England look to Moeen Ali for spin and runs against Sri Lanka at Lord’s

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jun/07/england-moeen-ali-sri-lanka-cricket-test-lords

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Moeen Ali will have to learn on the job. To do that successfully against Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene will be quite an undertaking. Moeen is a gifted player, whose exploits with the bat, albeit in the second division, are just about sufficient to warrant a Test call-up. As a bowler he is learning fast but he will still have to accelerate if he is to become England’s regular spinner.

It is simultaneously a tough and terrific time to be an English spinner. Opportunity knocks. Now that Graeme Swann has retired rapid promotion is possible. Monty Panesar is no longer trusted; for different reasons nor is Simon Kerrigan; the northern leg-spinners, Adil Rashid and Scott Borthwick, are more reliable batsmen than bowlers. Kent’s Adam Riley, a novice really, is touted mainly because of a lack of alternatives. Hence makeshift Moeen receives the call and it is easy to understand why. If your spinner is going to be modest, he may as well offer the potential for some runs. For the Lord’s Test Samit Patel, another batsman who bowls, would have been Moeen’s closest rival.

So why is it so tough for English spinners? Look at the Championship schedule. The first round of matches this year began on 6 April. By the first week in June most counties have already completed seven games. At this time of year spinners can be redundant. There is a bit of sap in the pitches; the seam bowlers predominate. Spinners all too easily become bowlers of the last resort.

To develop spinners there must be playing surfaces that offer them encouragement. Swann and Panesar at various times over the past decade have been world-class performers and where did they learn their trade? On the turning pitches of Northampton about a decade ago. They were guaranteed overs and they learned not to be intimidated by the prospect of bowling on a helpful pitch. Now half the season has gone before the pitches become naturally dry and bare.

White-ball cricket may be more of a hindrance to the evolution of the spinner than it has ever been. Spinners, including wrist-spinners, are often effective in the shorter forms of the game, especially in T20 cricket. However, this has evolved a breed of wrist spinner, who can only really function with four or five men on the boundary. As for the finger-spinners, their arms drop and often their main aim is to bowl at the feet of the batsmen – as we have seen Joe Root try to do in the recent ODIs. The goal is not to allow sufficient leverage for the batsman to hit a six. This does not help the evolution of red-ball spinners. Even James Tredwell has found the transition tricky. Perhaps this is why Moeen was omitted from the recent ODIs. The selectors did not want him savaged by Sri Lanka before the Test series.

The selection of a player like Moeen is not unprecedented. England have occasionally set out without a specialist spinner, and they have achieved some glorious victories – often at Headingley – with this lop-sided balance to their team.

In 1981, Mike Brearley omitted John Emburey against Australia and relied upon Peter Willey to do the spin bowling. When everything seemed to be going wrong Brearley was soon castigating himself for omitting his specialist. “They’ve not brought me back for my batting; and now, before the Test’s even started, I’ve made a tactical howler,” he brooded on the first evening. By the end of the match this decision looked a bit better and was probably not the major talking point.

In 1991, Graeme Hick fulfilled the spinner’s role in England’s first two Tests against West Indies at Headingley and Lord’s although he did not bowl at Leeds. But neither Willey not Hick could offer a long-term solution. Nor has Patel while taking four wickets in his five Test matches or Root (three wickets in 15 matches).

The hope is that Moeen is a better bowler than most, if not all, of the above. Jack Birkenshaw, a very fine judge and a generous one, describes him as “steady”. He should bowl fewer loose deliveries than Borthwick or Rashid or indeed Patel. His first-class record of 139 wickets at 40 apiece is modest, but in the past two seasons with Worcestershire he has taken 61 wickets at 30. These are second division wickets and, increasingly, that may make a difference. Moeen has a doosra, apparently, but it is currently confined to the nets.

Expectations of Moeen’s off-breaks should be limited. Mushtaq Ahmed, who was England’s spin bowling coach last winter, believes: “It’s a bit too early for him. I’m not sure – as a spinner – he’s ready for a Test. He will be a good batsman and second spinner.”

There probably lies the key to Moeen’s Test prospects. If he scores his quota of runs he may be around for years to come. But at the moment, as a bowler, we can only view him as a stopgap.