A Spinner's plight.

Monty Panesar’s signing for Essex is another nail in the coffin of Tom Craddock’s chances of breaking through into the county game and is another indicator towards the growing trend of a lack of chances for 20 something English spinners in the county championship. Panesar was immediately replaced at Sussex by Ashar Zaidi, a 32 year old Karachi born naturalised Brit who is more an allrounder but bowls some round arm spin. Will Beer, 25, managed a couple of games before been sent back to the 2^nd xi. Craddock, 24, shows good control (moreso than his contemporaries in the English game, Borthwick and Rashid) and turns his leg break a decent distance.

 

Tom Craddock: Talented but struggling to get regular cricket. Path now blocked by Monty Panesar.

There is no doubt it is tough for a young spinner especially leg spin as in the case of Beer and Craddock. Conditions in England, contrary to the last ashes series are considerably more favourable to seamers. Counties are much more likely to favour a batsman who can bowl a little medium pace than an unproven frontline spinner. Benny Howell, Darren Stevens, Jim Allenby all contribute to their counties with 20 or 30 wickets a season barely bowling at speeds over 70mph. This bowling will never be required or used at international level should they be selected for their batting but it is vital for the counties on the green seamers that frequent county cricket and are especially prevalent in the second division. It is now true that unless you are an elite spinner (at county standard) like Simon Kerrigan or Monty Panesar chances are you’re going to need to contribute with the bat and in the field if you want to make the team as a spin bowler- something Tom Craddock knows too well.

Monty Panesar: An exceptional bowler at county level.

In a startling fact only 4 English spinners under 30 have taken 50+ wickets over the course of the last two seasons as shown in the table below.

Name	Matches	Overs	Wickets	Average	Age
Kerrigan	28	979.1	101	26.96	24
Ali	32	568.5	61	30.25	26
Wainwright	25	823.5	61	37.77	28
Rayner	23	562	56	26.55	28

The rest: Dockrell(48 wickets), Rashid(45), Borthwick(43), S Patel(40), Dawson(32), Rafiq(27), Briggs(27).

Until a spinner returns season after season taking lots of wickets it’s hard to be seriously considered good enough for test cricket. Monty Panesar and Simon Kerrigan are the only two Englishmen that can claim to attain to that standard - and we know how Simon Kerrigan's debut turned out; so county wickets alone is no guarantee of success at international level but until you start taking them you shouldn't be considered. Even in the YB40 and T20 this past season there was a distinct lack of young spinners taking wickets which actually goes against the general trend of the last few seasons where spin has played a key part. There are more opportunities in the shorter format with pace bowlers rested and wearing wickets but the past season was marked by how unimpressive and inconspicuous the spin bowling was, with much of it lacking aggression and guile and too many overs used up by part time spinners bowling flat darts. 

At present there is no imminent danger for England with Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar strong spinners but both are the wrong side of 30 and the time will come in a few years for them to both move on. Given the scarcity of current options, the lack of opportunities and weak performances from the current 20-somethings it could well be a worrying time. Even more worrisome is the doomsday scenario of Swann’s elbow causing a premature retirement and Panesar continuing his current decline and in 6 months England could be left in big trouble – let’s hope this doesn’t come to fruition any time soon. 

Graeme Swann: Vital to England

 If we did get to that point in 4 years time for instance with no outstanding spinner in county cricket they may be forced into some unconventional thinking and selecting a team without a frontline spinner. Moeen Ali and Scott Borthwick were two of the success stories of the 2013 season as both had career best seasons with the bat. Borthwick promoted to 3 shone in Durham’s championship winning season and played with good discipline and sound technique to conquer the fertile Chester-Le-Street wicket. Ali was more dominant but in the second division. Both have limitations as batsmen. This was only Borthwick’s 2^nd season at the top of the order and he needs continued success to forge a career in the top order. Ali struggled in the first division the previous two years and his adaption to the very slow and low wicket of Worcester (and many other second division wickets) could well prove a hindrance in proving his suitability for test batting. 

With that in mind both have improved their batting this season and with continued success they will push hard. Their spin bowling at this time is limited. Borthwick is too erratic and whilst he can be a wicket-taker he often strays on the full side and is expensive. Ali gets good turn but bowls quite slowly and can be hit out of the attack by a talented batsman capable of using their feet. Neither bowls an extensive amount of overs and Borthwick in particular can go weeks without a serious bowl.

England could be forced into a team such as this in 2018.

Cook, Root, Borthwick, Bell, Ballance, Ali, Bairstow, Stokes, Broad, Finn, Topley

In an ideal world a frontline spinner would be selected but if the options are limited England may be best hedging their bets by picking two average spinners who strengthen the batting and offer differing options with the ball. If they were both off-spinners or leg-spinners it wouldn’t work but the balance that playing two contrasting albeit limited spinners would be beneficial to the team in different conditions. 

Moeen Ali: Could he provide control as a spinner?

Scott Borthwick: A potential England No.3?

