NEWS
MATCH REPORTS
DIARY
OTHER SPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
PEOPLE
ARCHIVES

The Rediff Interview / Ian Smith

'Eventually people will get bored of one-day cricket'

Ian David Stockley Smith, the finest wicket-keeper ever to have played for New Zealand, took over from Warren Lees as New Zealand's first-choice keeper on the tour of Australia in 1980/1. He was a useful middle order batsman, and his most celebrated innings came against India at Auckland, when he scored 173 off just 136 balls. It is the highest score by a number nine in Tests and the highest by a Kiwi wicket-keeper. The highlight of that innings was the 24 runs he took of one Atul Wassan over.

Ian retired from international cricket after New Zealand lost to Pakistan in the semi-finals of the World Cup in 1992, and since then has donned a new cap -- that of commentator -- and seems to be enjoying the innings as well.

In an exclusive interview with Faisal Shariff, Ian talks about the falling standards in wicket-keeping and also advocates the need to reduce the number of one-day games being played.

It's been quite a while since you retired from the game. Are you a satisfied man? Or you think you could have achieved much more in your cricketing career?

I think you can always hope that you could have done better in certain areas. I am satisfied that I played cricket at the right time for New Zealand. I played during the most successful and in the best era. I played with some very good players and probably played with the most successful team ever.

We won series at home, we were unbeatable at home for quite sometime and then we came to England and we won a series there; we won a series in Australia. To be a part of that from a collective and a team point of view was pretty rewarding and satisfying. I would have liked to score some more runs with the bat but it wasn't to be. I played for 13 years, went on 20 overseas tours and had a good time.

Where do you think New Zealand cricket is headed right now?

I think it is a good time for New Zealand. They are starting to develop continuity of selection and they can afford to pick mostly the same players and they have a good nucleus of players who have done the hard work and they know what it's like to play at the highest level and they know what you have to do to succeed. They are doing this on a more regular basis.

It's actually a very exciting time. They got to the last four in the World Cup and we have just beaten England in the series in England yet again and things are looking on the up.

So you think the six-member support team has achieved its purpose? What is your view, personally, of this idea?

Actually what's happening with most sporting teams, not just cricket teams, is that wherever you go you have big support groups, a big network of people who try to cover all the basis. They try to cover the physical side of the game in terms of your health, your well-being and the maintenance of your body, so you stay out at the park and stay well there.

So there will always be two or three people involved in that part of the game. You also have to look at the mental part of the preparation: psychologists and analysts. The reason is that cricket is such a full-time basis. The players are playing so much of cricket. It is their job of work now. It's not just secondary employment where they have a job at home and they come and play a bit of cricket.

They are always playing so many series at home, that it's forever. And by giving them a support network, the authorities are saying that they are serious about it and that they will be given all the help off the park.

How would you critically analyse the New Zealand team? What is it, according to you, that they lack? The fact that this team got to the last four of the World Cup on three occasions and yet failed to make it to the next stage.

At the end of the day, the Kiwis just lack the class to win it on the big occasion, and also the belief at times. The best time to win was in 1992 when we were playing in our own conditions and won seven consecutive games and got to the semi-finals and then fell of the rails.

We came up against the Pakistan side, which has been our problem side for years. We always struggle to beat them on the big occasion. They had a very good attack and Inzy and Miandad took us apart. If we were ever going to win it that was the day, up until now. We lacked the firepower to beat the big guns but were very happy to get to the semi-finals.

Why hasn't cricket gained the same popularity like rugby in New Zealand? Do you reckon this is one of the reasons why you have a limited pool of players to choose from?

Sure, cricket is a summer sport and not our national sport. We are not as passionate about it as you are here in India. We only have six first class sides which means a maximum of 70 first-class cricketers and not all of them are capable of playing cricket at international level.

You are probably looking at a pool of 16-20 cricketers who even now could handle and jump up to this level. So if we have a couple of injuries and some players lose form, then all of a sudden the pool of talent looks very small indeed.

Are you happy with the domestic level back in New Zealand?

I am pretty happy with it. The problem is that we don't have strength in our play; we are not achieving what we should be doing. We have a lot of cricket being played, which is not good quality cricket. It does not tend to go all the distance. We play four-day cricket back home, but, you know, it never goes the distance. The games just don't last all four days and that is a bad sign.

The pitches or the batting lacks the quality to last the distance. So we are not achieving that because the reason why we set up four-day cricket is to set up groundwork to play five-day cricket. That means you need to have batsman who can bat for long long periods of time. And, at the moment, we don't have too many of those.

The quality of wicket-keeping... do you think it has improved?

That's an interesting question. At the moment, most of the countries are in the process of sorting out. The most established keeper, apart from Healy who has been a tremendous servant for Australia, is Adam Parore. But his place is always under pressure from home. India is going through that right now. South Africa have Boucher just getting underway; England can't sort it out, and neither can Pakistan, although Moin Khan has had a fair go.

