By Charles Randall at Lord's
5 November 2012
Spin scholarships to India have been awarded to two left-armers with the X-factor, as John Emburey put it, after trials at the Lord's indoor nets.
Rishi Sharath, a chinaman bowler from Slough CC, and Joe Ellis-Grewal, an orthodox left-armer from Wanstead & Snaresbrook CC, were selected from 34 hopefuls for a trip to the Pune academy to learn all aspects of spin-bowling next February in a week sponsored by Kingfisher Beer.
Both aged 20, they were chosen by the three judges Min Patel, Emburey and Keith Medlycott after a busy morning on 28 October. The scheme was backed by the Club Cricket Conference, All Out Cricket magazine and Kingfisher, with the idea of providing top-grade experience for under-21 cricketers outside the professional county sphere.
Sharath, a mechanical engineering student at Southampton University, caught the eye with his left-arm wrist variations, including a well disguised googly. Last summer a glut of senior spinners at Slough, the Home Counties League Division Two West champions, meant that he spent the season in the second team gaining experience in batting and bowling not available at the higher level.
The reward for Leeds University student Ellis-Grewal seemed almost inevitable after his stellar summer as a member of the Wanstead team who stormed the Essex Premier League and reached a national final, a defeat by York in the Kingfisher Beer Cup at Derby.
From a total of 121 applicants, 36 bowlers were selected for Lord's scrutiny from their CV. The hopefuls arrived from all quarters, including a few from long distance such Vishakh Chandrasekhar and Chris Varley from the Durham area. Unfortunately two players failed to notify the organisers of their no-show, and this robbed two other hopefuls of a place.
Patel, the former Kent and England left-armer, felt the standard was higher than expected, though he added that the judges were able to whittle down the triallists to a short list of five or six quite easily. Agreeing on the best two bowlers was the "hard step" Several of the contenders were deemed as being of possible interest to county coaches.
All the judges were impressed by the general competence of the bowlers, and from the sidelines it was easy to see that most of these cricketers would take a bagful of wickets in club cricket. Sharath and Ellis-Grewal were worthy winners, though they were other interesting candidates. For example Liam Mitchell (Welwyn Garden City) spun his off-spin sharply, another off-spinner George Gregory (Cople Argus) had a pleasing rhythm with a high arm, Dave Miles (Swindon) produced wicket-taking deliveries with flat leg-spin. Usman Khan (unattached) caught the eye with flight and leg-break variations from a weird action. All Out Cricket magazine is due to publish another take on the scheme in their January edition, No 99, in a feature by James Scragg.
All the triallists were given an opportunity to discuss spin-bowling with the experts during their hour-long stay in the nets, and these conversations proved to be an important part of the selection process. "We posed questions and wanted to find out how much they knew about the game," Patel said when the judges held a press conference in the indoor school coffee shop. "It wasn't just about the art of bowling, it was about the art of thinking about bowling, thinking batters out and about your own game. A five-minute chat can give you a greater insight than arguably watching them bowl for 15 minutes."
Emburey certainly agreed with that. "That was the key for me," he said. "You're looking for the X factor and there was certainly some of that. There were a lot more leg-spinners than I expected. The standard was high for their age group, and some of those who might miss out, with the right help and encouragement along the line, can become really good cricketers. Whether they are potential county cricketers we don't know from here. For me it was looking for consistency, it was looking for spin -- that's what they are here for."
These judges had very good credentials. Emburey was a truly exceptional off-spinner in his time -- he stills plays club cricket in Hertfordshire -- and he could tie down Test batsmen with his loop and accuracy from a languid action. Patel, a stalwart at Bexley CC, won England recognition through incredible consistency at Kent, and Medlycott made an impact at Surrey with a left-armer's aggression and an engaging cockney personality. Medlycott was an unusual talent, striving for a wicket every ball before losing his action on the verge of England recognition. He retired at the age of only 26 to concentrate on coaching.
All the players were required to bat, though this discipline was not used as a 'tie-break' to produce the winners. The varying standard of batting might easily have confused the judging as some batsmen had more problems dealing the spin than others. One or two decided to slog every delivery high and hard while ignoring the likelihood that a catch would have been taken in the deep in a real game. Batting ability varied quite widely.
The idea of the morning was to help club cricketers improve and allow them to dream, because the India scholarships were wonderful incentives. Medlycott made the point that the county system was far from ideal, because spin bowlers were taken in at 17 or 18, which could be too young and long before peak maturity in this tricky form of bowling.
Though the Pune scholarships are not intended simply to produce professionals, time is on the side of young players who might consider a career. "People are going to have their prime at 26, 27, 28, 29 years of age, maybe even older," Medlycott said. "I don't know what can be done... We've got to make certain we've got something in place to give these people an opportunity. This is an area we can get better at."
Patel agreed, pointing out that batsmen and seam-bowlers might show their class at about 21, whereas spinners usually develop later. All the bowlers at Lord's hoping for recognition had time on their side. "They're young enough at the art of spin bowling, and they've got years ahead of them to learn and develop," Patel said. "As long as they're enjoying at and not getting too wrapped up in it. All these kids wouldn't be here if they didn't have the ambition to go further."
