[Sham]

is that this is not a very good English bowling attack. They were much more formidable two years back when Gough and Caddick had full fitness and Giles was in form.

Okay, now a few thoughts.

1. Tehsin bhai is right, Hoggard and Flintoff will test our patience and that is our main weakness. However, under Whatmore, we have improved greatly in that area.

2. I've seen Batty bowl in domestic cricket. He is good. Also, he went to the Academy in Australia last winter where young England players are now trained by Rod Marsh and his staff. But again, I have seen many good English spinners in county cricket who have failed to impress in Test cricket. The key is to do our homework on Batty. Get tapes and watch them so the first time he bowls, we dont get baffled out of our brains.

3. Giles is out of form and more importantly, out of confidence. I saw him bowl through most of the SA series and he just bowled a negative line from round the wicket (lefty's over the wicket). I don't know how many times the commentators, especially Botham, suggested that he come over the wicket to the right hander and give them something to think about, rather than bowling from round and pitching outside leg stump, which means batsmen could happilly pad him away. If we can get the better of Giles early, we can neutralize him. If he starts off with a bang and his confidence grows, he can be a handful. But again, Giles is very similar to Rafiq in the way he bowls. Shouldn't be too many surprises there.

3. I don't really know how they can make a spinner's wicket as opposed to a batting wicket or a pacers wicket. A wicket is a wicket, it depends on soil conditions. Once it is laid, there isn't a lot you can do with it. The only thing you can alter is the length of grass you want to keep on and how much you water. As for grass, BD pitches are mostly devoid of grass, so thats not really a factor. Even the little grass they can keep on is dead grass, and fast bowlers will tell you that the type of grass they like on the pitch is fresh green grass. The bottom line is, the BD pitches will be just like they usually are. Pretty good for batting, nothing in it for the pacers, and will take spin later on when the bowlers' footmarks scruff up the two ends. The only thing they can do, and even that very minimally, is keep a the pitch a little moist so that the pacers get a little help, or they can completely dry it out and make it a dry dead track where the batsmen should 'book in for bed and breakfast.' So talking about how we should make the wickets will turn out to be a waste of time in the end.