlucky history of problems, was particularly disappointed he could not play for South Australia after a hamstring injury forced him out of the first Test.

However, it was that problem which caused concern again during the third and what ultimately became the final day of the second Test in Perth on Sunday.

Alcott came onto the ground to stretch Gillespie during the first drinks break then treated him again at lunch and after play.

Lee, 24 last month, has nothing obviously wrong but had minor corrective surgery on both ankles during the off-season and early in his state career had major back problems, forcing the world's fastest bowler to change his action.

``He's only a developing bloke and he's a mad paceman. He's a pedal to the metal boy so, from experience, while you can't predict when things are going to happen, if we look after him well we'll never know.''

Shane Warne will have another precautionary x-ray on his recently broken spinning finger this week but he remains on track to be bowling again in a match by the middle of the month, even if it is only at grade level. He bowled a spell of medium pace in the nets during the Perth Test and has been spinning a soft ball.

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