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From the Press Box by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

The key to the success of Australian cricket is discipline at a constant level, which most teams find hard to sustain. The Aussies are streets ahead in this area and it is clearly reflected in their present status as the top nation in both types of the game Test and One-day Internationals.

Australia's success rate can be attributed to them having one of the most potent bowling attacks in world cricket capable of delivering the goods anywhere in the world, although their track record in the subcontinent may be open to question.

In fast bowler Glenn McGrath and leg-spinner Shane Warne they have two devastating match-winners around whom the rest of the bowling revolves.

It is no secret that Australia depends on simple and basic principles for success. For example, the secret of McGrath's achievements on the cricket field is due to his accuracy.

The great bowler he is, the Australian spearhead admitted after scything through the New Zealand batting at the SSC grounds in an ICC Champions trophy match, that the biggest key to his constant wicket-taking ability is to land the ball pretty much where he wants it to.

"No matter what pace you bowl at, if you land the ball 99 times out of 100 where you want it to land, then you will take wickets," said McGrath after his match-winning performance.

Why the gamut of fast bowlers produced by Sri Lanka over the years are unable to achieve that kind of success is rather disappointing. Now with a Cricket Board pace academy in place the number of young and budding fast bowlers that are being turned out from it should try to emulate McGrath if they want to be as successful.

On the current tour to South Africa, Sri Lanka have sent as many as seven fast bowlers. How many of them will be able to discipline themselves and land the ball where they want it to as constantly as McGrath? Not even our most experienced fast bowler Chaminda Vaas will be able to perform it.

Why is it that the bowlers cannot master this simple art of putting the ball in one place constantly in the nets? It may be because they don't concentrate long enough on what they should be doing and what is expected of them.

Like batting needs a great amount of concentration, so does the bowling. There have been several instances where the bowlers tend to bowl on both sides of the wicket instead to the field that has been set for them, making it exasperating to the fielding captain. Once again it is discipline that comes into play here.

Former New Zealand fast bowler Sir Richard Hadlee was a master of disciplined bowling. So were other former 'greats' like Dennis Lillee of Australia and Andy Roberts of West Indies. They were masters of line and length and compelled the batsmen to play almost every ball, thus giving them a better chance of forcing the batsmen to err in judgment.

The only bowler who can match the two Australians is off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who has the knack of delivering the ball spot on from ball one which speaks of his high success rate and the volume of wickets he has in his bag in both types of cricket. He favours comparably with McGrath and Warne with all three of them having taken in excess of 400 wickets in Tests and over 250 in one-day internationals. But Muralitharan alone cannot perform miracles for Sri Lanka. He at least needs the support of one other bowler if Sri Lanka is to be ranked anywhere close to Australia. Vaas was the bowler expected to give Muralitharan that extra support like McGrath does for Warne. However, he has failed to perform consistently throughout his international career providing only flashes of brilliance in his bowling that has left Muralitharan the lone match-winner on most occasions.

The careers of McGrath and Vaas have run almost parallel with each other. But herein the difference between the two bowler's ends. Whereas McGrath has gone on to improve his tally to 403 wickets from 87 Tests at an average of 21.52, Vaas in the same period has captured only half the amount of wickets 200 at 30.28 from 62 Tests. Vaas had one brilliant run during the home series against West Indies when he single-handedly bowled Sri Lanka to victory with a match bag of 14 wickets. For the first time Muralitharan had to take second place in the bowling averages with Vaas finishing ahead with 26 wickets compared to Muralis 24.

But in the ensuing series against Zimbabwe, Vaas hit a low taking only eight wickets at a cost of 35.62 and, when expectations were high from him on the tour to England, his performances dipped further when he finished with just four wickets taken at a cost of 108.50. Sri Lanka's success in the World Cup will largely revolve around the performances of Vaas and the current crop of inexperienced fast bowlers on the tour to South Africa. A pair of match winning bowlers is what Sri Lanka needs to off set their rather appalling away record in Tests. There are six on trial.

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