It’s a long way away but it’s as likely as any other scenario at present once Swann and Panesar are no longer options. Kerrigan has been comfortably the best spinner in county cricket over the last couple of years but his test debut will not be easily forgotten and it’s hard to see him getting an opportunity again whilst Cook is captain. You couldn’t pick any other spinner out of county cricket with any kind of certainty to play for England. There are decent prospects in Ravi Patel, Azeem Rafiq and Adam Riley as well as some talented youngsters like Miles Hammond, Tom Shrewsbury and Sam Wood but until any of them put together season after season of performances they are nothing more than vague prospects.

One only has to look at England spinners from past u19 world cups to see the fallacy of resting any hopes in an English spinner too young. Only Graeme Swann in the 14 years of 7 U19 world cups (let’s discount the 1988 version) has turned out to be a regular frontline spinner at county level. Allrounders such as Tom Westley and Liam Dawson of the 2007/08 edition have gradually became batsmen who occasionally bowl and many of the specialists such as Paul McMahon (2002) and Mark Lawson (2004) have dropped out of the game completely.

 

Mark Lawson: Now a spin bowling coach

To rectify the problem there may need to be radical thinking. Young spinners are simply not getting enough time or overs to bowl. As a country England players tend to be underdeveloped in comparison to other nations up to the u19 level simply because they don’t play enough and this is especially prevalent in spin bowlers who need years of practising their craft before they can maintain their consistency. Too often a young spinner sees no way of forcing their way into regular county cricket and lose their enthusiasm and are lost to the game. It’s easy and profitable to shove the ball to the fourth seamer rather than the spinner in county first and second xi cricket. Maybe there needs to be some incentive based system to promote spinners bowling overs- possibly only in the second division. Too strict a system where spinners are required to bowl a certain amount of overs will give the game an artificial look. English conditions aren’t such that there are no opportunities for spinners. In general it’s a better place to bowl spin that any of Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. Many overseas spinners come here and dominate and it has been no different in test cricket. There should be no reason why English spinners shouldn’t prosper; At least in the short term I’d settle for them bowling more overs. 

Hopefully a talent like Tom Craddock is given the time he requires to make it at first class level and he isn’t lost to cricket like so many other spinners who have fallen by the wayside. If he and other young spinners continue to do so England could be left short on talent and county cricket will be far less exciting.

Some Thoughts

The pitches

Yes they were fairly lifeless but there were results in 3 of the 5 games and the other two would most likely have been results as well were it not for the weather. Given the inadequacies in the both teams batting it was little surprise that the counties wanted to play a little safe with the wickets given the financial implications. English wickets are by and large slow and low wickets as well- so in that respect the test wickets replicated the county scene. It has been a dryer than normal summer but the test wickets were also prepared in such a way to benefit Graeme Swann – a tradition that is no new phenomenon.

Warne v Vaughan

You’d go well to find two more objectionable and dislikeable figures in cricket these days than these two. Through the whining and warped views it’s hard to enjoy cricket and even their fellow commentators seem to be growing tired of their fawning for public attention. Warne’s verbal assault on Cook’s captaincy and Vaughan’s bias towards Yorkshiremen and cricketers in his talent agency were particularly galling.

Bairstow

I didn’t see him as a number 6 when he came into the England team and he’s kind of proved this point. In the long run he could be a number 7 wicketkeeper once Matthew Prior leaves the England setup but it’s hard to see him being good enough to be a batsman alone. He needs to go back to Yorkshire and actually keep wicket for a while if he wants to increase the likelihood of this scenario- if he spends the next couple of years in and out of the England team at 6 his career will likely go no-where quickly and he may be surpassed by a Kieswetter or Davies as wicketkeeper.

The ashes in Australia

Tough to predict. If Australia can get some of their fast bowlers on the pitch I’d actually like them as favourites. Mitchell Johnson’s form in the recent ODI’s is probably not the greatest bit of news for the Aussie test team if he does get a recall based on his previous history against England in test cricket. Australia has got to hope that Harris, Pattinson and co are fit once the first test comes along. England’s three key bowlers in Anderson, Broad and Swann are somewhat more resilient but England can ill afford an injury to any of them as they lack the quality backup that Australia now has.

Some thoughts on the forthcoming county season.

There seems to be an increasing inequality between the two divisions in 4 day cricket. Young England hopefuls are wary that they need to be playing in the first division and are leaving their home counties to strong first division counties (see Harris, Taylor) whilst experienced pro’s are tempted by the higher wages first division clubs pay(see Solanki, Keedy).

This will continue to happen in the future with the second division likely becoming no more than a feeder league for young players and a few senior players who are past it or never likely to make it. The strengths of the squads and in particular the fast bowlers is the most obvious difference between the two divisions at present. 

Somerset and Surrey have a mixture of very good experienced bowlers (Tremlett, Meaker, Dernbach, Lewis, Linley, Keedy, Batty; Thomas, Kirby, Trego) and exciting young bowlers(Dunn, Edwards, Ansari, Van den Bergh; J + C Overton, Meschede, Dibble, Gregory, Dockrell). Middlesex can afford to leave international cricketers of the calibre of Collymore in the 2^nd even with Steven Finn unavailable for selections. In the 2^nd division counties are forced to select rejects from other clubs and youngster who probably shouldn’t be playing county cricket. Gloucestershire are one such county who have been forced into bringing through youth players through necessity rather than a batch of outstanding bowlers (see Somerset). Players like Matt Taylor and Norwell were and probably still are nowhere near a good domestic standard. Gloucestershire and Leicestershire are already struggling with injuries to fast bowlers this season. Leicestershire will be forced into playing such luminaries as Freckingham and Wyatt for their first match of the season.

