Which cricket team has the best "Spin Department"

[Richard]

Agreed. Though for my money, he is easily the #3 spinner in the world. And if he was born in any other era, he'd be number 1.

Well... except maybe the early 1930s, and maybe - just maybe - the 1970s. Though many rate him above Chandra and Prasanna.
And maybe not.
I'd challenge anyone to name 3 better (Test) spinners than Kumble at present.

 

[Richard]

Better left-arm spinners than Rafique playing today:

Vettori, Giles, Kartik, possibly Hogg, Mohammed, Panesar

I'd say Kartik is nowhere near as good, Panesar not even close. Hogg and Mohammed are clearly wristspinners - though I rate Mohammed highly.
Vettori, Giles and Rafique are about equal IMO.

 

[Prince EWS]

1. Australia (Warne, MacGill)
2. India (Kumble, Harbhajan)
3. Sri Lanka (Muralitharan, Bandara)
4. Pakistan (Kaneria, Afridi)
5. New Zealand (Vettori, Patel)
6. Bangladesh (Rafique, Haque)
7. England (Giles, Panesar)
8. South Africa (Boje, Petersen)
9. Zimbabwe (Cremer, Utseya)
10. West Indies (Gayle, Sarwan)*

* I know they have better spinners in the country (Mohammad, Banks, even Ryan Hinds..), but those two are the only two that ever get picked in either their Test or ODI squad, so those are the two I have used.

 

[Smudge]

New Zealand.

I think we've lost that edge since Greg Loveridge retired.

 

[TIF]

We do have a few NZ trolls out here

 

[JASON]

Is this guy the English version of NehraFan? England have nowhere near the spin attack of India. You can certainly argue for Warne himself being better than any other spin attack, but England is not number two by any sense of the imagination.

OK, that was a joke Mate !! Wanted to create a reaction ! And it did .

But You've got to give Full marks to the extremely under rated Udal for nailing that Test for England in India against better spinners in the opposition !

I hope you don't think I am a stirrer , but Udal is an extremely under rated spinner IMO.

And for that matter, IMO, Any spinner can be made to look good when their Team bats well and puts big scores. This is one reason IMO , why Shane looks More Brilliant than he deserves because his Team bats well and makes his job that much easier , and along with Mc Grath to remove some of the top order early it becomes even better .

 

[age_master]

Australia, India then Sri Lanka

 

[Armadillo]

Australia, India then Sri Lanka

Agreed

 

[Ikki]

And for that matter, IMO, Any spinner can be made to look good when their Team bats well and puts big scores. This is one reason IMO , why Shane looks More Brilliant than he deserves because his Team bats well and makes his job that much easier , and along with Mc Grath to remove some of the top order early it becomes even better .

That theory goes right out the window when Shane was carrying the team in the Ashes. Warne isn't the type of bowler that needs that kind of help. Whatever the situation, he's in there, and he's damaging and if it came to the looks of it I find it odd that you came to that conclusion.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Australia, Sri Lanka and then India for mine (though if we're talking about home conditions then obviously the Asian countries come out on top).

 

[BoyBrumby]

Fat lady warms up her vocal chords for Gilo...

From the beeb's website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/4846746.stm

Sounds pretty bad. If it is the final curtain for the big fella, he'll certainly be missed. Unfortunately we don't have anyone remotely fit to step into his shoes just now.

 

[luckyeddie]

From the beeb's website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/4846746.stm

Sounds pretty bad. If it is the final curtain for the big fella, he'll certainly be missed. Unfortunately we don't have anyone remotely fit to step into his shoes just now.

I've got a couple of jars of glucosamine sulphate capsules if that'll help.

 

[pug]

Australia
SriLanka
India
Pakistan
Bangladesh
NewZealand
England


This is obviously when teams play anywhere in the world, If we are talking about Best Spinners when playing @ home then :-

India
SriLanka
Australia
Pakistan
Bangladesh
NewZealand
England

I'l agree with you on your top 4. After that, I haven't seen enough of Bangladesh and New Zealand lately to make a good choice.

 

[Dasa]

From the beeb's website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/4846746.stm

Sounds pretty bad. If it is the final curtain for the big fella, he'll certainly be missed. Unfortunately we don't have anyone remotely fit to step into his shoes just now.

