DUBAI // The Global Cricket Academy may be able to simulate the various pitch conditions faced by batsmen the world over. Indeed, the plan to fly in soil from Australia, Pakistan and England for their batting tracks is one of the centre-points of the academy - "literally ground-breaking", as they put it. But one thing they will struggle to replicate in their special climate-controlled pitch laboratory is the tinderbox atmosphere of top-class international cricket.
Perhaps it was with that in mind that the academy's recruitment heads opted to marry together the three odd bedfellows who now make up their illustrious coaching team: Rod Marsh, Mudassar Nazar and Dayle Hadlee. Sven Goran Erikkson and Tord Grip it certainly isn't. Hadlee, described as "school-teacher-like" by one of his former playing partners, might have been the game's foremost academy director by now - were it not for that pesky Marsh.
Meanwhile, Nazar claims he never knew what real aggression was on a cricket field until he was faced with the snarling Australia wicketkeeper, Marsh. "He was a very aggressive cricketer," Nazar, who played 19 Tests against Australia, recalls. "The first time in my life that I was ever faced with aggression was by Rod - not Dennis Lillee. "It was a shock, in a way, but you learn to respect it as part of the game. Of course, we looked up to him when he played for Australia.
"He was about six years senior to me, and he had already become a great player. "I played against him in his last Test match, when the three greats retired - him along with Greg Chappell and Dennis Lillee. I learned a lot from him on the field, and off it too." pradley@thenational.ae
