Cricket: NZ bowling coach bats for Bennett

Hamish Bennett. Photo: NZPA
Hamish Bennett. Photo: NZPA
New Zealand bowling coach Allan Donald has come in off his long run to encourage young speedster Hamish Bennett to keep charging in at cricket's World Cup.

The former South African fast bowling great reckons Bennett's biggest weapon is his bristling aggression and the Canterbury quick will be told to keep doing what he does best.

Bennett's role within the New Zealand attack has been questioned in the wake of his team's heavy seven-wicket defeat to group A rivals Australia at Nagpur last week.

While few of his colleagues fired a shot, the 23-year-old at least dismissed Brad Haddin and Shane Watson in the space of three balls when both openers were well established.

But he leaked 63 runs in his seven overs, experimenting with a variety of deliveries outside of his usual habit of banging the ball into the pitch.

Bennett's performance against Australia contrasted sharply with his effort against Kenya when he grabbed four for 16 as the African minnows struggled to combat his raw pace.

Donald likes what he has seen of the Timaru product so far during the World Cup.

"Hamish is a very young guy and my job is to remind him what his job is," Donald told reporters today.

"He's going to leak a few runs but what we can't do is for him to slip into another role of a holding role or in a non-aggressive role.

"I thought he did that well against Australia, he never backed off he, kept coming and that's where we see him going in the future.

"He's going to grow a lot at this World Cup, he's going to learn a lot about playing against top-class opposition and there's no doubt when he goes away from this World Cup he'll tell his mates that he's improved a heck of a lot."

The New Zealanders are now in Ahmedabad preparing for their third group match, against Zimbabwe on Friday, and Donald said the remainder of the seam bowling attack had been reminded of the need to use reverse swing as a tool to counter the danger of big hitting late in the opposition innings.

"We have seen how easy it is for guys at the end to hit the ball out of the ground," he said.

"Every bowling coach right now talks about how to prepare the ball. We have got the ball to reverse in some games in overs 14-15. The squares here in India are very abrasive and it's how we look after the ball. It doesn't mean we look after the ball illegally, we know what we're doing with the ball.

"We have spoken a lot about partnerships not being allowed to form and wicket taking in this World Cup is very crucial before over 34 and the bowling has to be very meticulous and very precise."

Donald played down two injury concerns to emerge from the loss to Australia, and he expects both skipper Daniel Vettori and batsman Scott Styris to play, if required, against Zimbabwe.

Styris has a bruised finger after being struck by fast bowler Mitchell Johnson while Vettori is managing an on-going hamstring niggle.

 

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