English Cricket Still Doesn’t Understand Spin Or Captain It Well, Says Graeme Swann

England began their tour of India with their first Test against the ‘Men in Blue’ in Chennai on February 5th, 2021. However, English spinner Graeme Swann pointed out the flaw in England’s potential to understand spin. Everyone is aware of England’s batsmen getting bamboozled by spinners, especially in sub-continent conditions which have been a known secret. Swann pointed out that Joe Root’s field placement during the recently-concluded Sri Lanka tour, which Englishmen won 2-0, was all over the place.

“English cricket still doesn’t really understand spin or captain it well — and that’s not a dig at Joe Root,” Swann told Daily Mail. “One thing I will say, and Bumble (David Lloyd) mentioned this on Sky in the Sri Lanka series, is that I can’t understand having a deep cover to spinners as Joe did. It’s just a field placing for a dirty ball. By all means, play with a long-on or long-off or deep midwicket if you’re trying to tempt the batsman into something, but never have a deep cover” said Graeme Swann.

England Spinners Like Dom Bess And Jack Leach Lacks A Bit Of Swagger

Graeme Swann further added that current England spinners have quality but they lack a bit of swagger. “And what England’s spinners really need is a bit of swagger. Very few players feel that way in international cricket because of the amount of respect they give the opposition and the awe and wonder at being there.

If I could sit down with Jack Leach and Dom Bess now, I would tell them to just go out there and think, ‘This is where I belong’,” he said. First Test match begins at Chennai where England is playing with 2 spinners Jack Leach and Dom Bess as their regular spinners for the first Test with Moeen Ali returning to the squad recently after a bout with COVID-19.

Earlier on Monday, members of the Indian and England cricket teams returned three negative tests for COVID-19 during their six-day quarantine, clearing the way for their first full-strength net sessions from Tuesday. Joe Root won the toss and chose to bat first. India will be looking to get early wickets to set the tempo of the game.