Spin's in, says Parsons

Monty Panesar celebrates a wicket for England in inimitable fashion © Getty Images

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David Parsons is hoping the tide of goodwill towards spin bowling will help carry him towards his goal of producing an England Test spinner by 2009.

Parsons, the ECB spin-bowling coach, is revelling in the attention being afforded to the game's most entrancing art and his lifelong passion.

Whether it be Monty Panesar gracing the back pages and television screens, or archived footage of the Laker Test taking the older generation on a trip down memory lane, it seems spinners have rarely been out of the spotlight this summer.

Panesar may be largely to thank for making spin bowling fashionable again – he adorns the cover of October's Wisden Cricketer magazine under a headline that screams 'Monty: England's cult hero' – but the 50th anniversary of Jim Laker taking 19 wickets in a Test may prove an equally pivotal year in the history of slow bowling.

David Parsons and Panesar share a great passion for spin

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Two young off-spinners, Sachin Vaja and Tom Winslade, were awarded Laker Spin Scholarships at a dinner held in his honour last week, the hope being that they will follow in Laker's footsteps.

"There's a real drive within cricket to make sure the best young spinners are spotted and get the support they need to become England players," Parsons told ecb.co.uk.

"I'm so pleased because people are talking about spin bowling again because it has been overlooked for so long.

"The Monty effect this year has been amazing and we need to make the most of that.

"Hopefully all the young spinners around, not only Sachin and Tom, can benefit from it."

The scholarships will see Vaja, a 20-year-old whose action bears more than a passing resemblance to Muttiah Muralitharan, and 16-year-old Surrey Academy recruit Winslade spend two weeks at the World Cricket Academy in Mumbai this winter.

Parsons, who will continue to monitor their progress as part of his wider-reaching spin programme at the ECB National Academy in Loughborough, has high hopes for both.

Parsons is hoping to utilise the expertise of Bishen Bedi (right)

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"Sachin is exciting. He puts a lot of energy on the ball, spins it a long way and spins it both ways," he said.

"He has a long, long way to go in terms of control and landing it in the right place, but he's got a lot of talent."

Winslade, who has represented England at age-group level and won the Daily Telegraph scholarship for his performances at the Bunbury festival last year, is highly thought of at Surrey – he returned from the Academy tour to South Africa last year as their leading wicket-taker, despite being their youngest player.

"We need to give players like this a chance," added Parsons, the brains behind a two-day trial match featuring only spinners at Derby earlier this month.

"We've been over to the Academy in India before and there was coaching from (former India spinners) Bishen Bedi and Erappalli Prasanna, so it should be a great experience for these young guys."