If, as widely predicted, India’s bowlers get hammered by Hayden & co, at least one man in the Indian camp will not be unduly perturbed: India’s new bowling coach Bruce Reid. Because the tall West Australian has been there, done that and bounced back two months ago with Zimbabwe. He was their bowling coach when Matthew Hayden scored 380 off his bowlers at Perth. But, he told The Indian Express, he didn’t get flustered and just took the Zimbabwean bowlers ‘‘back to the drawing board’’. Speaking after a session with the Indian team at Allan Border Field on Wednesday, Reid insisted this was his way of doing things. ‘‘It is very easy to look at the negatives and get all worked up. You must remember that there are some good batsmen out there, so they will score.’’ That re-think showed in the second Test, when Zimbabwe’s bowlers dismissed the Australians for 403 in the first innings. Reid’s close interaction left a huge impact on the Zimbabwean team and on their manager Babu Meman, who observed him at close quarters. Recalling that night in Perth, Meman spoke of the ‘positive feedback’ from the team. ‘‘Bruce insisted that the bowlers had just had a bad day at the office. He then took them for a video session and generally tried pointing out what might have been.’’ His strength, says Meman, is his ability to ‘read the game’ very well and then try and pass it on to the young Zimbabwe bowlers. ‘‘His knowledge and experience of Australian conditions was invaluable. Just the way he worked on the bowlers individually helped most of them.’’ Though known for his thoroughness — before joining the Zimbabwe team in Australia he held a two-week clinic in Harare — Reid has never been an overall team coach in the top flight. But his five-year career as a bowling coach, with Western Australia and Hampshire before Zimbabwe, excites him as it involves working with ‘‘young attacks’’. ‘‘When you work with young guys with talent, you have that extra responsibility to get them to the Test level. But talent is the primary need; if they have that, my job is just to get them on the right track’’, he said. Indeed, Reid believes the era of specialised coaching is at hand and could soon be a trend world over. ‘‘It is hard for one coach to look at the 16 players. He has to organise nets, look at the batters, then bowlers and also work with the wicket-keepers.’’ For now, he’s focused on working with Zaheer, Nehra and the others. ‘‘I will try and perform to my utmost level. And so far I have got along well with John, Saurav and rest of the management team.’’
