Spinners can be winners

Ashley Giles © Getty Images

The state of spin bowling in England is looking very promising, with Monty Panesar and Ashley Giles heavily involved with the Test team and Jamie Dalrymple and Michael Yardy proving themselves in the one-day side.

In addition, there are several other spin-bowlers in England who are competing favourably at county level.

Graeme Swann and Ian Salisbury. who have both had a taste of international cricket, are now plying their trade successfully at Nottinghamshire and Surrey respectively.

Surrey also have Nayan Doshi and the newly-signed Chris Schofield in their ranks, while Nottinghamshire can call upon Samit Patel to form a two-pronged spin attack.

Then there are three leg-spinners either side of the Pennines, with Simon Marshall at Lancashire and Adil Rashid and Mark Lawson at Yorkshire, all getting rave reviews.

Ray Price, part of a spin duo with Gareth Batty at Worcestershire, is hoping to qualify to play for England in the next two years and he is really pleased with how the spin situation has improved.

Ray Price is looking forward to qualifying © Getty Images

“It is looking really good,” he told ecb.co.uk. “Monty Panesar is probably the best left-arm spinner we have seen in ages. I reckon he is going to be as good as Daniel Vettori. It will be interesting to see how he does in Australia.

“I feel a little bit sad for Ashley Giles because he did really well in the Ashes but then got injured and has to come back. But he will be fighting really hard and doing as much as he can to get back in the team.”

Swann is equally delighted with the way spin-bowling is now being perceived in this country, finally getting the recognition it deserves.

“I think it is very healthy and I think it has been healthy for the last ten years,” he told ecb.co.uk.

“We play on very unhelpful pitches most of the time in county cricket, which is never taken into account. And we use a Duke’s cricket ball which isn’t very spinner-friendly.”

“It is great now with Monty Panesar doing so well for England, and the two leggies at Yorkshire who look very promising.

“There are good spin bowlers in this country and they are certainly as good as the rest of the world,”

But despite his praise for the standard of English spin bowling, he realises that England need to find a match-winning bowler.

Graeme Swann wants more recogniton for spinners

“Perhaps what we haven’t had is that exceptional Test match winner like Shane Warne or Muttiah Muralitharan - but no other countries have them either and they don’t get slated for it,” Swann added.

Salisbury thinks that the problem lies with the lack of coaching from ex-spinners, something which he hopes to combat by becoming a coach himself when he retires.

“I’ve played this game a long time so I have got a fair amount of knowledge of the ups and downs of being a spin bowler in this country,” he told ecb.co.uk.

“The knowledge about spin bowling has been left behind since people retired - your Embureys, Edmonds, Tufnells, Hemmings, Pococks.

“But a lot of overseas players are now spin bowlers. Shaun Udal only got 15 wickets this season and Shane Warne got 60. So, if we didn’t have Warne or Mushtaq Ahmed we wouldn’t be learning how brilliant spin is or what potentially could be done.”

Leg-spinner Ian Salisbury is keen to encourage talent

But he does sound a word of warning to those counties employing overseas professionals to perform their spin duties.

“It may also be harming the progress of some other spinners coming through. It is being highlighted that there is a need for help with Dave Parsons being given the job of ‘director of spin’ at the ECB,” Salisbury added.

“I think we have to have a real drive to create spinners for this country. We need some coaches who know what they are talking about and to impart some knowledge into the game about how difficult it is for spin bowlers these days.

The leg-spinner is keen to see Rashid and Lawson in action, something he admits is more out of curiosity than anything else.

“Hopefully they will be guided and given knowledge and allowed to bowl the odd bad ball when trying to get their wickets,” Salisbury said.

“I would like to see them bowl at some stage. I have heard very good reports. I heard they are different sorts of characters and both very determined. Hopefully they will provide the future for leg-spinning in this country.

“We need to bide our time and nurture through the next generation of spinners for England.”