When I were a lad

[chickenfeet]

Spurred into action by jen_c_w's comment that the Wheeliebin is a "decent spinner" I consulted the archives and it just shows how low England's expectations of a test spinner have sunk, and how long they have stayed low. Ashley Giles average of 37.28 is comparable with recent England spinners such as Emburey (38.40) and Edmonds (34.18) but it's quite a bit worse than Ray Illingworth (31.20) and Fred Titmuss (32.22) and neither of them was considered deadly in his day. It's probably not fair to include Underwood (25.83) in the comparison for he probably would not have faired nearly so well on today's covered wickets so we have to go back to the 40s and 50s to find England spinners in the Warne/Murali class but we had a pair of them then in Jim Laker (21.24) and Tony Lock (25.58). What would Michael Vaughan not give to have those two later in the week at Old Trafford? It wasn't a fluke either as they were the last in a long line of very effective England spinners including Bosanquet (24.16), Wardle (20.39) and Verity (24.37).

Comments

[blonde222.livejournal.com]

This debate is completely off the point. Giles is a more than decent bit of spinning eyecandy. So jen_c_w is right.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

He looks totally deranged to me

[blonde222.livejournal.com]

yeeees not the best photo ever, but then I am hardly photogenic myself.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

but then I am hardly photogenic myself

I respectfully beg to differ ma'am

[blonde222.livejournal.com]

Umm...there is a good reason why I hide behind the hijab (or use Kate Moss as an alter ego).

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

but I have seen photos of you. I know of that which I speak.

Goddammit woman, take a compliment when it's offered!