Special programme helped Singh to swing the ball back in

County stint behind RP Singh's success

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan at Grace Road

August 5, 2007

The lady behind RP Singh's resurgence: Susie Woolmer, the Strength and Conditioning coach of Leicestershire © Leicestershire CCC

RP Singh, India's left-arm swing bowler, spent less than a month at Leicestershire earlier this season but that was the period he fine-tuned the delivery jagging back into the right-handers, says Tim Boon, the senior coach at the county.

With a memorable five-wicket haul at Lord's and a couple of fine bursts at Trent Bridge, RP Singh has been a revelation on India's tour to England. Considering that he has never played three Tests in a series before, his haul of 10 wickets from two Tests has been quite a special effort. Not only did he grab important wickets - including Michael Vaughan's at Lord's and Kevin Pietersen's at Nottingham - he also consistently clocked more than 80mph, swinging the ball either way and extracting disconcerting bounce.

"The first thing we did once he got off the plane was muscle screening," said Boon, who worked as a video analyst-cum-coach with England's Ashes-winning side of 2005 and has been linked to the Indian coaching job recently. "It was clear there were some deficiencies with regard to leg strength. My praise goes to the physio for identifying something that can affect his action. He was given specific strength work to do which created more stability."

Susie Woolmer, the county's strength and conditioning coach, explained the regimen RP Singh had been put through. "We devised a programme that would improve his core strength but specifically focused on his right hip, the right buttock and upper part of the leg to give more strength. We had seen muscle tightness and it was felt the weakness in this area was causing him to fall away. Strengthening those would give him a more powerful landing foot and a much higher release point."

Boon noticed an immediate improvement, especially with regard to the ball that came into the right-hander. "Once he increased his leg strength, there was more stability in his run through the crease, which in turn gave him a better wrist position. He could get off the back foot quicker. And look at the end result. He can swing the ball back into the right-hander and away from the left."

Boon also credited Singh's work ethic. "His commitment and desire to want to change - get an extra half-yard, swing the ball into the right-hander - was there. He came off the plane and played the next day. He said he felt as if he was bowling with deep-sea diving boots on."

Zaheer Khan, who bowled India to victory at Trent Bridge, has spoken about the importance of his stint with Worcestershire. If India go on to win the series, they may have the English county game to thank for some of the success.

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is assistant editor of Cricinfo

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Players/Umpires

Tim Boon

RP Singh

Teams

India

Leicestershire