This diluting of the quality does nobody any favours. Quality players both old and young are left on the sidelines in the first division whereas in the second division at times it appears like anybody who is available to play can get a game.

For this reason I’m would like to see a more dynamic and fluid transfer and loan system put into place by the ECB. Players like Matt Dunn and George Edwards need first class cricket yet are behind a long list of fast bowlers at Surrey (as the season moves on of course these players will be used as Tremlett, Meaker, Dernbach accept international calls) and are better than many of the bowlers in the second division – and most importantly have realistic future prospects of playing for England. Sussex has a promising chinaman bowler in Michael Rippon but he is behind Panesar in first class cricket and behind Beer and Yardy in the shorter formats. There are clubs like Gloucestershire and Worcestershire crying out for an attacking spinner and yet there is little movement in the loan system. There needs to be more incentive for short and long term loans. The ECB and the counties no.1 priority should be to make a strong county championship in both divisions as this will allow more players to stick with their counties in the second division whilst still playing at a good enough standard to push for international honours.

Essex is a second division county but unlike the majority of the rest they have a strong squad with a number of good young and old players in reserve. It is continually baffling how badly they perform. It seems they are a club with real troubles – hopefully they are in the process of getting over them. Whether it was the Merv Westfield/Danish Kaneria spot fixing case; losing underperforming players who turn around and become county champions (Wright, Chopra), or bad transfers(Shah, Mahmood) there really has been some massive mismanagement within the team. Owais Shah was a terrible transfer. They already knew Ten Doeschate was an IPL player and yet they go out and sign another player who is going to miss the first couple of months of the season. They continue to produce good cricketers though and there is definite reason for optimism though in the form of the young players coming through. Foakes, Mills, Topley, Westley and Craddock are all extremely exciting players with potentially big futures. Essex will be without Cook, Shah and Ten Doeschate for their first championship match but they will be able to leave players like Mahmood and Topley in the seconds. It is a strong squad which should be doing better. Something has been wrong; hopefully they are on the way to amending the problem.

I’ve already mentioned 6 of the bowlers I’m looking forward most to seeing this season. Mills and Topley at Essex, Dunn and Edwards at Surrey and J and C Overton at Somerset. None will likely play a full season but they could all make a big impact at some stage. Mills has displaced Topley at the start of this season and could be a real long shot to make a full England tour this winter if he has a good season. 

Left arm fast bowlers are a real find especially in limited overs cricket and since Sidebottom’s retirement England have been left with no left arm seamers. There are a few decent left armers just starting to come through on the county circuit. Mills, fast and skiddy, and Topley, tall and capable of swing are both massive prospects although both are number 11 bats. David Willey and Chris Wood are slightly older, slightly slower but better batsmen and have more control over their bowling. Wood is rare in that he has been trusted with bowling at the death for Hampshire in the shorter formats for some time. He has added pace in the last year but he will probably have to push up further if he seriously wants to push his England claims. Willey performed steadfastly last year bowling a lot of overs and is an aggressive batsman. Both Wood and Willey should be looking at the number 8 spot for England in ODI cricket and looking to develop their lower order power batting as well as the bowling skills needed for ODI cricket. Keith Barker is another good left armer and is a bigger wicket taking threat than both as he swings the ball prodigiously with the red ball. Like Willey and Wood again though he needs to increase his pace to cause teams trouble away from England. 

Personally I see Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire as the strongest two counties and the teams most likely to compete for the championship. Warwickshire have impressive bowling depth and bat really deep with players like Clarke, Woakes and  Barker batting 7-9; their top order batting is  suspect and if Chopra gets an England call up or goes through a lean spell they may not score the runs they need to retain the title. Nottinghamshire’s batting is strong and bowling looks strong on paper but doesn’t quite have the wicket taking ability of the Warwickshire attack. They also will be affected by England callups which could devastate the batting.

Surrey has impressive bowling depth but Smith and Ponting would have to score masses to really push them to championship success as the rest of the batting is somewhat flaky. Somerset’s young bowling whilst impressive is still relatively unproven and they’re unlikely to be consistent enough to really push a championship challenge.

At the other end of the table I can see 3 teams scrapping against relegation with Derbyshire strong favourites with the bookies to go down. On paper they are the weakest of the counties but they shouldn’t be underestimated. Their seamers are tidy and much may depend on how long Shiv Chanderpaul can stay at the crease. Durham and Yorkshire are the other two counties who should be worried. Durham is an ageing side, short on preseason practice and people have started to question the fitness and attitude of some of the players. Yorkshire on paper are strong but may be weakened by international call ups. Brooks and Plunkett have been brought in to strengthen the weak seam bowling unit but both are a gamble.