Simon Hughes
If you look into an average English secondary school playground,
you will see that most kids have more of an aptitude for kicking a ball than for throwing it. If you do the same at an American school, you'll see the reverse. Throwing has always been a rather weak link in English cricket – there seem to be numerous players who have shoulder
problems or have 'thrown their arms out' and few who can whizz an exocet into the keeper's gloves from 60 yards – Hick is one exception.
Perhaps for this reason, a baseball throwing coach, Julien Fountain has been employed by the English Cricket Board to help improve throwing technique at all levels. It's
a good idea, since having someone with a really good arm effects long-distance run outs and incites all sorts of indecision in the running between the wickets. The Zimbabwean Heath Streak, for example, has run out countless batsmen whizzing in a flat throw from the cover boundary over the top of the stumps.
 Perfect technique
This is England's
best cover fielder,
Nasser Hussain, about to let fly. He doesn't have a mega-powerful throw but it is deadly accurate.
The Australians use their throwing prowess quite provocatively, zipping in stinging returns to the wicket-keeper from the in-field even when the batsmen haven't considered running. It's a kind of testy reminder that they're there and they're going to make the batsmen's lives as uncomfortable as possible. Their own wicket-keeper's hands must be in a bit of a state by the end, mind you, receiving all those missiles. But it serves a vital purpose: the batsman knows he's surrounded by predators.
Copyright material reproduced under license from Macmillan Publishers Ltd. London, England
Copyright © Simon Hughes 2001
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