It's certainly unfortunate. Much maligned though he is, he's performed a specific role in the England attack and has never given up through all the criticism.

 

[steds]

Unfortunately we don't have anyone remotely fit to step into his shoes just now.

I disagree. There are talented spinners in England who, though mayeb not ready for test cricket right at this very moment, might forge decent test careers. This is the area where Dunc seems to fall down, though, imo. He gives young batsmen such as Cook and Bell and seamers like Harmison and Jones their chances, but his persisting with old crap like Udal, is all wrong.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I disagree. There are talented spinners in England who, though mayeb not ready for test cricket right at this very moment, might forge decent test careers. This is the area where Dunc seems to fall down, though, imo. He gives young batsmen such as Cook and Bell and seamers like Harmison and Jones their chances, but his persisting with old crap like Udal, is all wrong.

I won't disagree about Udal, but it was an uncharacteristic retrogressive step. Swann should've toured for mine, but what's done is done.

Monty P clearly has potential as a spinner, he's not the finished article but has a beautiful, high-arm, easy-to-repeat action. He has time to develop more variation as he progresses. The big prob we face with him is he's a confirmed no.11, which means one of Jonah, Hoggy or Harmy will have to play at 8, which is clearly a place too high for any of them just now. As Swann seems to be in Big Dunc's balck books I think Udal may yet have his career extended if Gilo isn't fit for the first test.

 

[luckyeddie]

I disagree. There are talented spinners in England who, though mayeb not ready for test cricket right at this very moment, might forge decent test careers. This is the area where Dunc seems to fall down, though, imo. He gives young batsmen such as Cook and Bell and seamers like Harmison and Jones their chances, but his persisting with old crap like Udal, is all wrong.

The problem is of course that we tend to play 4 seamers (including Fred) - that tends to mean that if one is performing below par <insert Harmison comment here > then provided the others play well, the shortfall can be overcome.

If we play a spinner at home, then if he doesn't perform in the wicket-taking role, he has to be able to throw darts in order to keep the score down (and often in England's case the emphasis for the twirly is on just being economical and giving the seamers a break). It's a dilemma that doesn't give much room for manoeuvre.

 

[steds]

I won't disagree about Udal, but it was an uncharacteristic retrogressive step. Swann should've toured for mine, but what's done is done.

Monty P clearly has potential as a spinner, he's not the finished article but has a beautiful, high-arm, easy-to-repeat action. He has time to develop more variation as he progresses. The big prob we face with him is he's a confirmed no.11, which means one of Jonah, Hoggy or Harmy will have to play at 8, which is clearly a place too high for any of them just now. As Swann seems to be in Big Dunc's balck books I think Udal may yet have his career extended if Gilo isn't fit for the first test.

Hoggy can't do any worse at 8 than Plunkett/Blackwell/Udal did there this winter. And in English conditions against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Udal's likely to be less effective than his whole test career bar 1 day. Swann and Panesar are both better calls for me. (I'm refraining from calls for Keedy - his time has gone.)

 

[BoyBrumby]

Hoggy can't do any worse at 8 than Plunkett/Blackwell/Udal did there this winter. And in English conditions against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Udal's likely to be less effective than his whole test career bar 1 day. Swann and Panesar are both better calls for me. (I'm refraining from calls for Keedy - his time has gone.)

If we've learned one thing from Udal it's surely "never say never" when it comes to a selector's call!

FWIW Swann would probably get my vote, but after the third test I think it's hard to leave Udal out if we're looking for a "keeping Gilo's seat warm" pick. If Gilo's likely to be forced into retirement (& the prospect sounds increasingly likely, sadly) I think we're more likely to grasp the nettle & pick a younger chap. Hasn't Batty done ok over in the Windies too? He's another name that'll prob be considered too, although I'm not convinced he's of the requisite standard myself.

 

[steds]

If we've learned one thing from Udal it's surely "never say never" when it comes to a selector's call!

I know, but I'm at risk of contradicting myself if I'm bringing up Udal's age almost as much as his huge deficit of talent, then mentioning Keedy.

I'm pretty sure Batty would still be in the frame had Lara not taken him to task, and who knows, he might have been starting to come good.