Alison Mitchell
Alison Mitchell looks at the way spin-bowling has often played a major part in the outcome of Tests in Manchester
Yasir will be licking his lips at Old Trafford’s history
If the home ground of Manchester United is the Theatre of Dreams, then the ‘other’ Old Trafford just up the road can be described as the Theatre of Spin
When Pakistan leg spinner Yasir Shah arrived at Lord’s, he had never played a Test match outside the Sub-continent. His talent was known to England after facing him in the UAE, but he was never expected to take six-for in the first innings of a Test at Lord’s, on a pitch that was playing true. By the end of the game he was the first leg spinner to take ten wickets in a match there.
Given his success – albeit helped by a number of reprehensible shots by England batsmen, which Alastair Cook described as “naïve” – Yasir will be justified in licking his lips at the prospect of bowling at Old Trafford in this week’s second Test.
If the home ground of Manchester United is the Theatre of Dreams, then the ‘other’ Old Trafford just up the road can be described as the Theatre of Spin; over the years it has provided the stage for the most famous pieces of spin bowling this country has ever witnessed: Jim Laker’s 19-wicket haul against Australia in 1956, Shane Warne’s ‘ball of the century’ which stunned Mike Gatting and the rest of the cricketing world in 1993, Richie Benaud’s 6-70 bowling around the wicket in 1961 and, going back further still, Alf Valentine’s 8-104 as a 20-year-old on Test debut for the West Indies in 1950.
A more recent performance that springs to mind is Monty Panesar’s second innings 6-37 to drag England back into the second Test against New Zealand on a blustery day in 2008. Peter Such took 6-67 on his Test debut in the same match as the Gatting ball, but he was rather overshadowed by the bundle of blond hair in the Australian team busily imposing himself on the Ashes scene in quite spectacular fashion.
Warne’s best haul at Old Trafford came in the third Ashes Test of 1997. Memories of the Gatting ball were still fresh in the mind from four years earlier and it didn’t take the Aussie long to make an impact on England’s first innings. Wisden described the pitch on day one as a “green demon” but one which, by the time Warne came to bowl on it on day two, had “transformed into a brown strip, already scarred by footmarks”.
And so it was on the second day, and replying to Australia’s 235, that Alec Stewart was the first to succumb to a leg break that spun sharply out of the rough and took the edge. A crazy spell ensued which saw Graham Thorpe, Nasser Hussain and John Crawley all dismissed for just one run in the space of 26 balls. England were suddenly 111-6.Warne duly helped wrap up the innings the next day to record figures of 6-48 in 30 overs. He would take another 3-63 in the second innings to help the Aussies level a series they would eventually go on to win.
In truth, the match is best remembered for Steve Waugh’s twin centuries rather than Warne’s nine-wicket match haul. Australia’s future captain walked out with his team in trouble at 42-3 and his 13th Test hundred put them back in control, compiled under leaden skies on that green-tinged surface.When he notched up his 14th ton in the second innings he became the first batsman to score twin Ashes hundreds in 50 years.
Waugh’s resolute batting – with a bruised bottom hand – needed back up from the bowlers, though, and that was where Warne came in. On dismissing Andrew Caddick in the first innings he had his 249th Test wicket, thereby overtaking Richie Benaud as the most successful leg spin bowler in Test history.
When Stewart was bowled through the gate in the second innings Warne had 250, becoming only the third Australian bowler after Dennis Lillee and Craig McDermott to achieve that feat, in only his 55th Test. The landmarks had little bearing on the match per se, but they all helped to add to the legend that was Warne, and the prowess he represented.
Benaud’s 6-70 in 1961 was achieved while carrying a shoulder problem. Because of the injury he opted to bowl his leggies around the wicket into the rough created by the footmarks of one F.S. Trueman. Cue a second innings collapse that saw England crumble from 150-1 to 163-5 in the space of 20 minutes leading up to the tea interval. Shortly after the resumption the hosts succumbed to 201 all out and a 54-run defeat. Benaud hardly put a rip on the ball, though. To protect his shoulder he simply dropped it into the rough and let the pitch do the work.
This is why the art of spin, and leg spin in particular, is beguiling; for all the craft, mystique and variations, the most effective bowling can sometimes be the simplest.Warne had an unbelievable amount of skill and guile but he never had quite as many exotic variations as he claimed. He could pick up wickets, though, almost by conning batsmen into thinking that he did. His dramatic persona led them into a sadistic form of the willing suspension of disbelief. The stage always felt like it was his. He owned it.
When England face Yasir again, they will do so in the knowledge that he doesn’t have a huge number of different deliveries.What he does have is a googly, a good slider, the ability to bowl
consistently with few bad balls, persistent buoyancy and energy and the psychological advantage of his ten wicket match haul at Lord’s.
There wasn’t much turn in the first Test, but the ball that pitched a considerable distance outside the left-handed Gary Ballance’s off stump and jagged square to hit leg was reminiscent of Warne to Gatting, or perhaps with greater resemblance,Warne to the left-handed Andrew Strauss at Edgbaston in 2005.
A ball, which deviates viciously off the pitch, adds to the illusion of leg spinning wizardry. It’s all part of the spell.
Those batsmen who were dismissed by Yasir at Lord’s will be at pains not to get out to him again. After a wet summer, the weather has been hotter and drier leading up to the Old Trafford Test, which should aid bounce, adding to the glorious web of uncertainty a spinner loves to weave in a batsman’s mind.
Yasir already has 86 wickets from 13 Tests – the most by any bowler after as many games. During this series he has the chance of becoming the fastest to 100 Test wickets, a record which has stood for 120 years. England will be desperate not to allow him another curtain call so soon.