Exclusive: Team that has got the best bowling attack has best chance to win T20 World Cup, says Brad Hogg

Australia are defending T20 World Cup champions and the team will have the added pressure of defending the title in front of the home crowd when the tournament gets underway Down Under later this year.

In an exclusive conversation with Firstpost.com, Brad Hogg, who is the brand ambassador of Tourism Western Australia, talks about the team, the possible combinations and Aaron Finch. (Read the first part of the interview)

Excerpts:

So what do you think about the Australian team right now? Like, they are the defending champions for the T20 World Cup. So how well do you think they are prepared and do they need to fill in any gaps in the coming three months or they are fine the way they are? Considering their recent form?

Yeah, I just think the T20 game has changed a fair bit over the last couple of years. You've got to be more attacking in those middle overs. There's no room for consolidation. So I think Steve Smith might have to change the way that he plays his game. And where are you going to about Steve Smith? Because Mitchell Marsh has to bat at three. He's proven that he's dominant there, especially in the power play overs where the ball is coming on. He's quite aggressive and finds the boundaries easy.

So you need that dominant force at the top. And to continue through that middle order, I think they got to find a way for Tim David to get in there, too, at the back end. In the T20 tournaments around the world, he's proven to be a good finisher, but also he bowled some handy off-spin. He's got a little bit of extra height where he gets some extra bounce in Australian conditions where it could be a little useful. And he's a good fielder as well. Aaron Finch. He has to find a little bit of form at the top of the order as well. So that's probably the couple of holes that we have. But our bowling is the important thing. I think the team that's got the best bowling attack has the best chance to win this tournament.

So, as you said about Steve Smith, like, he has to change the way he's batting right now. So do you think he will straight up fit into the playing eleven or there might be a bit of hiccup, so he might sit out for a couple of games and someone else might take his place?

I think the thing is, Steve doesn't play enough T20 cricket because he's playing so much Test cricket. So that's the downfall there. And Cricket Australia have pulled him out of playing big bash over the time so he can't go in there and enjoy it. But when I say that, look, he's a class batsman, it's just the way that the game has changed.

If you don't play enough T20 cricket and you don't have those range of shots to keep the momentum going, sometimes it's going to be very hard to find your way out in the middle and it doesn't matter how good a batsman you are, it's a different format of the game, you're playing it differently. And has he been working on those particular skills where he can keep the run rate up to a reasonable level through those overs between six and ten, mainly. That's probably where the games are going to be won or lost now, six and ten, whoever keeps the momentum going through there with the bat is going to have better opportunities.

And a word on Aaron Finch as well, like considering his recent form with the bat. Didn't have a good run apart from the recent series against Sri Lanka where he also won man of the series award. So what do you think about him? Would it impact his leadership as well?

Finch, look, I think Finch with the ball swinging with his technique, plays away from his body and limited footwork with the front foot, I think that's where he falls into trouble. And when he comes up against class bowlers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who swings them all away, that's going to be his downfall. But even if you've got the left arm swing of Shaheen Afridi over from Pakistan, the gap that he leaves between bat and pad just creates those opportunities for opposition bowlers. So I think that's where Aaron has got to work hard on his game. Leadership skills... I think he's done a great job over the years. They've won a World T20 World Cup, they've won a 50 over World Cup as well, so he's done a great job.

I don't think he was captain in that 50 overs. I think Steve Smith might have been captain that 50 over tournament, but at the end of the day, he's done a fantastic job with those issues that we had a couple of years ago.

And his batting form might not affect his leadership, right?

No, he's a pretty strong character, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. But I think you look at Eoin Morgan as well. Eoin Morgan has done the same thing there. He was a great ambassador for the game and a great leader for England, and he rejuvenated the way they play the game. So I just hope Aaron Finch has that moment where he goes out enjoying the game at some stage and finds a bit of form.

As you said, that the team with good bowling will have a better chance of winning the World Cup. How important do you think Spinners will play a role at the World Cup, considering Australia's bigger boundaries?

