The Keepers - part three
Ian Elks | June 05, 2023
Multi part interview with three of the finest Queensland and University of Queensland Wicket Keepers Lew Cooper, Wade Seccombe and Chris Hartley
During the height of your playing days, what were the routines or training drills you used to keep your skills sharp? What were the drills passed down from Marsh to Healy to Seccombe to Hartley? As a father reading this who is coaching his budding wicket keeping son - what should he do??
Lew – Well, Wally Grout never passed anything on to me. The only thing he said to me was, ‘Don’t go out on to the field before a match to catch balls for the blokes — all they want to do is show off their arm in front of the public, and you’ll do a thumb — so don’t do that’.
One of the best practices — and I was pleased to see someone doing it the other day — Jack McLaughlin, at state training, used to bat with one stump, and he’d hit them in the guts all the time, but he’d miss some deliberately, and it was good practice keeping to that.
But apart from that, all I did was bounce a tennis ball up against the wall then went out and played, that was my training. Basically, we didn’t do warm ups or anything before the game, in fact I used to teach school the morning of a match, so I could get paid for a half day, and then turn up to play for Qld by 11.00 am. Wally never even used to bring his gloves to practice. He use to play cards in the Cricketers’ Club, come down and have a bat, and go back and play some more cards or pool. I’d do all the catching at training for fielding practice.
If I did anything for myself, it would be privately at home. I’d get one of my mates to throw to my left hand because that was my weakest. Then balls landing in front of me on the half volley, because you tend to move your head away and you have to practise to keep watching them. Practise with my hands going forward to the ball so when I was stumping, my hands were catching the ball and taking the bails off at the same time. I read a book by Godfrey Evans on how to keep wickets, and this was my training to be a keeper for Qld.
I also use to keep to off spinners all the time, and they were difficult to keep to — Kev Duffy, Tom Veivers, Bobby Crane and Brian Rubb, all from Uni. It was a lot of fun keeping to the different bowlers, but it was sometimes difficult when a new bowler came along that you hadn’t seen before.
I remember I wasn’t the first person they picked to keep for Qld when Wally was away. A bloke called Alan Reed played one game, and they let him go because he was too nervous, and then they picked a guy called Dick Tovey, from Souths. He only played one game and they let him go.
Then they picked a guy called Lindsay Thorpe, from Toowoomba. He was the same age as Wally and was left-handed. You don’t see many left-handed wicket keepers. So anyway, his first game for Qld, and the first time he ever saw Ray Lindwall, was at the MCG. Lindwall came running in for the first ball of the match, and it was a big inswinger, and Thorpey, who had never seen him before, was moving towards first slip and it sailed down the leg side — four byes. So next ball, Lindwall came running in and bowled an outswinger and Thorpey went to the legside because of the previous inswinger — another four byes. Two balls and the Vics were none for eight! Lindwall was asking a few questions, but apparently, after that, he kept OK for the remainder of that Southern Tour. Anyhow, after the next season’s Southern Tour, they dropped Thorpie and that’s when I got in (February 1959).
Chris – These days you’ve probably played youth tours with them, and if you haven’t, there’s video analysis, so we have a bit more of an idea. Sometimes with a new bowler, you might be a little more flat-footed and you might not cover as far, but I just want to make sure I know what’s actually going on.
Lew – When I first kept to Slasher (Ken Mackay), he bowled medium pace — curved them around a bit. He bowled one ball and I thought to myself, ‘Shit, he’s not too quick, I’ll go up and take him over the stumps.’ At the end of the over Slasher came up to me and said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m seeing them alright.’ He said to me, ‘I don’t want you over the stumps, it doesn’t look good for me if you’re standing up. Wally takes me standing back.’ I took Slasher standing back after that!
Chris – Most times when you stand up to the medium pacer, the first ball is a yard quicker and sometimes a bouncer.
Lew – Yes, I remember that happened to me one day when Ross Duncan was bowling. It was a very hot day and it was late in the afternoon. He wasn’t bowling his quickest, so I went up to the stumps. Well, when he saw me, he stopped his run up, turned around, started again and came charging in. He bowled it down the legside to a left-hander, who we were having trouble getting out. Anyway I grabbed it and stumped the bloke. After that, I stood back and we went on to win the game. When we came off, he said he was only trying to bowl four byes to embarrass me! Some lady came up and said, ‘Oh, you’re wonderful you two, what a combination you have, you couldn’t get that bloke out.’ Ross was as shitty as shit. Same thing happened keeping to Sandy Morgan at the MCG. He came charging when he saw me standing up to him. It went straight through my gloves and hit me in my box. He thought it was a real big joke — no sympathy — it was the one and only time that I stood up for Sandy.
Ian – Very good — one way to get the bowler going. Wade, any particular skills or training techniques?
Wade – Standing up over the stumps in the nets is as realistic as it can be. Not a lot was passed down, I saw Ando (Peter Anderson) training with a ball through the chair, Heals had drills with a golf ball against the wall — it’s a great way of getting your feet moving. Just catching really. What I tell kids is that keeping is easy, you’ve just got to catch every ball. But you’ve got to work really hard to get to that point. Who cares how you catch, as long as you catch it — it’s the work you put in.
Chris – I agree with that — lots of catching. It’s a very repetitive skill anyway. Important to get the basics down and not to get too complicated or funky with your drills. Heals and most keepers will work on catches off the face of the bat, working the keeper one way and then the next. The older I’ve got, the best practice is in the nets to the spinners.
