Best way is to rotate players: Neil Foster

Former England pacer Neil Foster had a
career that was marred by injuries. He says teams can minimise the impact of injuries
by having a system that allows bowlers to
play in turns.

You had some memorable moments playing in India?
Lack of preparations apart,I toured India in 1984-85. I had a fabulous time. I had a good Test in Madras. I still remember that match in which I had taken 11 wickets. Mohammad Azharuddin came into the side and scored three consecutive centuries. My strongest memory is that it is very difficult place for a pacer.
 
You had a good time in 1987 World Cup as well?
I always enjoyed being in India. It is a fascinating country. I enjoyed the enthusiasm of the people there. At that time, India were a very good one-day side and it was a surprise that we beat India in Mumbai in the semifinals.
 
What are your thoughts on the series so far?
Yes. Of course. India were not well prepared before arriving here. Playing in the Caribbean, obviously, was not the right preparation for a series in England. Coming here, they had only one short game before the first Test. Those players, who did not go to the West Indies, have had no chance to test their forms. Sachin is one of them. While England have done very well, India also struggled with some fitness worries. They are not playing as well as they should be because of the change in conditions and fitness worries. At the moment, they look like they lack in confidence.
 

Do you think the Indian players are unable to handle the swinging ball?
Yes, England have exploited the swinging conditions very well. When the ball swung, it became more difficult for India. That is why most of your batsmen, except Rahul, could not score runs. The wickets have been fairly good but the swinging conditions made things worse for India.
 
India did not have a settled opening pair in the first two Tests. Could that be a reason for India’s poor showing?
If you find things in your favour, you approach the game positively. You attack the batsmen more. If you feel that the batsman is a suspect against the movement, you pitch the ball fuller. England started the series pitching the ball short but in the last three innings they bowled fuller. By and large, the England bowlers have not been tested enough.
 
Why do you think Indian bowlers are unable to test England batsmen?
Zaheer Khan has showed how good a bowler he can be. Ishant Sharma tends to bowl short. Praveen Kumar bowled well but in general his pace is not up to the Test standard. Sreesanth came in and bowled well but he did not have much match practice. Harbhajan has not bowled as well as he can. Likewise, Graeme Swann also has not bowled well enough. The conditions have suited the seamers more. England’s seam attack is stronger than India’s. When the ball swings, it is ideal to leave the ball more than hit it. Indian batsmen did not leave the ball enough.
 
Your career was plagued by injuries. Are you aware of any injury management programme that could prevent the fast bowlers from being injured too frequently? Like Zaheer Khan, for instance?
The best way is to rotate the players. But some players are more susceptible to injuries. In my case, I had suffered bone injuries. There is nothing you can do about that. If Zaheer has suffered hamstring injury, it could be either bad luck or bad preparation. He had not gone to the West Indies and before the first Test, he had only one practice game. I think he had a niggle before that Test.
 
Do you think some bowlers should stay away from ODIs and Twenty20 games to be fresh for Tests?
I think that would be a good thing to do. In Test cricket, you need patience to get wickets. You can work the batsman out. Indian players play very attacking brand of cricket. One of the things you can do is to try and stop that happening. In one-day internationals, you need to have a lot more variety in your bowling.
 
Finally, who were the toughest batsmen you bowled to?
Viv Richards. Roy Dias. When I played against Sunny Gavaskar, he was a fantastic player. But Richards was the toughest batsman because he would dominate the bowler before you take charge.