Dubai: Legendary Australian pacer Glenn McGrath blamed a lack of exposure to English conditions for causing Australian team’s downfall in the Ashes series in England.

“Look at the wickets England played well on and the Australians played poorly on. I don’t think the Aussies would have played on many of those kinds of wickets in the past. In the old days, we played lot more County cricket but a packed international schedule and the IPL [Indian Premier League] are stopping that now,” the Australian told Gulf News during an exclusive chat at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai recently.

“Probably there is a trend around the world that Australia don’t do well in India, India don’t do well in Australia and England in Australia. Teams have to adapt a little bit more and not just get used to just one style.”

Australia lost the Test series in England 3-2 and extended their barren run in England for 14 years since 2001. McGrath, who predicted a 5-0 whitewash for the Australians, said he was happy to give predictions and though was sad to see Australia lose, paid full credit to the hosts for winning the “funny” Test series.

“England played very well and Joe Root led the way with the bat. It’s bit of a funny Test series. England totally dominated three of the five Test matches and Australia totally dominated two of the matches. I can’t remember Test series being so one-sided with both teams.”

Bigger crisis

Australian cricket is facing a bigger crisis after the retirement of skipper Michael Clarke, the consistent Chris Rodgers, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and with all-rounder Shane Watson potentially out of the Test team. However, McGrath is not perturbed and paid rich tributes to Steve Smith, who is likely to take over at the helm.

“The team is going through a transitional period, no doubt about that. It is a good opportunity for young cricketers in Australia. If they can be consistent, they could find themselves in the Test team. Smith has a great attitude, he leads from the front and has great respect from the players. He is more introvert than say a Clarke or [Shane] Warne but will do an exceptional job as captain.” McGrath also recounted the big challenges in bowling to Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, which he said he always relished. “I loved to bowl to both — it was the ultimate challenge. Both are different players: Sachin technically correct, mentally strong and very focused and prepared to work hard, but Brian a different player. You could never tie Brian down, he loved to play shots and was very flamboyant. Some days, he came out focused and other days all over the shop.

“I got Sachin out six times in Tests and Brian 15 times,” he said with a chuckle at having dismissed the West Indian left-hander on so many occasions.

No sledging

The Australians are known for their sledging and getting under the skin of the batsmen to unsettle their concentration and McGrath feels it is part and parcel of modern game and blamed the media for hyping the issue beyond the boundary line.

“Sledging was not part of my game. Most of the times I was annoyed with myself and talked to myself out aloud. However being an Aussie, I always had a chat with the batsmen.”

Now also the Director of coaching at the MRF Pace Foundation, McGrath had a word of caution for modern day fast bowlers, who depend a lot on variations these days, especially after the advent of Twenty20, as he emphasised on the basics — line and length.

“The basics are still the same, what a bowler can control is where he is going to bowl the delivery. Bowling six balls in the same area with good control is the same as bowling six totally different balls and landing exactly at where you want. Sometimes, I think the skill level of bowlers have dropped off a bit because of Twenty20 cricket, where they can run in and bowl anything.

“I would like to see bowlers bowling yorkers consistently, which is tough, and control the ball like Mitchell Starc and Lasith Malinga in shorter version of the game. It still comes back to control in Tests, One Day Internationals or Twenty20. I would like to see the bowlers improve their skill levels, like the way the batsmen have improved their game in Twenty20,” McGrath concluded.