chickenfeet

After Monty Panesar's fine performance at Old Trafford Duncan Fletcher not only couldn't find it in himself to do more than damn Panesar with faint praise but snarked heavily about what he probably wouldn't do on more difficult pitches. So, let's put Panesar's 6/166 at Headingley in context. Headingley is nobody's idea of a spinner's dream. In fact in their last twenty Headingley tests England have only picked a specialist spinner on seven occasions. Only one of those, Phil Tufnell (4/113 in 1994 against South Africa), has taken more than one wicket in the match. Monty's 6/166 is the second best performance by an England spinner at Headingley since 1980, beaten only by Emburey's 7/105 in 1985. It will be interesting to see what Mr. Fletcher has to say this time.