England’s search for a spinner takes youngsters to UAE camp

Latest attempt at solving a never-ending problem – finding a world-beating slow bowler – moves to this month’s Lions camp

We are at the dregs. England have three more World Cup matches in India to pull through, this hallucinogenic – and not in a good way – title defence at the point where you wonder if you should just give the kids a go. The problem is there aren’t that many, with just Gus Atkinson, Sam Curran and Harry Brook under the age of 26 in the squad. The old-timers will have to lead the final push for pride and, um, qualification to the Champions Trophy.

Instead, a number of the next generation are getting ready for a three-week England Lions training camp in the UAE this month. The focus is on the red ball and it comes before an India tour in the new year that will be Bazball’s toughest gig yet: five Tests against a side who have not lost a series at home since 2012.

The make-up of the Lions squad suggests an attempt to tackle a never-ending problem – the search for a world-beating slow bowler. Nine of the 21 players can be classified as specialist spinners, spin-bowling all-rounders or batters who tweak it respectably. The image emerges of a Love Island set-up, a spinner being dumped every couple of days before the winner couples up with Jack Leach for the ultimate prize: a chance to try to beat Ashwin and Jadeja at their own game.

The reality is different. Mo Bobat, responsible for identifying future talent as England men’s performance director, says the India tour is not the endgame here, that the ECB are making “development investments” – though call-ups into the senior side are not out of the question. “There are some that are probably already close to selection,” he says.

Rehan Ahmed, already in possession of a Test five-for and now on a two-year England deal, is the headliner in the spinners’ group and presumably one of those in line for India. Most of the others have hinted at promise but not come close to domination in the shires, where spin is an afterthought. Left-armer Callum Parkinson, 27 and a new signing for Durham, is the most experienced with 145 first-class wickets. Lancashire’s Tom Hartley, 24, is tall, quick and has potential as an Axar Patel impersonator.

“You could probably argue that the way he bowls in white-ball cricket is quite a good way to bowl spin in the subcontinent with the red ball,” says Bobat. The Sussex off-spinner Jack Carson, 22, is “desperate to learn”, while James Coles, Ollie Price and Dan Mousley, all 22 or under, are “strong options as all-rounders”.

Somerset’s Shoaib Bashir, 20, made his first-class debut against Essex less than four months ago but his offies, released from a considerable height, have impressed. “He came on against one of England’s great all-time run-scorers in Sir Alastair Cook and in his first over – there’s no doubt he would have been nervous, anxious – he put him under immense pressure and almost created an opportunity,” says Somerset’s director of cricket, Andy Hurry. “He held his own.”

The most intriguing name on the list is 21-year-old Josh de Caires. Six months ago, the main talking point around De Caires was his lineage; son of Michael Atherton, he was making his way as a top-order batter at Middlesex. But Ian Sailsbury, the former England leg-spinner who signed on at Lord’s as a consultant coach at the start of this year, immediately liked what he saw of De Caires’s off-breaks in training.

“I reckon you can tell a spinner – if you know – just from how it comes off their fingers,” says Salisbury. “It comes off his fingers beautifully.” It’s there in the angle of the wrist, he says, and then in how “the seam goes down really well for it to be able to drift away and spin back”.

Seven wickets in an innings against Hampshire was trumped by first-innings figures of eight for 106 against Essex as De Caires finished last season with 27 Championship wickets at 25.59. Now, the Lions.

This is the romantic side of spin bowling in England. Run through a team in an afternoon and, suddenly, you’re the guy people want a piece of, worth a look for a winter tour because you are capable of giving it a half-decent rip. The reality can be brutal, though.

When England’s Test side last visited India, in early 2021, four young spinners were included in the squad alongside Leach and Moeen Ali: Dom Bess as a starter and Mason Crane, Matt Parkinson and Amar Virdi as reserves. Bess has not played for England since that tour. Parkinson, still a delight to watch, has been ignored in all formats for more than a year. Crane has primarily been limited to white-ball duties at Hampshire while Virdi did not play a Championship game for Surrey in their back-to-back title wins in 2022 and 2023.

They are all different, gifted bowlers who face multiple fights, some more than others. Conditions that go against them, the vagaries of form or a desire from the decision-makers for more with the bat.

So your heart goes out to the next batch and you hope they will receive a bit of TLC, like Salisbury seems to have provided De Caires, who is raw and still figuring this whole thing out. The coach has been in touch with his student to make sure he is been engaging in “finger maintenance” to avoid his spinning digit cutting open before the camp. Pre-game routines have been worked on to make sure the ball then comes out just right: “A pianist won’t just turn up at the Albert Hall and play the piano, will he?” says Salisbury. The hunt begins for England’s next artists.

The Maxwell conundrum

It has been a week but the shot is still very much on the mind. It is easy nowadays for a bludgeoning of sixes to leave you a little cold, such is the regularity and ease with which boundaries are cleared and records are broken. But then, once in a while, someone does something just a little different, just special enough to turn you childlike once again.

So, yes, the ball is full and not at all slow from Bas de Leede. Glenn Maxwell, already on 48 off 26, moves early with his feet and unfurls what is the most sweetlytimed reverse-swat/slap/smack you have seen. Up goes the ball, behind square on what was once the off-side, and comfortably into the stands. Pat Cummins, at the other end, cannot help but laugh. Thirteen balls later, Maxwell has the fastest World Cup hundred, having already claimed the shot of the tournament.

Maxwell has always been a bit of a puzzle: outrageously gifted, occasionally infuriating and perhaps never completely trusted by his country. The last of his seven Tests came in 2017, the same year he went to three figures in India. He has been an ODI regular for more than a decade but has not acquired greater responsibility in that time; 15 of his 124 innings have come in the top four.

It makes sense that his power is reserved for the backend, but it still feels odd that he has not been experimented with more up top. This is a man with one T20I century as an opener and two more from No 4. This may be his most ridiculous stat: of all players to have scored a century in every international format, Maxwell is the only one whose T20I count exceeds the number of tons made in each of the other forms.

Three days on from his Netherlands demolition, New Zealand are taken for 41 off 24. At 35 he is nearing the end but, if he recovers from concussion after a freak golf buggy accident that ruled him out of the England match, it may yet come together for a grandstand finish.

Quote of the week

“Captain Babar Azam and Chief Selector Inzamam-ul-Haq were given freedom and support in forming the squad for the ICC World Cup 2023” – in a media release titled ‘PCB urges cricket fraternity to support Pakistan Team’, the Pakistan Cricket Board makes it pretty clear who they are blaming for a flailing World Cup campaign.

Still want more?

Simon Burnton analyses England’s desperate World Cup campaig.

Geoff Lemon on a World Cup that sparked into life on Saturday.

Jonathan Liew wonders why it was such a surprise to everyone England have failed in India.

Megan Maurice reviews the start of the Women’s Big Bash League.

Memory Lane

David “Bumble” Lloyd has the mic as players Ian Ward, Clare Connor and James Benning pose with the Twenty20 Cup before the start of the 2004 tournament. T20 cricket had launched the previous summer, with the inaugural T20 Cup won by Surrey. The first T20 international would take place in 2005, the first World Cup in 2007. In 2008 came the IPL, and nothing was the same ever again.

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