Lawson Heading to Australia

The remedial work on Jermaine Lawson's illegal bowling action will make a pit stop in Queensland, Australia.

Lawson, who failed an ICC-mandated 'throwing' test recently, will spend a week in Australia later this month working with a team of specialised bowling coaches.

Chief cricket development officer of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Dr Michael Seepersaud told CaribbeanCricket.com that Jamaican coach Philip Service will accompany the fast bowler to Australia where he will be trained on bowling action review techniques.

"We are in the process of getting the visas and schedules worked out with the people in Queensland. We are hoping Jermaine can get to Australia before the end of this month so the specialists can get a look at him and make some recommendations," Seepersaud said.

"This is a very long process and we want to be very thorough. As I've said before, it will call for a lot of patience. The coaches in Queensland have a history of fixing bowling actions and churning out fast bowlers on a conveyor belt. We can only gain from their expertise," he added.

A worrying situation, however, is Lawson's back injury that flared up again in recent weeks, forcing the coaching staff in Jamaica to shut down the remedial work. Seepersaud said Lawson was suffering through back spasms and has not been doing any physical work for most of this month.

He described the 21-year-old as "very disappointed" with the recurring back problem. "What worries me is that we have done a series of MRI investigations and we aren't coming up with anything. He's still having the back spasms and nobody seems to know what it is...It could be related to the adjustments in the bowling action but we don't want to take any chances. We have shut him down as a precaution," Seepersaud explained.

When British biomechanics specialist Dr Paul Hurrion examined Lawson in early August, Seepersaud said he detected some problems with the fast bowler leaning heavily to the left at the point of delivery. "That's what we believe is causing the niggling in the back. He has had a history of back problems so we are playing it safe."

Experts have repeatedly stressed [to the coaching staff] that Lawson's problem is related to poor biomechanics that cause the top half of his body to move faster than his arm during delivery stride. It means Lawson's entire rhythm and mechanics will have to be changed to allow the arm to catch up to the body.

"The arm is left back there and the elbow is bending to catch up. We have to get him to the point where all parts of the body are moving at the same pace," Seepersaud said.

But, it will take time, Seepersaud stressed. "It's related to muscle memory. If you learn to do something and you do it wrong, you have repair that muscle memory. For every hour it takes someone to learn something, it takes 17 hours to unlearn and relearn that same thing," he explained. "This will take a long time."

The pace of the remedial work has already forced Lawson to miss this year's Red Stripe Bowl competition. He will also miss the upcoming tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa. At the very best, Lawson won't return to international action until late 2004.

Another major concern is the fact that Lawson is not being paid during the remedial process. It is not yet clear if he will be offered a contract by the WICB when retainer contracts are offered to some 20 players next month. Outside of a retainer deal, there is no mechanism available to ensure Lawson is provided with any income during the remedial work.

Lawson was fully paid for the home series against Australia and Sri Lanka.

Seepersaud said coach Philip Service will travel to Australia with Lawson to be trained in the "methodologies and know-how" of bowling mechanics. "The training for Service is just as important. The hallmarks of our development program is the transfer of skills and the transfer of technology. In the future, if another bowler comes through with similar problems, we will have a coach on hand that has been trained."

Separately, Seepersaud sought to clarify that analysis of Trinidad & Tobago pacer Ravi Rampaul's bowling action was "strictly related to injury management" and had nothing to do with questions about the legality of his delivery.

"The work with Ravi is strictly related to safety and injury prevention. He has been our premier youth fast bowler for a long time and is one of the brightest spots but he has been prone to injury in the past," Seepersaud explained. He said Rampaul spent a day working with fast bowling coach Kenny Benjamin in Antigua earlier this year where "technique problems" were detected.

"We decided it was best to have [South African specialist] Dr Stretch take a look at Ravi's technique from a safety point of view."

Similar analysis is also being done on the delivery stride of Guyana's Rayon Thomas because of problems related to hyperextension, Seepersaud said.