Courtney Walsh lays down law for longevity for pacers

Pace bowling legend Courtney Walsh, who is in Australia in a new role as manager of the West Indies under-19 World Cup team has revealed the secrets of his longevity as a frontline pacer, which saw him being injured only twice in his playing career.

Walsh said he was able to cope with the stresses and strains of pace bowling due to the way he was brought up.

"'I had a slight back injury as a kid, but that wasn't from bowling, it was from lifting something. I think I strained a muscle - that was the only injury I had, way back in 1982. When I was playing, I got a hamstring injury but I only missed one Test match with it, when I was captain on the 1995-96 tour of Australia," he said.

Walsh is in Australia at a time when Australian young fast bowlers, who he believes possess great promise, can't play more than a few games at a time.

"The way I grew up was I did a lot of bowling to remain fit, so the muscles were accustomed to a lot of bowling, but I used to pace myself along the way,"' Walsh told The Saturday Age.

"I know a conscious effort is made now to limit the amount of overs the youngsters bowl and I think that can be good and bad in a way, because if your body gets accustomed to bowling five overs, then that's what it's going to be [able] to do. That didn't work for me ... the bowling muscles for me needed to be well trained for the workload they needed to do," he said.'

Fast and fearsome Australian pacers Pat Cummins and James Pattinson's bodies have betrayed them in their first year of international cricket, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Walsh, who was the workhorse of the West Indies attack until he graduated to form a formidable new-ball partnership with Curtly Ambrose, believes Australia's attack can flourish only if the bowlers can stay fit for long enough to develop consistency.