New Zealand’s next six Tests are in India and Sri Lanka and the fast bowler has been training his mind and body to be ready for that

Deivarayan Muthu06-Sep-2024Ben Sears is a quiet and reserved person, so long as he doesn’t have a cricket ball in his hand. Then not only does he come alive, he makes everything around him do so as well. Fast bowlers tend to have this effect on the world and it is much the better for it.Sears is just one Test old, but his raw pace has seen him to bolt into New Zealand’s central contracts list. The 26-year-old spent some time training in Chennai recently in the lead-up to Test series in India and Sri Lanka and made life difficult for the batters who faced him, including Rachin Ravindra.Sears, who plays for Wellington in domestic cricket, is used to harnessing the pace and lateral movement available at the Basin Reserve to take out batters at home. His challenge now is to try and pose a similar threat in conditions that are unlikely to be as helpful. To prepare for that, he has been working with his former Wellington coach Sriram Krishnamurthy, who is currently the head coach of the Super Kings Academy in Chennai.”It’s a cool opportunity to come over here and here and work with Sri,” Sears said at CSK’s high-performance centre. “I grew up playing some cricket around [him]. Just come over a little bit early, experience some of the conditions and just acclimatise a little bit.”Obviously, it’s going to be new conditions and a new experience. I’ve come over a little bit early, try to take it all in, try a few things out and yeah, just try to learn on the spot as quickly as you can. Just getting used to the conditions and the ball doesn’t swing as long as it does in New Zealand obviously, so just trying to bring the stumps into play more.”Sriram, who has tracked Sears’ progress right from his Under-19 days, also spoke about the adjustments that the fast bowler would have to make in conditions that might be vastly different from Wellington’s. Each of New Zealand’s next six Tests are in the subcontinent, starting off with the one-off game against Afghanistan on September 9 in Greater Noida.Ben Sears trained with his former Wellington coach Sriram Krishnamurthy in Chennai•Super Kings Academy”For him to bowl at the Basin [Reserve], which has some spicy wickets, or somewhere else at the Mount [Maunganui], in Hamilton or Christchurch and now to India, he has to make those subtle adjustments,” Sriram said. “Sometimes in India, as the game progresses and depending on where they are playing, the pitch could be on the slower side and lower side and have variable bounce too.”So, if you keep the stumps in play, there’s a heightened chance of getting batters out rather than in New Zealand where swing plays a huge role and the fielders behind the wicket become useful. You nick batters off in that part of the world whereas in India it’s perhaps a combination of that and reverse-swing is a component. So, you try to bring the stumps into play with bowleds and lbws and also bring catchers in front of the wicket in play.”Sears has had his fair share of injuries over the years but has become much stronger after overcoming them. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo in July, Paul Wiseman, the former New Zealand spinner who is currently their talent identification manager, has come to believe that Sears has now attained the physical maturation to cope with the demands of top-flight cricket. Having a better understanding of his body and prioritising recovery have helped Sears in this regard.”Initially, he was always that young kid who wanted to bowl and bowl fast,” Sriram recalled. “He perhaps didn’t understand the other aspects of the game that supported him to bowl fast at the time. Now that he’s been part of the domestic systems – it’s almost come to a decade since he played for New Zealand in the Under-19 World Cup [in 2016] – and he’s learnt to prioritise his strength and conditioning and focus on his body.New Zealand are preparing to play six back-to-back Tests in the subcontinent, four in India and two in Sri Lanka•Getty Images”When he was younger, it was about bowling, bowling and bowling fast and that also contributed to him being injured because he was trying to do more than [what] his body allowed. Now, he’s understood the importance of rest and recovery, especially over the last three-four years. Even at this Chennai camp, he could’ve tried doing a lot in four days, but he was smart about it and just did what was needed for his body. He also has potential with the bat and can contribute runs.”Sears said that working with Shane Jurgensen, the former New Zealand bowling coach who is currently the head coach of Wellington, has also benefited his bowling. “It’s been awesome with Jurgo. He’s coached a lot at the international level and obviously trying to learn as quickly as you can. He’s someone who has had those experiences as a world-class coach and so it’s awesome to have him as a point of contact.”With Neil Wagner having retired from international cricket and Kyle Jamieson still injured, New Zealand have turned to Sears – and Will O’Rourke – to provide their attack with a potent point of difference. A six-Test tour of the subcontinent can be a gruelling challenge for a rookie fast bowler, but a fitter, stronger Sears is ready for it.