Cricket: Bemused batsmen not equipped to play spin

If there was anyone who had forgotten the entertainment value of wrist- spin they should have been at The Oval for the final day's Test cricket this summer. Mushtaq Ahmed took 6 for 78 in 37 overs and single-handedly destroyed the England batting with a glorious and irresistible spell of bowling which began at 6.25 on Sunday evening and ended at 4.18 yesterday.

Throughout the series, Mushtaq's shadow has hovered over England's batsmen like an albatross. He is not unknown to them either. He plied his trade with Somerset from 1993 to 1995, and the England batsmen will all have come across him at one time or another.

Not only that, but the batsmen and the management also knew that Mushtaq would be one of the principal threats. It was imperative, therefore, that those unable to tell the leg-break from the googly should be helped to work out a method of playing this type of bowling.

But far from this happening, England's batsmen at The Oval looked in an even greater state of confusion against Mushtaq than they were in the First Test at Lord's. John Crawley seemed to read Mushtaq pretty well, and Michael Atherton got it right most of the time.

Nasser Hussain did his best trying to sort out the spin from the way the ball spun as it came down the pitch towards him. He is, anyway, an excellent player of spin and will work this problem out before too long. As it was, in the second innings he was the victim of a questionable lbw decision. The others might have been batting in a fog.

Reading the spin in the air is one way of coping; another is to keep on the front foot, playing with limp wrists so that the spin is killed. Mushtaq's top-spinner is probably more dangerous than his googly, which is not hidden as cleverly as some. The top-spinner tends to hurry through off the pitch, which is another reason for keeping on the front foot.

What made this an even sadder day for English cricket was that Mushtaq triumphed on an excellent pitch which was still full of runs. This shows that even when the batsmen know which way the ball is turning they do not have the technique to cope.

The reason here is that wrist-spinners are almost an extinct species in English cricket and batsmen are completely lost when they come up against them. The preparation for a series against Mushtaq was less than effective. Next year it will be Australia and Shane Warne and our coaches, managers, advisers, counsellors and whatever must start working on that one now. There is not a day to be lost.