Melbourne: Fast bowler Mitchell Johnson said the injection of new coaching staffs, who have brought new approaches, is helping the Australian squad.
Johnson said after the disastrous Ashes campaign, team and coaches needed a shake-up and is happy that things are moving in the right direction.
Justing Langer has been appointed as the batting coach, Steve Rixon is sharpening the fielding skills while Craig McDermott is the bowling coach.Johnson said the appointment of McDermott as the bowling coach will help him a lot.
"It`s good to have Craig on board with his Test experience. I had a good relationship with Troy Cooley and worked really well with him, but having Craig there with his Test and international experience is going to be a big boost for us," Johnson was quoted as saying by a daily.
"I`ve worked on not too much technical with him, just my fingers, split fingers and things like that. Nothing too out there, but just little things here and there. But having him on tour in situations where we might come off the field and he might see something that we`re not seeing, it`ll be good to have that experience."Johnson said little things like changing the grip of the ball were making a difference.
"I bowl with my fingers close together and I don`t have as much control with the ball. This helps me stand the seam up a little bit, or hopefully that`s the plan, and give me that balance with the ball, because I`m not going to be fiddling around with my wrist or anything like that at this (point). I`m going on 30 now and I don`t think fiddling around too much like that is going to help me. So it`s just split the fingers a little bit to have a bit more balance with the ball," he said.
IANS
First Published: Thursday, July 14, 2011, 15:41