Published: Nov 04, 2016, 02:22 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 04, 2016, 02:22 PM (IST)
With England getting ready for their five-match Test series in India, the talks over spin bowling and spinners have begun. Indian pitches are bound to support spinners and Indian spinners have done exceptionally well in Tests over the years at home. Their last defeat at home in a Test series came against England in 2012, the only time they have lost at home in last 10 years. In 2012, England had spinners like Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, who exploited the conditions in their favour and Ravichandran Ashwin, at that time, was not such brutal with his bowling as compared to now.
Talking about that series, where England clinched victory over India, Swann said during the launch of BT Sports cricket coverage, “Me and Monty were freaks of nature, we grew up in Northants where the pitches used to rag square, but I moved [to Nottinghamshire] because I wanted to become a better bowler on non-turning pitches.” Swann further added about the treatment being done over the spinners in England and quipped, “We don’t take spin seriously in this country, and then bemoan the fact that we haven’t got world-class spinners when we go to the subcontinent. We’ve got a bloody good team with bloody good cricketers, but we will lose in India because of what has happened 20 years before. We are hamstrung by the fact that we treat spinners as third-class citizens.”
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Swann made his international debut for England in 2000 in a One-Day International (ODI) but it took eight more years for him get a Test call. He also credited former England coach and captain — Duncan Fletcher and Nasser Hussain for their work and added, “Duncan Fletcher did a lot of good for English cricket – he and Nasser Hussain deserve a lot of credit for helping the game become ultra-professional – but spin bowling always lagged behind. The best thing Fletcher did for me was not picking me for eight years, even though he did pick guys who I thought weren’t as good as me. It actually made me a better spinner. I taught myself to bowl because I was unsullied by the system.”
Later, Swann probably went with the flow and began bashing the county captains who don’t trust their spinners. “You’ve still got 18 county captains who don’t trust their spinners. It’s the English way. An over before lunch, two before tea and six before the new ball. That’s it,” said Swann.
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The former English spinner kept on adding and blamed the system, which gives no backing to spinners. “There is no sort of system in place to provide the backing that spinners need. From the day they arrive in county cricket to the day they play in Tests, it’s not there. It is for batting, for bowlers, for fielding, for fitness, for nutrition … but not for spin bowling. And because of that, we are bad players of spin. It’s a whole melting pot,” Swann said.
England have recruited former Pakistan spinner Mushtaq Ahmed to mentor and prepare spinners ahead of India series, which Swann praised and mentioned, “For me, Mushy was a brilliant sounding board and a mentor, but he only used to do 40 days a year. He’d be there for a couple of weeks, then he’d go home before the second Test. But there’d still be a nutritionist or a psychologist on the tour. I know there’s only one of me, but it’s stupid. I’ve always bemoaned that, but until we take it seriously, we have to accept that when we play away from home in spin conditions we will be shown up.”
In the end, Swann also praised Indian spinners Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja by saying, “I don’t think we’ve got a cat in hell’s chance, seeing how [Ravi] Ashwin and [Ravi] Jadeja bowl. Jadeja doesn’t spin the ball, he doesn’t try to. He just bowls straight and lets Ashwin do the work. Ashwin isn’t a massive turner of the ball, he rarely bowls his carrom ball, but he’s very, very accurate. Every Test in India he goes into, he believes he’s going to win it.”
