Ashes 2021-22: Fitness guru Kevin Chevell declares mismanagement is jeopardising the careers of fast bowlers

James Pattinson was plagued with injury, but the man who helped make Glenn McGrath indestructible says the quick should have played a lot of Test cricket for Australia.

The man who built Glenn McGrath into an indestructible force and reshaped Mark Taylor before his legendary innings of 334 not out says mismanagement is jeopardising the careers of fast bowlers across the world.

Personal trainer Kevin Chevell – who McGrath gifted his precious Baggy Green cap to after he retired at the end of the 2006-07 Ashes whitewash – can’t believe strike weapon James Pattinson retired on just 21 Tests.

Catch every moment of The Ashes live and ad-break free during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free now.

The Penrith guru was staggered the England Cricket Board rested fragile quick Mark Wood from the second Test and urged Cameron Green to start sweating through sessions on an ergometer after suffering multiple stress fractures in his back by the age of 20.

“I’m not just a fitness guy – I’ve been doing this non-stop for 30 years and I have the answers, especially for the sport of cricket and how fast bowlers sustain injuries,” Chevell told News Corp.

Mark Wood was a shock ommision from the Adelaide Test. Picture: Getty Images

“Cricket Australia and many other cricket bodies around the world never found the answer to the riddle. But I knew it many, many years ago because first and foremost I’m a cricketer.”

Training fast bowlers like Olympic rowers has been revealed as Chevell’s secret to unlocking durability.

“With fast bowlers there’s an enormous amount of force going through their body. Either they’ve got to be so strong that whatever force is going through their body they can handle or you’ve got to rest them,” he said.

“My question is why are they resting them? If they’re fit, they should play. Why have they got these blokes wrapped up in cotton wool?”

“The body is what permits an injury to occur. So you’ve got two choices – increase the strength of that body or lower the force.

“If you lower the force that means you restrict their body or sideline them. That’s not going to work.

“The answer is increase the strength. The methods they use do not work. They’ve completely underestimated the value of strength training.”

Steve Smith revelead he was instructed to not bowl Cameron Green on Day 5 of the Adelaide Test. Picture: Getty Images

While squats and deadlifts remain integral, Chevell said replacing running with rowing in the fitness program made injuries disappear and helped keep bowlers fresh for game day.

“It increases muscle strength, muscle endurance, body weight and all their joints weren’t subjected to continual jarring (from running),” he said.

“It’s not a riddle to me. I could’ve sorted out Pattinson years ago. That bloke should’ve played a lot of Test cricket for Australia.”

Chevell was at Cricket NSW in 1995 and working with coach Geoff Lawson when a fresh-faced McGrath booked a two-week trial, turned up at 5.45am for his first workout and then never missed a session in 12 years.

They was so demanding that McGrath used to count down until the international summer so he could get a break from Chevell.

Australia’s greatest fast bowler now takes Chevell to Chennai, where he coaches India’s MRF Pace Foundation.

“McGrath addressed the group (in Chennai) and said he played 54 consecutive Tests without injury and pointed across at me and said, ‘He’s the reason why’,” Chevell said.

“Glenn was one of very few fast bowlers to get through 12 years and 124 Tests, (250) ODIs and had very, very few injuries.”

Englishman Zak Crawley, who is set to open the batting on Boxing Day, and Kent teammate Sam Billings are disciples of Chevell, alongside Melbourne Renegades import Mohammed Nabi (Afghanistan).

Kevin Chevell trained both Glenn McGrath and Mark Taylor.

Former NSW opener Steven Small brought Taylor to Chevell. When Taylor was stripped of the Australian ODI captaincy in 1997 the man nicknamed “Tubby” bought into the “physical torture” program and the following year he batted for 12 hours under the hot Peshawar sun to carve out an innings that led to Australian of the Year honours.

Billings was coached by Small at Penrith in 2013-14, which was when Chevell sat him and constructed a regimen that would return the 22-year-old to England with a man’s body.

“He was to return to England at the end of that summer stronger and fitter,” Chevell said.

“He wasn’t to waste his summer like so many England cricketers do. They come out here, play cricket on the weekends and spend the weekdays sitting in the sun on our beaches chasing girls.”

Billings stacked on 8kg of muscle and six years later brought Chavelle to England to help heal the torn labrum and shoulder dislocation that denied him a place in the 2019 World Cup-winning team.

“I was in India with Glenn and got a call from Sam. He said, ‘I’ve had the operation and day-in, day-out treatment by the England physio and our Kent physio and I’m not getting any better. Will you come and fix me up?

Glenn McGrath had incredible durablity.

“So I went to England and within 3½ weeks he was taking diving catches, his weight was up a number of kilos, he was fit, he was strong and his confidence had returned.

“I let him be and in his first three innings he scored a hat-trick of centuries.”

Cricket Australia wants to treat Green – one of its most precious assets – with kid gloves and while it has downplayed Steve Smith’s claim that the allrounder wasn’t supposed to bowl on day five in Adelaide, there is little doubt his workload is closely monitored.

Chevell – a former fast bowler and member of Western Australia’s Sheffield Shield squad – was plagued by injuries as a teenager, but said imposing heavy restrictions and wrapping bowlers in cotton wool didn’t work.

“I went to doctors, physios, chiros, acupuncturists – you name it I went there to get relief to, in my case, lower back,” he said.

“Other fast bowlers it may be ribs, shins, knees, whatever. The load on a fast bowler’s body is very, very high.

“Everywhere I went gave me some temporary relief, but it came back. I knew in my heart they didn’t have the answers so I had to find the answer myself.

“I take these guys to their physical and mental limit and keep them safe at the same time.”

Originally published as Ashes 2021-22: Fitness guru Kevin Chevell declares mismanagement is jeopardising the careers of fast bowlers