Yeah, I think spinner plays a huge role and you brought up a good point there, the bigger boundaries, so that's when trying to attack spinners and trying to clear the rope, it's a lot more difficult over in Australia. But in saying that, spinners have got to adjust their lengths to the different wickets. So somewhere out Perth Stadium, you'd slightly be a little shorter so that batsman can't get out of the crease and hit you straight down the ground, and you try to hit them to the wide boundaries on the leg side.

And if you go to Adelaide, the longer boundaries are straight and the boundaries square are shorter. But in going a little bit fuller to try and get them to hit straight down the ground, you're exposing the sweep shot. So you got to probably bowl with a little bit more overspin there so that sweep shop is a little bit more difficult. So those are the little intricacies that you have in the different venues around Australia.

Okay, and who do you think will be Australia's go to spinner or front line spinner in the World Cup?

I'm making a comeback, so, yeah, hopefully I'll get selected. [Laughs] I think Adam Zampa has done a fantastic job. He doesn't have all the deliveries, but what he's got, he knows he knows his game down to a T, and I think he's just the perfect white ball leg spinner for Australia at the moment. He sets the perfect fields. He knows how he can control the batsman at the other end.

On a run rate perspective, he's not a bowler that has the big wicket taking balls as such, but what he does is he builds pressure and makes the batsman come after him. And in that, that's where that's where he sets up those wicket taking opportunities, just the pressure that he builds, and that's why he’s so unique.

Okay, and do you think so that Nathan Lyon will get a go at the World cup?

No. Definitely no. I think you'll go with Ashton Agar. Most teams have got more right hand batters than left hand batters. And Agar gives you that batting option. I think Nathan Lyon, you're not going to have him in a T20 team simply because of his batting. He doesn't add anything with the batting. And I just think the other options that we got have more around diversity and that's bowling, batting and fielding. So that's why I think, like, Ashton Agar will be in front of Nathan Lyon.

In saying that, Nathan Lyon is a test match bowler and probably one of the greatest spinners Australia has ever had. And just his skills have been sensational and it’s no point comparing him to other spinners. The wickets that he has bowled on the majority of the time in Australia have been lot flatter than years gone by. So he hasn’t really had that assistance. Just the energy he is able to create on the ball and create pressure and do his job from one end, and keep it nice and tight so we can rotate our quick bowlers, he has done a formidable job for Australia and he’s probably there with one of the greats in the spinning department.

One last question, something not related to the T20 WC. Recently, SA withdrew from the ODI series against Australia. It was an important series considering the World Super League points were at stake for SA. Now all the points will go to Australia. What do you think about the future of bilateral ODI cricket, considering they pulled it out because of the new T20 league they are starting in SA.

I think we got to look at it a little bit deeper. Cricket South Africa at the moment are on shaky ground with their finances, so they are trying to do everything they possibly can to turn things around over there. They are making a bold move here in going down that phase and focusing on their T20 tournament. It’s disappointing in one aspect but at the end of the day, the board have sat there and said right this is the best option for us to get out of the situation that we are in.

And really, other teams can’t really have a crack at them for pulling out because Australia have pulled out of a couple of tournaments here and there, on tours they should have gone to. Other teams have done that as well. So somewhere along the line, the ICC and the boards have to sit and say where do we want the game in 5-10 years’ time.

We have to make some tough decisions right now. The calendar is all over the shop, its jam packed. We got T20 tournaments. The most important tournaments we got to keep going. These are the tournaments that are putting extra pressure on calendar and not adding any value to the game so we might get rid of them. So these big decisions will have to be made by ICC and the boards and we have to work together collectively to make sure that opportunities to the youngsters coming through for love of the great game are same opportunities as to players in the past.

That’s the most important thing firstly. Secondly, what do the fans want? Because if we don’t have the fans, we don’t have the game. The fans make the game. They lift the energy of the players out in the middle. The players and kids coming through in future generations should be on fore front of the thoughts of administrators moving forward to make those correct decisions.

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