Don’t mind if pitches are flat as long as there’s something for bowlers: McGrath

Australia pace bowling legend Glenn McGrath, during his visit to the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai recently, had a freewheeling chat with journalists about the England-India series for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, the flat pitches in the Bazball era, the need for an off-season for fast bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah’s workload management, the turnaround time between Tests, Kevin Pietersen’s tweet suggesting that the quality of bowlers was better during his playing days, and the fearless approach of the modern-day batters.

Excerpts:

Were you surprised by the pitches that England rolled out this summer (versus India)? Flat tracks, a lot of runs…

It was quite high-scoring, which was a little unusual English conditions with the Dukes cricket ball. But it wasn’t a one-sided affair. It was good, solid Test cricket. It was enjoyable and close.

I was worried that Test cricket was struggling a bit. But after watching the Australia-India (2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy) and the England-India series (2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy), I think Test cricket is alive and well, especially in those three countries.

Obviously, they want the game to last as long as possible. I don’t mind if the pitches are a little flat, as long as there’s something in it for the bowler.

And if the game’s coming right down to the wire on the fifth day, then it’s perfect, isn’t it? When we saw the fourth Test at Old Trafford, there was a chance of a result, but India batted well and held on. Everyone’s been interested and watching. I think they got good crowds. They weren’t slow, boring matches.

And I think if you produce a pitch that’s really flat and there’s nothing in it for the bowlers at all, and the game just peters out to a draw with no real fire or no close moments, then it’s going to struggle. But I think every game had something in the England-India series. So, I think it was good.

In the Bazball era, the pitches have been flat. Do you think it’s boring at times because it’s very monotonous in terms of just batters going all out? It’s being said that Bazball is bringing in the crowds, but in the long run, is it going to affect Test cricket?

Well, I think the bowlers have to look at ways to get wickets. Even if the batters are coming at you, you’ve got to be up for the challenge and be able to adapt and think on your feet and bowl to your field.

Bazball, to me, has always been interesting. I think the Australian team I was lucky enough to play in, our batters were quite aggressive. They pushed the scoring along. There were a lot of times when it was four or more runs an over. I suppose Bazball has taken it to the next level.

But I think we’ve seen it sort of come back a little bit in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, where the pressure was on with good bowling attacks. It’s not quite as easy. So, I like Bazball as long as there’s a little bit more accountability and responsibility given to the players. But you still want them to play with freedom. So, there’s a bit of a balance there. Bazball is great when it goes well. And when it goes bad, it can get a bit ugly.

Let’s assume a bowler has his field set on the off side and bowls accordingly. The England batters are not afraid to shuffle across and flick the ball or play the reverse sweep. So, how does a bowler decide what to do? Because, a couple of shots like these, and he can’t stick to his line…

Well, they’ve got to be confident in what they’re bowling. You still have to make them play shots off good balls. If they’re prepared to do that, the risk is going to go up. And if they (the batters) are doing it consistently, then you think, ‘Okay, I have to have a backup ball. I have to think on my feet.’ If he’s walking right across, he’s going to expose his stumps. If I’ve got the ability to fire a quick yorker at leg stump, who knows?’

So, they still have to look at ways to get the guys out. But if they’re playing these shots, and then you change your bowling and it’s just that you can no longer set the fields, then the batter has won.

So, you just have to make them play these shots off good deliveries more and more. And if you don’t bowl a bad ball, they’re taking all these risks all day, sooner or later, you’re going to take a wicket.

The flat pitches, if they keep doing it, is it going to benefit Test cricket in the long run?

Depends on the game. If it’s flat and it’s 800 versus 700, then it’s probably not going to be exciting that no one can win. But if it’s still coming down to the wire, and it’s tough contests fought with a lot of feeling, it’s good.

There was quite a bit of emotion and feeling in the England-India Test series (Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy), which I’m not against. It shows that there’s still a lot of passion, energy, and love for the game of Test Cricket, and it means a lot to the players out there. So, yes, you don’t want a flat pitch that produces boring cricket. But in that series, there were some flat pitches, but it wasn’t boring cricket.

You’ve played a lot of five-match Test series. Recently, in the England-India and Australia-India series, we saw a lot of fast bowlers breaking down. Do you think a fast bowler should have an off-season and strike a balance between work and recovery, like maybe a Mitchell Starc does?

