Reverse swing was like a curse on us: Gilchrist

Australian team felt 8216;cursed8217; by reverse swing in the lost 2005 Ashes against England, reveals former vice-captain Adam Gilchrist.

Despite managing to use reverse-swing to potent effect in their successful 2004 tour of India, Australian team felt 8216;cursed8217; by the same technique in the lost 2005 Ashes against England, reveals former vice-captain Adam Gilchrist.

8220;The salient point in England is that not only could we not get it to reverse swing, we weren8217;t game to try anything, we had this feeling of a curse on us,8221; Gilchrist wrote in his autobiography 8216;True Colours8217;.

8220;Occasionally in a meeting someone would say, 8216;8230; let8217;s just do it8217; but we8217;d say no: 8216;as soon as we start going down that line we8217;ll get busted8217;,8221; he said.

Gilchrist said he unravelled the mystery of England8217;s reverse swing 18 months later during the 2006 Champions Trophy match in Jaipur when Troy Cooley, who assisted Michael Vaughan8217;s men in the Ashes, was Australia8217;s coach.

8220;We were playing England in Jaipur our first clash since the 2005 Ashes, and nervously saying: 8216;what are they going to do this time?8217;

8220;Then, just before we warmed up, our bowling coach Troy Cooley said: 8216;Boys, today, eyes in the middle, no looking elsewhere. Just worry about us8217;.

8220;I8217;ll never forget that. It was like a boxing glove came out and smacked me in the head and said: 8216;You idiot. That8217;s what you were doing for the best part of three months in England 8212; worrying about what the opponent is going to do8217;.

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8220;It8217;s no coincidence that Troy, a Tasmanian, had been England8217;s bowling coach during the 2005 Ashes. They knew they had us worrying about them.8221;

Gilchrist, however, recalled the potent effect of reverse swing in their 2004 tour of India.

8220;There have always been theories about how to do it, but no team I8217;ve been in has worked it out. Sometimes we8217;ve stumbled on it. In India in 2004 we had a theory about keeping the ball dry.

8220;Warnie Shane Warne had a job of taking care of the ball, polishing it without adding any moisture, not even wanting sweaty hands to touch it, so we8217;d pass it in fingertips back to the bowler. We had it reversing well there,8221; he said.