Passing along the winding highway between Kalpetta and Sultan Bathery in Kerala, it is difficult to imagine that the rolling hills of Wayanad can hold a full-blown cricket ground to its bosom. The venue, Krishnagiri Cricket Stadium, is home to Kerala’s first cricket academy exclusively for bowling—the KCA-IDBI Federal Life Insurance Bowling Foundation. Legendary Australian former fast bowler Jeff Thomson, the head coach, is as good as anyone the southern state’s promising fast bowlers could have hoped for.
“This is like heaven,” Thomson had remarked when he saw the picturesque venue for the first time during the foundation’s inauguration on September 1. “It’s one of the best cricket grounds I have seen. The pitch and conditions are ideal for training fast bowlers.”
It is the only cricket ground owned by the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA), and the initiative to produce quality fast bowlers is the third after Mumbai and Bengaluru.
“We have got everything here, from indoor, outdoor to gymnasium, and the wicket is really good. The bowlers have a lot of potential. They have more pace than bowlers in the Mumbai and Bengaluru groups,” Thomson said, referring to the first batch of trainees from Kerala Senior, Under-23 and Under-19 sides.
Thomson was in Wayanad for the inaugural session from September 1 to 15. He has a two-year tripartite agreement with IDBI-Federal Life Insurance Bowling Foundation. Each camp is of two weeks, and three camps have been conducted.
“They just need to be harder on themselves. I want more aggression—attacking the batsman, moving the ball and thinking, not just bashing your head on the wicket. You also got to look at what the batsman doesn’t like,” his advice is clear for any wannabe quickie.
“He is quick to identify what the bowler is trying to do, and advices accordingly,” says former India Under-23 player Sandeep Warrier. “He focuses a lot on the mental aspects, on being aggressive and planning a batsman’s dismissal.”
In Australia, Thomson interacts with trainees and his assistants via video conferencing. While former India paceman and current Kerala coach Tinu Yohannan and Mumbai-based Vishal Mahadik were on hand as assistants in the first camp, former India Test fast bowler David Johnson is in charge of the second batch. Tinu will come in once he is free of his commitments with the Kerala team.
Terming the beginning as very positive, Tinu said: “The foundation will develop into a top-class pace academy in the future.”
With camps scheduled every month, the academy picked up raw talents from open trials at Thalassery, Kochi and Alappuzha after the inaugural camp. Seventeen boys, between 19 and 22 years, benefitted from the latest camps. Spin camps, under the guidance of former Karnataka star Raghuram Bhat, are being organised in the second half of each month.
While Thomson will continue to monitor the progress digitally, he is scheduled to be back at Krishnagiri next April.