Bob Woolmer & All-Rounders

I am not sure if somebody else noticed the two terms being found together a lot some place else. I will consider the two stints of Bob Woolmer as coach with South Africa and Pakistan.

I dont know if its cos of the selectors of each country or if Bob had a role in it, but I have seen All-rounders getting more chances and more development under Bob Woolmer.

Take the time at South Africa where he got famous as the first laptop coach. Bob found and played players like Hansie Cronje, Jacque Kallis, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock, Brian McMillan & to some extent even Pat Symcox. The expermenting with Nicky Boje paid off, he is a better batsman as well. In fact in such a jam packed talented batting lineup I remember a day when Mark Boucher came out as a Nightwatchman heheh...He rocked the scorecard with a well made century. I think the highest score as a nightwatchman. He has left the worm inside the South African team and they realize the importance of Allrounders in the game. You see Graeme Smith trying to turn his arm over and Nel trying to improve his batting.

Now currently with the Pakistani team he can take credit for sticking with Shoaib Malik and then bringing in M. Hafeez and grooming him. Razzaq had made his spot before him but I think there has been improvement in his bowling. The coach plays the role of a strategist a lot of the time and I think his strategy revolves a lot around all rounders. I dont think we could see a Pakistani team going to the field with only 3 specialist bowlers confidently and actually winning a test match as well. 3 specialist bowlers meant going with Razzaq, Malik & Hafeez as all rounders to support your specialists. Not that is a bad strategy but you need at least 4 bowlers who you could turn around to get a 5 wicket haul. None of the above 3 qualify for that. Even with playing with 3 allrounders we require at least 1 bowling all-rounder.

So, its still a learning curve for Bob. One-days is a different story. Your batting all rounder can get in 10 overs without taking wickets that works too. But in test matches you need 20 wickets to win. Its as simple as that. It worked with South Africa cos there was a bit more class involved when we talk about all rounders. With Pakistan, you need to exploit the talent of Fast Bowling available.

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