We have to really sit down and think that maybe the standards aren't that high. Most of the guys who have been doing the job haven't been around for quite that long. Certainly, for me, there are no Bob Taylors or Syed Kirmanis around. They just have to be a bit patient. Besides Healy, I can't think of any world class keeper at the moment.

What is the essence of wicket-keeping?

It's a case of going out and doing your job on a daily basis. You prepare hard on the mental side of the gam

Term

So, who according to you is the best wicket-keeper in the world right now?

The best Test wicket-keeper for me was Ian Healy. He was the best dismissal taker. He developed rapport over the years with bowlers like Warne and McGrath. He kept up to the barrage of fast bowlers and his standards were the highest. His exit will see a big void in terms of world cricket and Australia will use Gilchrist though he is not up to the level yet. Everyone else is falling behind that era and I think after Healy there will be a gap.

Who is your all-time favourite wicket keeper?

Rodney Marsh... I loved his attitude towards cricket. He was hard and he always knew that he was on the filed and he would create an impression. My favourite contemporary as a player would be Bob Taylor, because he displayed the skills, which I think are absolutely necessary. He was patient and had a tradesman-like performance in just going out and doing your job on a daily basis.

Over here, I admired Kirmani, because he kept to spinners on difficult wickets. I always thought Kirmani was a great one. Dujon had hard hands and he kept wickets to all the fast bowlers the Windies had from time to time.

What do you think about Nayan Mongia? How would you rate him?

I haven't seen Mongia in a long time. He is a very animated keeper. He is quite bubbly. I am actually very surprised that he did not play in the series against us, because of his batting abilities. He is a very good all-round cricketer and, as I said, I am quite surprised. He is good to the spinners and very good to the medium pacers as well.

And what is your impression of MSK Prasad?

I haven't seen too much of him. He is very enthusiastic, looks tidy enough, and when he gets over the nerves of playing international cricket I think he will be a very good performer too.

Do you think there should be some restriction on wicket-keeping gloves? MSK Prasad has these gloves which have huge webbings. What are your views?

I think they should look at the dimensions of the wicket-keeping gloves, because to me it's just being used as an insurance policy. And that if you can't catch it right, then you have this huge net to cover the fact that you can't catch it quite right.

I think they got to look at that. Otherwise, it looks like we are getting into baseball mentality on each hand. And I think it gives too much of an advantage. I am sure that at some point they will have to readdress the wicket-keeping gloves, at some situation. The key, I thought, was to catch it with your hands as much as you can. From time to time it hasn't been quite that.

If you were to make a couple for suggestions to make Test cricket more interesting, what would they be?

I don't think there is much you can do to change Test cricket. I think there are enough results in Test cricket to sustain interest. There are very few Test matches which are drawn because of bad weather. I can't say anything about this. I think they could do with some sporting wickets. I think there are too many one-dayers being played. Too many ODIs which don't mean much. I think too much importance on ODIs, which should not be the case. The World Cup is played every four years and that should be the pinnacle of one-day cricket. Eventually people will get bored of one-day cricket as well.

But isn't the revenue required for the game?

It's all based around advertising. It's all based around TV rights and radio rights; what the print media have to say. Okay, the players need the income and the more they play the more they get. So, it's a big circle, but the consideration also has to be given to the freshness and keenness of the players, and the keenness of the public.

The reason why people don't watch Test cricket any more is because they have so much of one-day cricket to watch.

And what changes do you think New Zealand cricket could do with?

I think we could improve the quality of pitches. We have a good academy to develop players but we have to make sure that the early stages of development are carried on. And we gotta continue to work on players when they reach the Test level. We have a young side and we need to invest in them, saying that these are the ones for us.

Tell us about your experiences of India?

I enjoyed my cricket here. I enjoyed the challenge of batting against your spinners over the years. What I enjoy is the passion for the game here. Whenever you come here you know you are in a match. You know you are up against it; it's never easy here. Because the players feel about the game the same way the people feel here. It's very intense. So the play here is the toughest environment here. So to do well here is always something special.

What is the key to success in India?

Hanging in there is the key! It's going to be tough. You have to be positive and you have to be prepared because you know in these conditions the Indians will be coming at you and destroy you with their spinners and batsmen. You have to wait till you can get back at them and then you tear them apart. I think the New Zealanders have done that on this tour to some extent.

In this series, the Kiwis have come back at India when India has been in control of the game and I think it's been pretty even.

Who has been the best captain you have played under?

The first captain I played under, Geoff Howarth, would be the best captain for me. I think when you are first trying to break into the game you are heavily influenced by those leaders around you. And he was very good to me and very patient and supportive. He left a very deep influence on me as I developed my own game. He is probably the one I remember the best.

Back in 1988, when you were playing India, you had a tiff with Mohinder Amarnath? He accused you of having made a racist remark. What happened there?

No! I have had lots of tiffs with lots of players. It's the nature of the game. You find that in every game played there will be confrontation between bowlers and batsmen. It's intense and it's a pressure game. I have got nothing to say at all. I think that was something that happened out in the field and I believe whatever happens out there in the middle stays out there in the middle. I have spoken to Amarnath and spoken to him before that and there is no problem.

People