Andrew Schwass had every reason to be thankful for a session on former New Zealand fast bowler Gary Bartlett’s massage table before Central Districts’ match with Northern Districts in Blenheim

Lynn McConnell03-Dec-2001Andrew Schwass had every reason to be thankful for a session on former New Zealand fast bowler Gary Bartlett’s massage table before Central Districts’ match with Northern Districts in Blenheim.Schwass, 27, another of the long line of late developers in New Zealand cricket, took seven for 36 as CD bowled out ND for 160 at Horton Park, his best figures in a career of only six first-class matches.Schwass missed the first game of the State Championship in Auckland and coming to Blenheim had some lingering problems in his lower back.But after Bartlett worked with the CD bowlers on Sunday afternoon, helping them with their run-ups and ball release, he got out the now legendary massage table and worked on Schwass’ back.”I had a bit of pressure build-up in my back but he worked on it and he bruised me, but it helped when I was out there bowling.”When we had been bowling with him he said we weren’t slamming our foot down hard enough at the crease, and he also worked on the ball release.”Before this game I was also loping in instead of bouncing in, and bouncing in really does make a difference in your action. If you have got rhythm then you can bowl faster.”Gary has been helping us for the last two years. He knows his stuff and it is a shame that more people don’t listen to him,” Schwass said.With his average now sitting on a tidy 19.10 with 30 wickets in his brief career, the Nelson joiner is enjoying his cricket. He would still like to break into the New Zealand one-day team at some stage.Equally, he’d like to score some more runs.”I want to improve my batting and to be more patient because I like to play my shots,” he said.While most bowlers have nothing but regrets about stress fractures, Schwass looks on the one he suffered while playing in Canada as the start of his career.Having lived in Dunedin for 20 years, he was moping about with nothing to do after his back injury when an uncle in Nelson rang and asked him to go north. It was a good move and within two years he was playing first-class cricket and playing a leading role in the Shell Cup success CD had last year.Well known Dunedin coach and former Pakistan player Billy Ibadulla and former Otago player Wayne Blair were early influences on his bowling development while CD coach Dipak Patel had been a mentor of late.CD has an enviable crop of seam bowlers but despite the competition for places they are a close group.”We bowled well in partnerships today. I like to bowl the length and take it away from the right-hand batsmen.”It has been quite hard losing our batters like Craig Spearman, Mark Douglas and Jacob Oram from last year.”But us bowlers are on a different planet to our batters. We get on well together and while we are competing for places, the selectors told us at a three-day camp where four of us didn’t know whether we would be picked that they would be picking teams game by game.”It was just a case of making sure he did the work in club and provincial level to be ready if the call came.”It’s everyone’s dream to play at this level,” he said.That was the reason Schwass bowled through the pain barrier last year with shin splints and sore hips.”Once you get warmed up and pumped up you don’t notice it so much,” he said.He acknowledges that he wasn’t one of the favoured youth players of his time who was invited to training camps or regarded for Academy intakes.”A lot of guys get pushed at a young age. But I’m 27 now and I’m just enjoying it.”It’s great that us guys can come out of nowhere and can do something,” he said.At his age he enjoys great support in his pursuit from his partner Sherie. But they have allowed cricket to help them travel the world.Two years ago Schwass played for Slazenger in the Central Yorkshire League taking 50-odd wickets and scoring 500 runs. It was a significant aid for his step up into first-class cricket.After the impact he made last summer, he had the winter off cricket and travelled through Europe finding the time away from cricket was a great fillip. And today against ND in Blenheim his team-mates had reason to be thankful for that as he enjoyed career-best figures in batting and bowling.