Well, it’s important for a fast bowler to have an off-season. I always say it’s like driving a car. If you don’t fill it up with fuel and keep driving, sooner or later, you’re going to run out of fuel and things will happen. It’s the nature of the beast.

Being a fast bowler, one puts a lot of stress on the body. Three things that I felt held me in good stead — I had a pretty good action, short delivery strides, so I wasn’t putting the stress on my body that other bowlers would. Good genetics – my bone density is really high, so that probably held me in good stead as well. And then work ethic off the field. Kevin Chevell (strength and conditioning coach), who was my trainer, really made me strong and nearly unbreakable, holding me in good stead throughout my career.

So, you’ve got to put the work off the field. You’ve got to have the right people around you. There’s the occasional freak that can just bowl all day, every day. Courtney Walsh played cricket for 21 straight years. Absolutely unbelievable! So, you’ve got to know yourself well and know what you need to do. But 99.9% of fast bowlers need an off-season to get strong again, to get them through the next season.

Do you think India could ration the volume of overs that Jasprit Bumrah bowls to try and squeeze more Test matches out of him?

So, you want your best bowler bowling. And he’ll want to bowl all the time. If he’s just bowling in short spells, then the batting team know they just can get through the three or four overs and then they’re away. So, it depends a lot on the other bowlers.

I’ve watched Prasidh Krishna bowl in the IPL, and I thought he did an incredible job. I’ve always been a big fan of him. Unfortunately, he didn’t get more opportunities in Australia.

But yes, you need another group of fast bowlers coming through to balance it out, so that he (Bumrah) doesn’t have to bowl long spells. You’ve got to have other bowlers bowling equally as well to carry the workload.

And someone like Mohammed Siraj, he’s got enough experience now. So, if he’s playing, then hopefully Bumrah doesn’t need to bowl as many overs. So, it depends on the rest of the bowling attack and how well they’re going.

Do you think that Bumrah may consider restricting himself to Test cricket?

It’s a big ask to not play One-Dayers and T20s. The T20s are quite lucrative as well. Very few players these days will retire from One-Dayers and T20s. The main bowler I can think of is obviously Jimmy Anderson. He was incredible for the length of time he played. But he decided Test cricket was what he wanted to focus on. So, it depends a lot on the individual. You look at Bumrah, he’s so effective in One-Day and T20 cricket. To limit himself to Test cricket would be a shame.

Scheduling has been a point of contention, even in the England-India Test series. The turnaround times between Tests were uneven that even Ben Stokes had said it would be better if the Tests were evenly spaced out. What’s your take on it?

Well, it’s just one of those things. The scheduling – when you can fit the matches in between what else is happening. It’s good to see that Australia-India, Australia-England, and England-India are getting five-Test series.

In fact, South Africa won the World Test Championship. Hopefully, it’ll pick up there. New Zealand always do well. Test cricket is still alive and well, but there’s always been chat about scheduling.

What do they take for the IPL these days? Around two months? So, you take two months out of the international schedule. Unfortunately, that’s the way it goes.

I think back to when (Don) Bradman played England, even AB (Allan Border), you would play every county when you went on an England tour. My first tour of England was four months long. You can’t do that anymore. It’s just the way it is.

Teams have to work out ways to do it, whether it’s having more players, say 20 or 25 instead of 12 or 15. Teams have to learn to adapt to the scheduling. It’s just the nature of the beast these days. They get remunerated pretty well. Good luck to them. But these are the challenges that a modern-day cricketer faces.

Kevin Pietersen (KP) tweeted that batting these days is way easier than it was 20-25 years ago. He said it was probably twice as hard back then. He also listed some legendary pacers from that era, including you, and threw a challenge to name some modern-day bowlers who could match up to those names. What’s your take on this?

Well, it’s interesting. Each era is different, isn’t it? Your great players from any era would have probably been great players in any other era. Yes, the conditions have changed. There’s a lot more T20. A lot of different focus. A few new rules and regulations, and new shots. You have to weigh it all up.

You look at the Australian bowling attack, they’ve been quality for a long time. England’s got some good players. India has a quality bowling attack. So, there are still quality bowlers around.

I always got on well with KP. Doesn’t mind making the odd statement here or there, does he? But it’s nice to think that he thought there were better bowlers back when he played (tongue-in-cheek).

Do you maybe think the overall bowling quality is comparatively down since the batters don’t fear the bowlers thesedays?