Ian – It’s interesting no one has mentioned footwork.
Lew – The only thing that Don Tallon ever told me, and it took him half an hour to tell me because he’d had a lot to drink at the time, he said, ‘99% of catches are on the outside edge of the bat, and so you have to catch the ball on the inside of your body.’ That’s when you are standing back. When you keep up to the stumps, the main thing you have to do is keep down and come up with the bounce of the ball. When I kept standing back, I kept on my toes. When I kept standing up, I was on my heels. The second thing, and it was most important, was concentration on every ball. You can’t be thinking of the fairies or watching the batsman — terribly important — concentrate and put your hands where the ball would have gone, no matter whether the batsman hits it or not.
Chris – If keepers try and get their head to the line of the ball, then this will generally mean you have moved your feet to get there. Rod Marsh was an advocate of the crossover step, Heals the side step. When I’m asked by someone I say it doesn’t really matter, as long as you’re there, whatever comes naturally.
Wade – Heals once said, ‘When I wasn’t keeping well, I could generally address it or fix it up within an over or two.’ I was the same towards the end of my career. If I was watching the ball really well, I could see the seam and the ball went in really well. So the days when they’re clanging a bit, I’d say to say myself, ‘Watch the seam.’ As soon as I did that, my feet moved, everything took care of itself. So I could correct myself by seeing that seam movement before I caught the ball.
Greatest cricketing triumph? Most devastating cricketing disaster?
Lew – Winning my first ever QCA club premiership in 1959. When I first came to Uni, we didn’t win a game for two seasons, lost everything. Then under Bobby Mihell, we turned it around and won the premiership. Admittedly we had some good players.
My greatest devastation was in Adelaide. I was captain as Sam Trimble was sick (mumps). We’d lost a day and half to rain and I eventually had to toss with Les Favell — it was wet. I could hardly talk, I was so nervous.
Anyway, I won the toss and said very clearly, ‘We will field.’ I didn’t want to make any mistake. As we were walking off, Les had the coin in his hand and he threw it into the crowd and said something like ‘Lost the game on the toss of the coin,’ and he stormed off into the dressing room.
They batted and declared at 7 or 8 for 49. We proceeded to get the runs and pass them, I can’t remember how many. At the end of the day, I was getting telegrams saying I was the greatest captain Qld had ever had, we hadn’t won a game in two seasons. I was the hero of the moment, Sandy organised a big party in my room, because we used to have Sundays off in those days.
So when play resumed, we batted on for a while, and much to my devastation we lost outright! I went from hero straight into the shithouse. I was shattered, very upset. I only captained the side a couple of times, but I took us to another inglorious defeat when Peter Allan took 10 for and Paul Sheahan got a 150 or more, and we lost the game outright!!
Wade – Pretty easy ones — winning the Shield first time in 1994–95 — it’s hard to beat that. Worst devastation, I dropped a fairly straightforward catch that would have won us the shield in 2004–05.
Lew – It wasn’t straightforward.
Wade – Relatively. NSW nine down, they needed ten runs, and it came right down to the wire and I dropped MacGill off Bic.
Lew – People say to you, ‘What’s the best catch you caught, and I would say, ‘I can’t remember a particular one, but I can remember every one that I dropped!’ I knew how you felt and I felt so sorry for you.
Chris – Probably my second Sheffield win. The first one was brilliant in 2005, and I played my part, but I was a younger member of the team. The second time around I was a senior player in 2011, and it had more of an impact personally and within the group as a senior player.
Lew – You got a 100 and did well behind the stumps.
Chris – Another, on the club front, was the Centenary year of the club where our First Grade team went undefeated for the season in all formats. We won all four trophies. It can get a bit lost in all the games you play, but that is an unbelievable thing, and it’s something that I hold really high. It was such a season, no one could come near us, and it’s pretty astonishing to look back on.
Ian – You said four formats?
Chris – Yes, well, three formats — two-day, one-day, T20 — and then a trophy for the overall winner.
Devastation — I can’t really pick out anything specifically. You have disappointments when you lose games, but I don’t think there is anything that I wish had gone differently so much that I remember it. I guess the only thing would be — it really annoys me when I miss a stumping.
Lew – Matthew Wade would need a diary to keep track of all his. I reckon Haddin missed four stumpings in one game that I saw on TV. He also wasn’t going for the catches. Just watching them go between him and the first slip. I generally don’t rate byes as a big tick or a plus. But, for him, he let go 30 odd byes in one innings in England?! I call Haddin and Wade ‘imposters’, ‘pretend keepers’.
Ian – (to Chris) So has a selector ever come up to you and said, ‘You’re the next cab off the rank’?
Chris – Not really. I’ve had some comments along the line of, ‘You’re on the radar, keep performing, we’re watching.’ Wicket keeping — there’s an upside and a downside to it. There’s only one spot, so when you’ve got it, you enjoy it, but there are also limited opportunities — that’s just the lot of the keeper.
Lew – You played one game for Australia on an English tour — how did you go?
Chris – Yes, 2009 — tour match in Kent. Kept alright with four catches and didn’t miss anything. Batting, I missed out — I got bumped, hit me in the head, and I got given out caught behind — that was a bit disappointing.
Lew – Who was the captain? How’d you get on with him?
Chris – Ponting, at the time — we got along well.
