Shane Warne, Image: Jenny Evans, AAP
As a member of the spinners fraternity, I must say it has come as no surprise to see Australia’s newfound approach to the art of spin bowling.
The development in spin bowling in Australia going so wrong and the treatment of spin bowlers across the board is no different to the experiences shown in Nathan Hauritz, Jason Krezja and Beau Casson when all have performed quite well given their experience in the baggy green.
I have experienced this lack of development first hand.
As a youngster I spent countless hours in the backyard imitating my cricketing hero, Shane Warne. I would buy all the Shane Warne spinners kits (even though they where useless as I am left-arm legspinner and they are designed for right handers) and adapted my action from simply mimicking that of the great man’s.
I would practise in training sessions to perfect the art and hope to unleash it against the crop of youngsters we were to meet each weekend.
But, not so.
I never embraced the apparent potential I had as a 12 year old spinner because I was never given the chance. Spin bowlers in my experience in junior cricket where always the last to bowl, everyone would be thrown the ball before it came the turn of the tweakers.
That’s if the job hadn’t already been done before.
Then, even when you where thrown the ball, if, like some spinners do, you went for a few runs, you were straight off and out of the attack.
A few weeks of this and I was back in my familiar position as first change, shinny kookaburra in the hand and Shane Warne spinners kit confined to the cupboard once more.
Through the years I would again dabble in spin and prove quite handy, but again had to wait with the other spinners at the end of the bowling queue.
Fast forward to 2008 and the first full season where I dedicated myself to the art of spin and have a captain that showed faith in my ability and would throw me the ball sometimes still with its shine.
I managed to play representative cricket for Bankstown and end up with the Italian Cricket Team inquiring into my availability, which is another story altogether.
In the five match representative series, as the only spinner, I only bowled twice, taking 3/21 and 2/17 in a total of 22 overs. One match where I wasn’t thrown the ball I was left licking my lips at a minefield of a pitch with patches missing from the turf – a spinners’ paradise.
Yet, no spinner was ever introduced. And this is after topping the bowling figures the previous game.
Dont take this article as venting or sour grapes. It merely is describing the experiences I have had as a spinner in the game. I am not going to be the next Shane Warne and never have.
It just shows the lack of development that the art of spin bowling is given.
Bowling spins needs a sense of maturity. It is hard for a youngster to really grasp the mentality needed. You need to be firm and stick to a plan knowing you are going to go for runs. And to keep throwing the ball up even after you have disappeared over the fence a couple of times.
Shane Warne also talks about this approach in his teachings of the art, and it is certainly something it took me a while to grasp and see the merit in.
A bright young spinning prospect currently playing for NSW is Steve Smith. Smith is someone I played my school cricket alongside and he clearly had some talent as a spinner.
When I asked him why he didn’t commit to spin, his argument was similar to mine: he never got a bowl.
Smith’s potential as a spinner has now been noted by the coaches at Cricket NSW and he in fact has taken numerous five wicket hauls in the Sydney Grade competition along with some great hauls in Sheffield Shield.
Cricket Australia needs to show value in spin so the next generation has something to aspire to.
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