Wednesday, October 31, 2001 England in a spin. It's the sort of headline sub-editors everywhere settle for at the end of a bleary-eyed, espresso-fuelled late shift. And now that Robert Croft has said no to India, the subs can have even more fun. England spinners in a spin, perhaps. The problem is, this isn't exactly headline news. England's spinners have been in a spin for some time now, and it's going to get worse before it gets better.

The man who symbolises the confusion is Richard Dawson, which is nothing personal (they speak highly of him in Yorkshire). He will be the third young offspinner to tour with England in successive winters. Graeme Swann (South Africa, 1999-00) got short shrift, Jason Brown (Sri Lanka, 2000-01) wasn't as lucky as that, and both men have since faded into shadows of their former selves, even on those tailor-made Northampton turners. England presumably had a whole host of jobs lined up for Dawson in India, including tea-maid, baggage handler and, very occasionally, net bowler. But keeping Sachin and friends quiet wasn't one of them.

Suddenly a man with 349.5 first-class overs and 31 wickets to his name, a man who was originally selected as England's No. 3 spinner behind Croft and Ashley Giles, is a giddy No. 2. And if Giles fails his fitness test on November 7 and Phil Tufnell has a change of mind and decides that he can take or leave the poverty and the elephants, Dawson could conceivably find himself at No. 1. This isn't what England had in mind, but it's their own fault. Years of failure to identify their best spinners have landed them in another fine mess.

The problems began after Tufnell had another tour to forget, in Australia in 1994-95. England opted for two old stagers who were great off the pitch but pretty harmless on it, and after two series of grinning amiably it was thanks but no thanks to Richard Illingworth and Mike Watkinson. Part of England's youth policy in the summer of 1995 even extended to recalling John Emburey for one wicketless Test.

Then the merry-go-round really started spinning. On jumped Min Patel in 1996 for two Tests, and when he flew off, England reverted briefly to Ian Salisbury, before giving Croft his debut. For a while it looked as if things might be taking a turn for the better, when Prodigal Son Tufnell and Croft winkled out 17 wickets between them at an average of less than 24 in New Zealand in 1996-97. But who was the No. 1? Nobody seemed to know. Croft played in the first five Ashes Tests in 1997, before Tufnell was wheeled out for the Oval match (11 for 93 and all that). Then Tufnell played throughout the 1997-98 series in the Caribbean.

So Croft duly started the 1998 season as first choice, and Giles joined him for one match, only for Salisbury to regain his place by default. In a masterclass of dithering, the selectors picked Croft for the 1998-99 Ashes, then dropped him before he could get his hands on Sydney. Peter Such grabbed his chance and a five-for, and turned out against New Zealand the following year, when his greatest achievement was a 72-minute duck.

Back came Tuffers for South Africa in 1999-00 (see Swann), but not for long, and in 2000 against Zimbabwe, England, desperate to show the world they had a legspinner, gave a central contract to Chris Schofield. He didn't get a bowl in his first game, and was erratic in his second. By this time the selectors decided enough was enough, and against West Indies briefly reverted to Plan B: Croft.

Plan B was a flop. But there were plenty more plans where B had come from. England played two different cards for the trip to Pakistan. Ashley Giles (17 for 410) turned out to be an ace, Salisbury (1 for 193) an insult to jokers. So it was Croft again who returned for Sri Lanka (see also Brown) and - whisper it - he actually did quite well. The sub-editors put away in-a-spin and pulled out spin twins.

But not for long. Giles started the 2001 Ashes, but was only half-fit. Croft got a game too, Tufnell trundled out at The Oval (a recent parliamentary decree had made this law), but each was as anodyne as the other, and England were back to square one.

England's problem, you see, has never been that the cupboard is bare. On the contrary, it's overflowing - with half-baked pies, moulding fruit, and raw eggs. David Graveney's response to the crisis was to announce yesterday that Shaun Udal (a marginal figure on the 1994-95 Ashes tour), Jeremy Snape (a decent one-day bowler against Zimbabwe, potential cannon-fodder against India), and Martyn Ball (first-class career average: 37) were all in the melting pot. Even SS Das and Connor Williams must be licking their lips.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com. His English Angle appears on Wednesdays.

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