Gear change: Meredith's new weapon yields instant results

There was a time where all Riley Meredith wanted to do was to bowl fast.

And he could too, one of the few bowlers in this country capable of consistently hitting speeds over 150kph.

He still is, but this season he's learning to bowl through the gears with the aim of keeping him on the park and injury free for a sustained period.

When he was first selected for an Australian squad in mid-2020, Meredith's mantra was that if you can bowl 150kph "it's a weapon and you've got to use it. If you're bowling mid-130s you're not doing your service to the team".

But as the seasons have gone on and the injuries kept stacking up, the Tasmanian quick, who grew up in the same suburb as Blundstone Arena, came to realise he needed a new approach.

Now it's all about tempo. And while there will still be moments where his team and the situation needs him to crank it up to 150kph to try and bust the game open, it also involves spells, predominately in red-ball cricket, where he bowls slightly within himself.

"It's always been my role (to bowl fast) and what I've tried to do," Meredith told cricket.com.au ahead of this week's match against NSW.

"But as I've got older, my skills have gotten a little bit better as well so it's not as crucial that I have to try and bowl as fast as I can every spell and I can rely on a bit of swing and seam as well.

"I'm still coming in hard and trying to bowl good pace, it's certainly not trying to bowl mediums or … little dibbly-dobblies.

"Basically, the point of the whole thing is to try and stay half fresh for those moments where the game needs a lift.

"You look around world cricket and there's not a lot of guys bowling real top end speeds all day in Test cricket and backing up.

"Dale Steyn was who (went through the gears) really well. His first few spells were still quick but he held back a little bit and then when the game was on the line he had that extra gear to go to and he could really break the game open.

"So I'm trying to emulate that style I suppose."

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If there's anyone who can relate to how frustrating the past few summers have been for Meredith, it's Tasmania's new bowling coach Rob Cassell.

Meredith has spent more time on the sidelines watching his Tigers teammates since December 2019 than playing with them owing to a string of "annoying" injuries keep popping just as the season gets going.

First it was a side strain, then a gastro bug, and last summer he was plagued by a hamstring injury early in the season before being ruled out of Tasmania's Marsh Sheffield Shield push in March with a rib issue.

Even this preseason was a stop-start one, with a few soft tissue niggles including another hamstring strain that ruled him out of The Hundred plaguing the 26-year-old's lead in to Tasmania's opening match in late September.

It's an early career path Cassell is familiar with having lived through a similar one himself.

Image Id: 82008FF845684991A37352110045FC17 Image Caption: Cassell works with Beau Webster during the preseason // Twitter-@TasmanianTigers

After bursting into Victoria's world-class Sheffield Shield side aged 19 in November 2002, the right-arm quick spent the next seven years battling back issues that meant he only managed a few dozen first grade matches with Premier side Melbourne.

He would remodel his action during a stint at the Centre of Excellence in 2009 and fought back to earn a state contract with South Australia where he played seven Shield matches in the 2010-11 season before moving into coaching.

Armed with that lived experienced and the knowledge that Meredith was more than just an express paceman, Cassell was the catalyst behind his change of mindset for the 2022-23 season.

"It's a bit of a no brainer really," Meredith says.

"(Cassell's) been around cricket for ages; obviously, he didn't play as much as he would have liked and injuries were a big part of that.

Image Id: FC1D83EADD5744658F724444F906E452 Image Caption: Cassell bowls for the Redbacks during a Sheffield Shield match in 2010 // Getty

"But he's also got heaps of experience coaching with different sides and different sorts of players, so he'll talk about cricket all day and it wasn't hard to convince me, that's for sure.

"I haven't played much cricket the last couple of years, I've played a few Shield games and a handful of one-dayers.

"It's just a bit of a trial-and-error thing to try and get more cricket really and not bust myself in the first two games of the season and hopefully I'll be there towards the end."

And so far this season it seems to be working.

When Meredith cranked it up to the top tempo late on day three in Tasmania's last match against Victoria, he broke through a set Marcus Harris's defence where not many other bowlers would have been able to.

Two days earlier he had also dismissed Peter Handscomb, the competition's top run-scorer so far this season and last season, and nightwatchman Mitch Perry late in the piece.

He's also played more Shield games already this summer than he has in each of the Tigers' past two campaigns and double the number of 50-over matches, claiming a five-wicket haul in each competition to sit top of their combined wickets tally this summer.

"There was no radar gun at the ground but it was bloody quick," Cassell recalls of the spell that dismissed Harris on day three.

"Not many other bowlers would have burst through his defence to be honest."

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Cassell admits it's "not a one-size-fits-all" approach, but he says Meredith's been receptive to it, and more importantly, it appears to be paying dividends during the opening stages of the season.

The only game he's missed so far this season was Tasmania's Shield trip to Adelaide due to pre-planned workload management with an eye to keeping him fresh for the entire summer.

"Obviously, he can bowl really decent wheels," says Cassell.

"But I didn't want to pigeonhole him as just being a bowler that comes in and tries to bowl a million miles an hour every ball and is the only person in the attack that comes in and bowls bumpers.

"There will be times in spells or even balls in matches where he does crank it up.

"But he's far more skilful than that. He's got all the tools and we want to utilise his new balls skills, his outswinger, inswinger and his scramble seam ball which he's got the skills to do."

Image Id: 9F06BC4D789046ADBF8342C78976D190 Image Caption: Meredith is Tasmania's leading bowling in both formats so far this season // Getty

Cassell explains their new approach also needed the buy in of Meredith's teammates to know that he wasn't going to bowl 150kph every ball of every spell.

"I'm pretty certain if he did that right now, he would break," Cassell says.

"It's about us being really selective, smart and considered when he pushes the button to bowl 145kph plus when the game or the captain requires it.

"And other times, it's not taking the foot off the gas too much but bowling at a tempo that's sustainable and still with the performance there.

"He can bowl at high 130s and just bowl within himself a little bit and still be highly effective when the ball is moving around.

"There might be guys out there still bowling 100 per cent maximum every ball but for 'Riz' (Meredith) we think that this is the best path forward for him.

"It's still putting in effort but it's almost like a mental thing, if he's operating at 90-95 per cent it can feel a little bit easier.

"He's got a beautiful action and he does make it look easy at times."

The end goal for Meredith and the Tigers coaches is to get him playing consistent cricket over the next few seasons which Cassell hopes will have him back on the Australian radar to add to his single ODI and five T20I caps.

"I think the days are gone of bowlers just trying to bowl absolutely flat out every ball in Shield cricket and Test cricket," says Cassell.

"I was one who tried to bowl absolutely flat out every training session and it didn't work for me.

"Probably my regret is I didn't bowl enough tempo overs at training and wasted some petrol.

"I was a different bowler (later on), I tried to swing it a bit more and use my skills as opposed to just trying to bowl express pace when I was a bit younger (and) I think that's what most guys do later in their career."

Meredith’s only goal, however, is to enjoy playing some consistent cricket and contribute to a few wins with the Tigers.

"I haven't really felt like I've played much cricket over the last couple of years so it's just about getting out there … taking as many wickets as I can and getting a few wins," he says.

"I'm still trying to work it out a little bit (what gear to use) but it's just that game feel and talking to 'Silky' (Jordan Silk) the captain and Jeff (Vaughan, Tasmania's coach), 'Cass' (Cassell) and even 'Birdy' (Jackson Bird) and 'Sidds' (Peter Siddle).

"If someone can sense that it's a big moment in the game and it's worth going up a gear for a bit of a spell to try and break the game open."