The Chink in the Armour

Yet spin is clearly on their mind. In the week that they’ve been in India, they’ve simulated roughed-up pitches, swept every second delivery, played slow bowlers as late as possible, spent ample time in cutting down the shots square of the wicket and playing in line with the ball.

They will need all of it. The two wickets that they’ve played on so far, at the CCI in Mumbai and in Vadodara, have been green and fast-ish. Nagpur, where the first Test will be played, has a brown wicket almost guaranteed to turn from day three. And in Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla, India have the variety, the experience and the nous to trouble England. Kumble has been a perennial thorn in England’s side, his 13 Tests against them yielding 62 wickets. Harbhajan has been equally impressive with 25 wickets in six Tests, including three five-wicket hauls.

And then there’s Piyush Chawla, who impressed with his googlies in the Under-19 World Cup. What he brings to the attack is big turn, which Kumble lacks, and masses of confidence. Statistics reveal that in the last two series between the two countries, spinners have accounted for 78 percent of England’s wickets, at a far more superior average than fast bowlers. There’s no reason to believe this time could be any different.

Among the English batsmen, only Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Flintoff remain of the team that toured India four years ago. On that tour, the only century came from Craig White (a patient 121 at Ahmedabad in the first innings that helped draw the match), missing from this side. Vaughan has had considerable success against Kumble and Harbhajan — but most of his runs have come in England. On paper, England’s only advantage is the fact that they have a suitable left-hand-right-hand combination that has mostly succeeded against Harbhajan (more than Kumble), in disturbing the line that the offie likes to settle on.

ENGLAND went to Pakistan last November riding on the success of the Ashes and having won five consecutive Test series before that home and away (see box). However, they stumbled on both occasions that they faced quality spin. While Shane Warne’s heroics nearly denied them the Ashes, in Pakistan Danish Kaneria captured 11 wickets on tracks that suited fast bowlers.

Warne’s leg-breaks gave him 40 wickets in five Tests at a phenomenal economy rate of 2.30. Warne is a great turner of the cricket ball and England succumbed to the spin more than anything else. Likewise, they failed to handle Kaneria, who bowls in similar style, relying mostly on turn to do the job. ‘‘England batted very badly’’, says former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal. ‘‘They lacked patience.’’ Journalists accompanying the English team speak of the fundamental errors that led to the team’s downfall in Pakistan. ‘‘Over-confidence’’ and ‘‘casual approach’’ are terms that they use freely.

Derek Pringle, a former cricketer and now a respected writer, says England need to concentrate more on the footwork than anything else.

IT’S not just facing spin, of course; it helps if you can dish it out too. And the England dressing room is, if possible, even more worried about the inexperience of their spin trio of Monty Panesar, Shaun Udal and Ian Blackwell.

In the absence of Ashley Giles, these three are England’s hopes for this series. Even though Giles came up with negative spells against Tendulkar on England’s previous tour, it did help get the master batsman stumped on one occasion. Vaughan will have to keep his fingers crossed, once he decides on the combination for the Nagpur Test, whether any of his new slow bowlers match Giles or not.

Panesar, to his credit, has in the two warm-up games shown the patience required of any left-arm spinner on sub-continent tracks. England’s first Sikh cricketer took just one wicket in the practice game at CCI but looks promising if given a longer opportunity to bowl.

Blackwell, on the other hand, has been among wickets but the off-spinner looks very ordinary, the zip clearly missing. Among the three, Udal is the eldest, an old hand on the English county circuit. But Vaughan will know better that there is a world of a difference between the conditions that prevail in the two countries.

One thing’s for sure. England head into the Nagpur Test with neither batsmen nor bowlers truly aware of what lies in store. All the hours of videotape they have studied will pale in comparison to facing Harbhajan and Kumble, or bowling to Dravid and Sehwag. This will be England’s toughest test in their recent purple patch but the odds are not in their favour.