Graeme Swann is now so much a central figure in the England team it is hard to recall the off-spinner’s international career was very nearly finished before it had started.
In an era where much of the talk has been of “hard” cricket, Swann has never hidden his joy at playing the game he loves for a living, arguably something no England player has done to such good effect since batsman Derek Randall came onto the Test scene in the mid 1970s, but what some would regard as confidence, others might view as conceit and, worse still, a lack of serious professional resolve.
England coach Duncan Fletcher for one was unimpressed by Swann’s conduct on the tour of South Africa in 1999, where he made his one-day international debut, and it wasn’t until the Zimbabwean had exited the England set-up nearly eight years later that the spinner, who moved to Nottinghamshire from Northamptonshire in a bid to kick-start his career, returned to the fold.
There once was a view that orthodox off-spin was on the way out, but the fact many sides feature several left-handed batsmen, for who Swann’s stock ball turns away from the bat, has increased the off-spinner’s worth, as has an increasing willingness by umpires to give front-foot leg before wicket (lbw) decisions, bolstered in recent times by the Decision Review System (DRS).
“I wasn’t a fan until I realized I could get 50 lbws that way,” the ever playful Swann said.
By the time of Swann’s Test debut, away to India in Chennai in 2008, he had come to terms with his game and with his handy lower-order batting, as well as his reliable slip catching, making him England’s lone specialist spinner of choice.
In the 2009 Ashes he took four-wicket hauls in both of England’s wins, at Lord’s and at The Oval, in a 2-1 success where he wrapped up the series by dismissing Michael Hussey on the final day of the fifth Test.
That year saw him take 54 Test wickets in total, the first time an England spinner has managed more than 50 in a year. His increasingly remarked-upon ability to dismiss batsmen early in his spell is a testament to his skill in quickly settling into a good line and length.
Swann’s control has allowed England to “get away” with a four-man attack featuring three seamers, as the fast men have rarely had to come back for a new spell any earlier than they or captain Andrew Strauss would have liked because the spinner was being hit all round the ground.
Australia leg-spin great Shane Warne has said Swann holds the key to the upcoming Ashes.
Meanwhile, former off-spinner John Emburey, a member of the last England team to win a Test series in Australia in 1986-1987, believes Swann may be the best English off-break bowler in more than 30 years.
“I don’t think England have had as good an off-spinner as Swann since Fred Titmus, which is a long time ago,” Emburey said. “People regard me as being a good off-spinner, but I think Swann is a better bowler than I was. He spins it more, gets more drift and is more of an attacking bowler as well. Swanny is a big spinner of the ball and if there is anything there — he will get it out of the pitch.”
“In 1986-1987 when things weren’t going well for the team, [left-arm spinner] Phil Edmonds and I controlled the game and didn’t let things get away from us, and the Australians didn’t play finger spin particularly well,” Emburey said. “Without a doubt, Swann is good enough to build that kind of pressure on his own because he’s a top quality bowler.”
Meanwhile, the 31-year-old Swann, who starred in England’s World Twenty20 final win against Australia in Barbados this year, is happy to bide his time.
“I can’t see us playing on too many square turners [in Australia]. I’ll just have to be patient,” he said.
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