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| Wednesday, 11 February 2004 |
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Spinners seek mystery ingredient It has long been a complaint that England spinners do not bowl enough "mystery" deliveries. Now, from the junior ranks, there finally comes news that this worrying trend might be at and end. Shaftab Khalid and James Tredwell, the two young England A off-spinners currently on tour in India, are working on a type of delivery first crafted by Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq 10 years ago. And after Muttiah Muralitharan's lethal exploits against England's batsmen in December, it is high time it was used in earnest by, rather than against English players. The 'doosra' or 'the other one' as Tredwell prefers to call his new ball, developed after he saw Murali work on it at Canterbury last summer during his six-week stint with Kent. It looks like an off-break but spins away from the right-hander, and while Tredwell says he is achieving more consistency with it, he is by no means ready to let it loose on his opponents during England A's tour of India. That is because it is not as well disguised as he would like and is not landing in the right spot on enough occasions. "The whole thing about this delivery is the disguise and that needs more work," said Tredwell, 21. "But Murali was very helpful and although he never actually told me how he bowls it, he has guided me in what action to take." After captaining Kent to victory in the Second XI Trophy in 2002 he has now been appointed England A captain after Alex Gidman became injured. "There is obviously no one else like him but to do something similar, I have to work out my own way of doing it and that may take a while." Khalid is also 21, and is also on the tour to India. The Worcestershire youngster is further down the road to including the 'doosra' in his day-to-day armoury, after stumbling across it while playing cricket with a friend of his. "We were messing about with a tennis ball and he showed me this delivery and told me to have a go," he said. "I found I could do it so spent the weeks at Loughborough developing it, with the help of David Graveney and Geoff Miller, and will be trying it out here." His coaches in India are impressed with his progress and believe he has genuine potential. But his inexperience in first-class cricket - he only started playing last year - could mean he has to wait until the four-day Duleep Trophy matches get under way before he has a chance to experiment in the middle. But Pakistan-born Shaftab is keen to learn since he desperately wants to play for England, which is why he gave up pace-bowling and started to develop his spinning talents. There are too many fast bowlers competing for places, he says. In the current climate, where England selectors are anxious to unearth more young spinners, he will get plenty of opportunity if he lives up to expectations.- (BBC) |
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