Brian Lara Quotes

I have tried to improve on my death bowling.

Being a swing bowler, bowling at the death is just an added facet in my bowling.

As a bowler I think I am more wicket-based than some.

What you can never do on a slow pitch is bowl with any width. If you bowl straight it's almost impossible to get the ball away.

I don't bowl at 140 kmph or 150 kmph, so my best chance of getting the batsmen out is by bowling in the right areas and getting it to swing.

Cricket is not rocket science. Bowlers often get wickets through perseverance, accuracy and being patient rather than trying to blast opposition teams out.

It's true that I have got wickets with the new ball in Test matches, but that doesn't mean that I can't bowl with the old ball.

It is always challenging bowling abroad - you don't get much spin, bounce. You do get bounce, but you don't get sideways spin. It is always drifting kind of spin you get.

I even had the illusion, for a very short time, that I could become a medium pace bowler.

A lot is made of the pink ball. But it is the same really. A good ball is a good ball, regardless of the colour. You might want to bowl a touch fuller with the pink ball when it is nipping around but generally a pink kookaburra behaves the same as a red kookaburra.

I rely on swing to get wickets, and I continue to do it that way. I have never tried to copy others.

A good wrist spinner is a good wrist spinner against any opposition.

T20 cricket is all about using variations, and timing has to be perfect.

Bowling on English pitches is not rocket science. If you bowl a good length on off stump, the ball just has to do a fraction, up or down or side to side, and you get someone out.

The googly and the slider are my favourite type of deliveries, and I love it when batsmen try to cut or sweep me and, while attempting those strokes, get lbw or clean bowled.

If you are good enough to play international cricket, you can take wickets - but you have to bowl the right length.

I was an all-rounder but more of a batsman, maybe second-choice bowler.

When I was a youngster, Praveen Kumar was in the same club as me, and because we are similar bowlers, I learnt a lot from him. We used to have conversations, but not a lot. What was very helpful was observing what he was bowling, the kind of fields he had, and what his thinking was.

The best player I've played with would be Graeme Swann, just because he's proved that regular finger-spinners can take wickets in international cricket for England.

Dotting teams up and bowling maidens back to back cannot be underestimated in Australian conditions because it gives you control of the game.

In the longer term we have got to learn how to bowl on flat pitches if England are to head the ICC Championship table.

They come with a lot of strategies in international cricket. You face bowlers with a lot more pace.

There has definitely been an improvement in my bowling in terms of pace and variations like the slower ball and knuckle-ball. To add to that, I have improved fitness-wise.

Part of the art of bowling spin is to make the batsman think something special is happening when it isn't.

When I played football, I liked being a goalkeeper or a midfielder. I was probably better at cricket. I would be a very good cricketer if I was a professional now. I think I would probably have been the best, in fact.