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CRICKET ROADSHOWS

Week 15 Review - 18 Aug, Headingley Spin doctors out in force at Headingley

England's lack of quality spinners came under the microscope on Saturday's Cricket Roadshow as the likes of Shane Warne, Saqlain Mushtaq and Richie Benaud put forward a variety of theories for the slow bowler's demise.

All agreed the increasing influence of one-day cricket and its focus on economy had proved detrimental, but Warne's coach Terry Jenner said the spinner's role was often misconstrued in the modern game.

"Why would a spinner bowl to be a container?" he asked. "Dibbly-dobbly bowlers contain, spinners are wicket takers. Spinners have always been risk takers and you can take runs from them but we have this myth that says you take a spin bowler and keep an end tight while another guy takes all the wickets. No, the spin bowler takes wickets."

Jenner is hoping to redress the current dearth of English leg-spinners by working with the country's most promising teenagers but Mushtaq said the lack of contemporary practitioners was a major problem.

"They don't have any role models here. In Australia they have Shane Warne, in India they have Kumble and in Pakistan we had Abdul Qadir and then Mushtaq came along. We also have dry atmosphere and dry pitches in Pakistan," he said.

A typically forthright Benaud traced the decline back 30 years. "Effectively, whether they deny or not, England wiped out leg-spin in the late 1960s," said the former Australia captain.

"When I brought a side over in 1961 there were seven leg-spinners playing county cricket. They got rid of those for whatever reasons, but mainly because they were too expensive and also the tail end of uncovered pitches as well."

Pessimistically, he added: "I'd like to see more of them in English cricket but I'm not holding my breath. I just have the feeling over here that leg-spin is not wanted."

Chairman of selectors and former left arm spinner David Graveney concurred with Benaud on the unfavourable pitch conditions.

"When I started, playing on uncovered wickets was a definite help although it was also an added pressure because if you didn't deliver they'd replace you with someone else. But certainly the surfaces that we play on now, due to the loam they use, are just very hard wickets."

He also suggested the modern preference for close-in fielders was a problem. "If you played on a good batting wicket you had a guy on the drive and a guy on long-off and you were encouraged to get the ball in the air. Guys come on to bowl now and they have bat-pads in on either side on wickets that do not warrant those field placings."

Graveney voiced optimism about the role the new national academy would have on developing young spinners and came up with a novel suggestion as he discussed Chris Schofield's lack of impact at Test level.

"Maybe he was brought into international cricket too early or maybe we didn't show enough faith, but when he went back to county cricket Murali was playing for Lancashire so he actually went from Test cricket to 2nd XI cricket.

"What about the concept – I'm not saying it's right or wrong - of restricting the type of overseas players we have in this country. Let's say we don't have overseas spinners and that would all our guys to take on the responsibility of bowling."

Warne, the most successful leg-spinner in Test history, said he turned to wrist-spin through lack of alternatives.

"As a kid I wanted to be Dennis Lillee. I tried to bowl as fast as I could but I was no good at that. I tried to be Rod Marsh but I was no good at that and I tried to be Ian Chappell but I was no good at that either, so there wasn't too many options left for me."

But it wasn't all doom and gloom as the Roadshow unveiled a possible future star in four-year-old Harry Dearden, an unashamed Warne fan who impressed all with his excellent leg-spin action.

Elsewhere on the programme there was the usual mix of features and round-ups, including an interview with Yorkshire's Chris Silverwood and a short film on the Aussies' trip to the dogs in Pontefract earlier in the week.

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