In the same year I was working on a slower ball delivered from the side of the hand. I would squeeze the ball between my middle and ring finger, roll my middle finger into the ball and it would roll, all while keeping my arm speed the same. That was the plan anyway.
It's hard to control and I was a player who liked to feel in control of what I was doing all the time. The unknown of letting the ball come out of the side of my hand made me nervous.
I worried about it in my sleep, but McCollum made it seem so simple. He fully supported me trying the ball in a match and stressed that he didn't care what happened.
The first time I tried it in a match was against Gloucestershire in Uxbridge. McCullum had already left at this point in the season, but he kept following me throughout the competition to try out the new slower ball.
I bowled the slowest ball on the field and the batsman was hitting the ball too early. On the next ball I bowled a shorter ball and the batsman was caught behind the glove.
It was the previous delivery that planted the seeds of doubt in the batsmen's mind as to whether or not a slower ball could have taken the wicket. I took 4-24 to be player of the match.
Not that McCollum doesn't care about the outcome. He does, enthusiastically. But, having played the game, he knows that you have a much greater chance of success and sticking to what you are doing if you are relaxed. This is the basic premise of his coaching, which will suit Buttler and the England team.
