Shaftab Khalid

[Bazza]

Yeah better not pick a spinner who bowls well on turning pitches for two tours to the subcontinent....

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Well i think they picked Batty over Brown due to the fact he has picked up wickets on every pitch he has played on this season, he flights the ball so will always get runs although he may go for runs on occasion.
Spinning ability ignored Batty is also a wonderful fielder and averages over 30 with the bat this season.
Compared to Brown who cant hold a bat to save his life and cant field either then its no wonder that Batty got the call over Brown.
If brown was SUCH a good spinner that he was clearly world class than i doubt they would have held it against him but when he and Batty are relatively close in ability then it obviously counted in Battys favour.
I think Giles will be a defensive spinner who will hold down the runs by bowling a defensive line and batty will then be the attacking spinner who will get you wickets at the cost of a few runs, whether thats the right tactic or not is debatable but it seems thats the styles of both of them.

 

[Rik]

Yeah 31 wickets at 28. Not really struggling IMO. And he's still only 24.

From 26 at 23 to 31 at 28?

Swann hasn't been anywhere near the form he promised when he was picked to go to South Africa. His batting has seriously gone down the pan too. His figures are ok, but most of his success has come in home games on spinning pitches, also he's either been untouchable or rubbish.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

You just have to see the Northants team selection for the game vs Worcestershire to see how much the pitch has added both Brown and Swann.
3 front line Spinners for Northants and 2 for Worcestershire.
11 Wickets going down to spinners on the FIRST DAY, you wouldnt expect that even on sub continant pitches.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

From 26 at 23 to 31 at 28?

Swann hasn't been anywhere near the form he promised when he was picked to go to South Africa. His batting has seriously gone down the pan too. His figures are ok, but most of his success has come in home games on spinning pitches, also he's either been untouchable or rubbish.

As Bazza said earlier....

"Yeah better not pick a spinner who bowls well on turning pitches for two tours to the subcontinent...."

That might actually indicate that the selectors have a clue.

 

[Bazza]

Eh? Sorry Liam you've confused me there!

I did notice NOrthants played 3 spinners yesterday, but even on that pitch Shaftab Khalid taking 3 wickets could be a good sign?

Doin't know if I mentioned it when i started this thread but the commentators said he has one which spins the wrong way, ala Murali, Saqlain. Hopefully a good prospect but I won't get too excited just yet!!

Also I noticed a quote from Mushy saying English spin bowers are too defensive. Uh oh!

 

[chris.hinton]

English Spinners are too Defensive, as Muril said earlier in the week they bowl like Seamers. I keep tell you this

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I suggest you all read the news story at this link....makes for interesting reading about both Khalid and Batty.

For some reason the forum code doesnt like the URL so i cant make it clickable or let you copy it properly so ill paste what the article says in the next post.

http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0200sport/cricnews/warwickshire/content_objectid=13394170_method=full_siteid=50002_headline=-Batty-and-Shaftab-add-new-spin-name_page.html

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Batty and Shaftab add new spin Sep 11 2003

By George Dobell

Worcestershire's Gareth Batty and Shaftab Khalid are the major local winners from the pre-Christmas England touring squads, announced yesterday.

The pair, both off-spinners, have been selected for the full Test and one-day squad (Batty) and the Academy (Shaftab), and can look forward to a winter full of hope and opportunity.

Batty says he was "hopeful" before the announcement of the squad, and received a tip-off on Tuesday evening.

But Robert Croft came close to piping him for the place and, having been selected for Test squads twice this summer and then missing out, Batty took nothing for granted until his inclusion was confirmed yesterday lunchtime.

"I know the hard work starts now," Batty said. "People have written nice things about me this summer and I knew I was going to be there or thereabouts when the squad was announced, but it is a huge thrill to be named in both the one-day and Test squads.

"I learned lots from being with the squad earlier in the summer. These are the elite players in the country I am with now, and we are playing the elite

players from the rest of the world so you can learn just by watching how they go about things."

Batty's fluent batting and athletic fielding are a major asset to his game, and there is no doubt that these facets were a significant factor in his selection.

A return of nearly 500 runs at an average of 23 may seem modest but on Worcestershire's seam-friendly pitches that is not such a bad effort, while 49 wickets at 26 is a very valuable contribution.

"Duncan [Fletcher] is keen on people who have three aspects to their game and I see myself very much as an all-rounder," he says. "I certainly don't lack confidence in any part of my game and I'm equally confident in one-day or four-day cricket."

With Batty and Warwickshire's Ashley Giles the only spinners in the touring party and the pitches likely to assist spin more than seam, Batty's chances of making his Test debut are very strong indeed.

He said: "It is great that the selectors have trusted us to do the job but I know that I have a lot to do to keep a place in the side.

"It is down to me now, though, which is all I could ask really. The selectors have given me the chance and it will be up to me to make the most of it."

Batty has an old-fashioned view to spin bowling. Unlike many modern, English spinners, he sees himself as

an attacking bowler and believes his job is far more than just to provide some control and a variation in pace.

"Ashley Mallett [the former Australian off-spinner and now a highly-respected coach] and I have worked on gaining over-spin to make the ball dip on the batsmen," he says, "and I still believe that is a major weapon.

"I talked to Harbhajan Singh [the Indian off-spinner] too, and he agreed that batsmen can still be deceived by flight so I try to get plenty of revolutions on the ball and get as much flight and turn as I can."

Shaftab Khalid, meanwhile, is an exciting prospect.

"He is raw," Worcestershire second XI coach Damian d'Oliveira says, "but he gives the ball a hell of a spin and has vast potential.

"The interesting thing about him is that, until a year or so ago, he was a fast bowler," d'Oliveira said.

"He hurt his back and decided to turn to spin, so he has been bowling like this for only 12 months. He is totally different to any other 20-year-old out there."

Pakistan-born Shaftab wrote to Worcestershire asking for a trial last winter and soon impressed. Ben Smith, the Worcestershire captain, remarked that he was the best off-spinner he had faced outside first-class cricket.

Shaftab's fast-tracking reveals something of the selectors' desperation to unearth a match-winning Test spinner and his record to date is modest.

But this is an enormous opportunity for him and he is aware from the example of James Anderson (who had played little more first-class cricket) that a good showing at the academy can lead straight to international recognition. "I knew I was in the shake-up," he says, "but it was really exciting to read my name on Teletext. It's the step up and I know that if I can work really hard and do well, the Test team is the next stop."

Shaftab owes, to a large extent, his inclusion on his ability to bowl the 'mystery' ball; the delivery that leaves the right-hander as if bowled by a leg-spinner.

His action is clearly similar to Pakistan and Surrey's Saqlain Mushtaq and it is no surprise to learn that he sees Saqlain as his "role model".

Mallett has worked with Shaftab, too, and was, by all accounts, extremely encouraging. "He said Shaftab was the most exciting

 

[marc71178]

English Spinners are too Defensive, as Muril said earlier in the week they bowl like Seamers. I keep tell you this

You do? I hadn't noticed!

 

[Neil Pickup]

No! No! No! NO! NO!
That pitch at Wantage Road has been reported. In the Northants Second Innings (379/9), 94 overs have been bowled.

73 by the three spinners - Khalid, Batty and Hick.

What would amuse me would be points deduction preventing Northants going up because, let's face it, that pitch (and Aussies Hussey and Jacques) has been why they've gone up.

 

[marc71178]

It would be very amusing!