Spin-King Monty Deserved A Bit More Love Back Home

You’ve got to hand it to the Aussies. Recruiting Monty Panesar to mentor their spinners in advance of the Test tour to India may have seemed at first like a long, loud raspberry to successive England managements who have, for various reasons, decided their most effective left-arm spinner for years was not only un-selectable but borderline unmentionable. Mind games, surely.

- Peter Hayter

Following Australia’s massive victory in the first Test in Pune, however, and the brilliant display of fellow left-armer Steve O’Keefe specifically, it looked like a masterstroke.

Already Down Under playing grade cricket for Cambelltown in Sydney, the 34-year-old, currently without a county back here, accepted the offer from Cricket Australia to coach their spinners.

He told us in advance that: “The hardest role for a spinner is to bowl 30 overs in a day, go for three an over, and give (the captain) control from one end and build pressure, and that’s going to probably be one of the things they are going to ask me.”

And after O’Keefe – recalled for his fifth Test since his debut in 2014 – had completed his 12-wicket demo job on Virat Kohli’s men, the best ever by a visiting spinner, the hits just kept on coming.

Panesar told Reuters: “When I first saw him, he asked me, ‘What do you think of my spin bowling?’ I said to him, ‘You’re like a Hyundai i30, you’re very much unassuming. You’re reliable. You get from A to B and you get the job done’.

“He sets up batsmen and looks to get them out. He’s an intelligent cricketer. He knows his limitations but he’s happy with what he’s got and he just tries to make the best of that.

“I remember telling (the Aussie team management) before they left for India, ‘I feel like O’Keefe will have the most impact’. That was my judgment and sometimes these things happen in cricket.”