Tim David explains the method behind his success after training air raid
‘If it hits the roof, it’s disappointing’ - Tim David is carving a career unlike any Australian cricketer before him. The big hitting mystery man explains the methodology that’s made him one of the sport’s most coveted players.
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There was an air raid in Antigua overnight and no one was safe.
Journalists were ducking for cover. The windows of the West Indies Cricket offices were peppered.
The roof of the dilapidated old Stanford ground grandstand was bombed too many times to count and each time years’ worth of bird poo would cascade down to the terraces below.
However, Tim David wasn’t even aiming for the roof.
“It’s about hitting over the roof. That’s the goal,” David said with a wry grin.
“If it hits the roof, it’s disappointing.”
This is what it’s like to watch Australian cricket’s mystery man train two days out from the first World Cup Super Eights match against Bangladesh.
He is the enforcer who comes in cold with four overs (or less) to go, yet can smash his first ball for six and monster Australia home to victory.
David is big and strong but much more than a batting windmill.
He is an innovator.
David is not a cricketer who has just happened to find a role as a middle-order T20 slugger. He is a cricketer who has fashioned his entire career to play this one role for Australia.
Other batsmen think about hitting sixes in terms of “how far can I clear the rope when I middle the ball”.
David has spent years honing his power game to calculate whether he can clear a fielder for six even if he only gets 70 per cent of the ball.
The mentality is “how can I guarantee myself six even with a mis-hit? How can I make six-hitting a high-percentage play?”
“I think the nature of the pitches in the Caribbean is they can be really two-paced and up and down with bounce,” David said.
“Mis-hits can be really important, or it’s really important to be fully committed.
“Guys that look to time the ball a lot, you might say they’re playing lower-risk cricket.
“But at the same time, if you need an impact innings in T20 cricket, you take that intent out and you can really break the game open.”
How the mentality of the game has changed.
In 2015, on the eve of Australia’s ODI World Cup clash against New Zealand in Auckland, batsmen spent the entire training session range hitting at Eden Park No.2.
They smashed windows in the old grandstand and prepared for nothing else but attacking the smallest boundaries in world cricket the next day.
Australia was imagining it could be a 400 plays 390 sort of fixture.
Instead, the Aussies were skittled for just 151 and after the loss Michael Clarke took a thinly veiled swipe at his team’s preparation.
“I think sometimes in T20 cricket and one-day cricket you can get caught up working on the power side of your game,” Clarke said.
However, David proves that slaughtering sixes is no longer reckless behaviour.
He might be a multi-millionaire and certified Twenty20 superstar but Australian fans still don’t know much about him because he has broken the mould and circumvented the conventional cricketing pathways to reach the top.
He is a fascinating character, perhaps the most unique cricketer in Australia, and a trailblazer to be admired.
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