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Graeme Swann has come an awful long way since his England debut 10 years ago. In Australia, he reckons he has come almost as far in the past week.
The old Swann was talented but inconsistent, rather like at the Gabba for the first Ashes Test where the occasional fine delivery was interspersed with a steady diet of short stuff for Mike Hussey to feast on.
A few days later in Adelaide and, on what is admittedly a more suitable pitch, Swann proved himself the bowler who had risen to No.1 in the world Test rankings, exploiting the pitch cleverly and maintaining an immaculate length on the way to 2-72 from 34 overs.
“I just had to bowl better to be honest,” he said of what had changed.
“Hussey’s a good player but my mother could’ve beaten me all over the place on that first morning at Brisbane, I was dreadful.
“At Brisbane during parts of my spell I was very happy with the way I bowled, there were just little pockets there where I bowled like a 12-year-old which is disappointing in the first game of the Ashes series.
“I’ve bowled a lot better in this game so I’m very happy.”
Swann’s maturity as a bowler is underlined by his belief that a wearing pitch is best used via patience, allowing the surface to provide variation.
Simon Katich fell victim to a sharp off-break and Ricky Ponting off a blunt one, so proving Swan’s point.
“A couple of balls before had spun quite viciously out of the footholes and that one just didn’t hit the same little pebble on the pitch and didn’t turn as much,” said Swann.
Hussey is an old County Championship teammate of Swann’s and has seen the development of both the bowler and the man.
“He’s definitely improved out of sight since I played with him at Northamptonshire, just his patience and discipline has improved out of sight,” said Hussey.
“I remember playing at Wantage Road he’d be able to keep the pressure on and bowl these amazing deliveries, then he’d let it off and bowl one or two bad balls an over but now he’s on the money all the time.
“Hardly bowls a loose ball and keeps the pressure on the batsmen all the time.”
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