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A man named Harwood.

Tuesday, March 18 2003

A quick glance at the squad for the Australia A team to tour South Africa reveals most of the usual suspects. Your Langers are there as well as your Husseys, Clarkes and Campbell but the selection which will raise eyebrows around the country is that of a 29-year old fast bowler, Shane Harwood. As I type this I can literally hear the chorus-like cacophony of incredulous responses, the sum total of which is the phrase 'Shane WHO???' You heard me right, Shane Harwood has been picked in the Australian A side to tackle South African sides in several one-day and three-day matches.

So who is Shane Harwood anyway? Well to tell you the truth, I certainly had no idea who he was before the start of the recently finished Australian first-class season. The first time I saw him was when I was in the audience for South Australia's first ING Cup match of the 2002-2003 season. South Australia was playing against Victoria having just thrashed them in the Pura Cup game played over the last four days. Harwood had come into the side and was yet to make his first-class debut. 'Here's an uninteresting cricketer.' I thought as Harwood marked out his run-up, which is around half the length of someone like Brett Lee's. Harwood didn't so much run in as jog in to bowl his first delivery at David Fitzgerald and as he coiled into his delivery-stride, I thought to myself 'Hooray, another medium-pacer.....'

How wrong can one be?

Harwood's first delivery at state level rocketed out of his hand, cannoned into the pitch and cut back viciously from short of a length to hit Fitzgerald square on the shoulder before he even had time to lift his bat. Needless to say, David Fitzgerald was surprised at the venom in the delivery, as was I. Was it just an anatomical fluke, whereby for the one and only time in his life, a medium pacer might bowl a genuinely quick delivery? Nope, next delivery was probably quicker. In fact, the entire over was super-quick and by its end, Shane Harwood had woken up a generally sleepy Adelaide crowd with his speed and hostility. The man from Ballarat had arrived.

Although he picked up only two wickets and they were tail-enders at that, Shane Harwood had served notice that with a late start to interstate cricket, he had plenty of time to make up. His promise was further enhanced by his sensational (to say the least) first-class debut where he picked up a lazy hat-trick in the midst of a five-wicket haul against a hapless Tasmanian outfit. This time, his wickets weren’t bunnies by any stretch; Shane Watson (bowled), Graeme Cunningham (LBW) and Sean Clingeleffer (bowled) made up his hat-trick and he picked up Michael di Venuto (bowled) and David Saker (bowled) for good measure to become only the third Australian (and first Victorian) to take a hat-trick on First-Class debut. The manner in which he got his wickets (mainly bowled) suggests a rare ability to beat batsmen with speed and movement greater than your average bowler.

Shane Harwood's effectiveness as a pace bowler lies in his superb action coupled with outstanding co-ordination. The whip he generates from an understated run-up and simple action is simply phenomenal. Awesome, in a word. As someone who has seen quite a few quick bowlers in his time, I have a pretty good idea of how quick bowlers are and Shane Harwood would be in the bracket of bowlers who can bowl between 140-145km/h. Not express but quick enough to scare anyone and considering his action, you wouldn't believe he could even bowl 20km/h slower. The scary thing is, I believe he could bowl even quicker.

And then there's the movement he gets. He can swing the ball quite a distance at pace and tends to scare batsmen with deliveries moving in and out in the air, followed up by a short one which comes roaring back into their ribcages. His ability to move the ball in the air is what sets him apart from most first-class bowlers in Australia today, as most of them tend to be seam-up bowlers. We've not had a genuinely fast swing bowler for a while and Harwood may be the man.

The only issue as I see it is in his fitness. He's a little injury-prone and has been the victim of several severe injuries in his career thus far. But if manages to stay on the park, Shane Harwood could well scare a few batsmen in the years to come and maybe, just maybe, he'll get a call from the Australian selectors to play in the one-day side. He certainly has the talent but does he have the staying power? It remains to be seen.

Posted by Corey