Emburey picked up on what was expected for the scholarship. "You're looking for feedback from them to see how they're thinking. It's not just performance. It's a technical and tactical scenario. By and large the kids did what they were talking about. It's different now from when I played. They're a lot more positive about coming forward and telling you what they're thinking."
As a tip to spinners, Emburey suggested that it was better to bowl quicker at the start of a spell to stop runs before pulling back on pace and flighting the ball. The other way around, runs can affect confidence. "It's nice to get a couple of maidens under your belt," he said.
Emburey recalled the learning process in county cricket when he moved from Surrey at the start of his career. "I'll never forget when Fred Titmus said to me when I joined Middlesex. To a certain extent it became part of my philosophy. He said a batsman's job is to score runs, and it's a bowler's job to stop him scoring those runs. I thought he was going to say 'take wickets'. If I am going to stop a batsman scoring runs it means I am getting the ball in the right area. If I do that consistently, those balls you're bowling well become wicket-taking balls and you're going to force a batsman to make a mistake."
Patel said the India trip was about education and enjoyment. "The whole point of the Pune scholarship is that the two recipients should get a huge amount out of that week. You can learn a lot about your own game and about spin bowling. It's a pretty intensive week."
On the day after the trials the young Glamorgan off-spinner Andrew Salter was given an award by the annual Brian Johnston Memorial Trust along with the Essex left-arm fast bowler Tymal Mills at Lord's. They were honoured at the annual dinner on a day that would have been the BBC cricket commentator’s 100th birthday.
Salter and Mills were regarded as players who made a big impact in first class cricket this year. Salter, 19, a Cardiff University student, signed his first professional contract with Glamorgan as a graduate of the Trust's elite spin programme, which works in partnership with the ECB to improve the standard of spin bowling at county academy and university level. Mills, 20, received a Trust scholarship to assist his rapid development at Essex CCC and he went on to represent England Under-19.
Assisted by the Lord's Taverners, each year Brian Johnston Memorial Trust scholarships are set up to assist promising young cricketers in need of financial support to achieve their potential and further their development towards county and national representation, and the fund supports the ECB’s national spin bowling programme. Just as importantly ‘Johnners’ on Test Match Special became the eyes for many thousands of people listening to the radio so that it seemed only natural that his Trust should support visually impaired and blind cricketers.
Recently the India leg-spinner Amit Mishra was interviewed on Sport Star about the challenges of wrist bowling. "A lot of thought is given as to how I should bowl on a given wicket," he said. "Should I flight the ball or bowl a bit faster? What are the variations I could employ? It’s a 50-50 situation for batsmen and spinners. But if you are a quality spinner and use your intelligence, you can get the better of the batsmen. Even in the IPL, I have always looked to take wickets because that puts pressure on the opposition."
He added: "Leg-spin is a very difficult art. As a boy, when I started playing cricket, very few people bowled leg-spin. Everyone around me wanted to be either a fast bowler or a batsman. So I thought leg-spin presented plenty of opportunities and I also had some natural talent."
When Mishra was asked about comments that he was too slow through the air, he smiled and said: "Well, they should also be talking about how pitches should be prepared. What can the poor bowlers do when most wickets are batting-centric? Anyway, I am working on two or three variations, including the side-arm googly, round-arm googly, and the side-arm leg spinner. I am also looking to vary my pace a lot more. Hopefully, they will come along alright."
Spin bowling seems to be an art that is never quite mastered, from Shane Warne and Mishra to the 34 hopefuls at Lord's.
SPIN SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS
Rishi Sharath (Slough CC)
Joe Ellis-Grewal (Wanstead & Snaresbrook CC)
Other triallists
Chris McKie (Gidea Park & Romford CC)
Sam Sullivan (Buckhurst Hill CC)
Imran Qayyum (Finchley CC)
Jaskeerat Singh (Ealing CC)
Connor Heaps (Blunham CC)
Scott Dormody (Langleybury CC)
Amit Pankhania (Richmond CC)
Hamzah Khan (Harrow CC)
Saif Kazim (Slough CC)
Rab Nawaz (Didsbury CC)
Nick Wake (Chipping Sodbury CC)
Kazmi Tahir (unatt)
Mohammed Usman Khan (unatt)
Andrew O'Donovan (Sawbridgeworth CC)
George Gregory (Cople Argus CC)
Ben Harris (Gerrards Cross CC)
Tanvir Hasan (Christchurch CC)
Ross McGaughrin (Odiham & Greywell CC)
Liam Mitchell (Welwyn Garden City CC)
Joshua Poysden (Hastings Priory CC)
Kit Gordon-Stuart (Cublington CC)
Jamie Bristow-Diamond (Bexhill CC)
Ryan Spann (Tattenhall CC)
Henry Dawson (Shifnal CC)
Daniel Vernon (Kenilworth Wardens CC)
Vishakh Chandrasekhar (Durham City CC)
Elliot Green (Shrewsbury CC)
Nick Pang (Midsomer Norton CC)
Lewis Coates (Newport CC)
Christopher Varley (Blaydon CC)
Thomas Richards (Calne CC)
David Miles (Swindon CC)