Parsons' positive spin

David Parsons is keen to see more specialist spin coaches in this country © Getty Images

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David Parsons, the ECB’s spin-bowling coach, claims his vision for specialist coaching the length and breadth of the country is not far from becoming reality.

Appointed in January to nurture current and future generations of slow bowlers, Parsons is keen to see a spin coach operating in every county.

Although the then England coach David Lloyd helped initiate a search for leg-spinning talent in 1999, the art of slow bowling - and, more specifically, the coaching of it - has traditionally been neglected in this country.

That charge can no longer be levelled at the ECB, whose appointment of Parsons earlier this year reflected the increased importance being placed on developing young talent and unearthing a world-class spinner.

That process continues apace when Derbyshire host a two-day match, starting on Sunday, featuring the best young spinners in the country and not a sole seam bowler.

Youngster Adil Rashid has forced his way into the Yorkshire side © Getty Images

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Monty Panesar’s accomplished transition from county to Test cricket may have provided England with a ready-made replacement during Ashley Giles’ absence, but Parsons insists much more needs to be done to improve the coaching set-up nationwide.

“There are some places where good coaching is going on, but others where it’s not so good,” he told ecb.co.uk.

“The spin coaching at the moment is sporadic. Some players might be lucky because the coach at their county happens to be a spinner, but others less so.

“John Emburey is at Middlesex, Mike Watkinson is at Lancashire and John Childs is the Academy director at Essex, so they can offer you specialist advice.

“My job is to increase the quality of coaching - where there are gaps in the coaching set-up, we need to fill them - and, in time, have an ECB specialist spin-bowling coach in every county.

“We’ve made improvements in the last few years, and since I’ve been in this job, so I don’t think that’s too far in the future.”

If the inference might be that such high-profile coaching positions can be filled only by former first-class players, Parsons is quick to press the claims of those who have not played professionally.

Leg-spinner Mark Lawson has also made an impact with Yorkshire at first-class level

“If you’ve played the game at first-class or Test level, that gives you a huge help,” he said

“But even if you haven’t, if you can somehow acquire the knowledge - through watching, reading and talking to other players and coaches - they can be pretty useful resources too.

“It’s by no means just former players who we want in the coaching set-up. We want as many good coaches as we can get.”

Aspiring coaches will work alongside Terry Jenner, Shane Warne’s mentor and arguably the leading authority on wrist-spin whose input in recent years has seen a marked increase in the number of leg-spinners playing county cricket.

“There’s certainly been an improvement since he came on board, and the players that have already come through at first-class level - the likes of Adil Rashid and Mark Lawson at Yorkshire - make it even more exciting.

“The work Terry has done is fantastic, but we need to develop our own coaches.

“We need to have people on the ground here that the spinners can turn to on a daily basis.

“We’re not quite there yet but there are more spinners now than there were.

“We’ve started the process and things are moving in the right direction.”