Fletcher is wrong about me, but spin just isn't his thing

Shortly before the

start of this tour,

Duncan Fletcher's

book was published

and included some

negative comments about

me.

Unfortunately, I would

have to say that spin was not

his speciality.

Duncan is a batting coach and I

think he found it challenging to

understand spin bowling.

All the

players he's done well with are

batsmen.

He hasn't done well with

a spinner, has he? I can

understand that, because batting

was his thing. Spin wasn't.

He was quite strong on the

over-the-wicket approach because

he worked with Ashley Giles.

But

who else has he worked with as a

spinner?

I have to say that he taught me a

few things about bowling over the

wicket — about angles and stuff

like that, which kind of made sense. But his strength was

coaching batsmen.

In the book it says I joined

England without an arm ball, but

Nick Cook, who coached me at

Northants, taught me a lovely arm

ball and I've still got that, as you

saw in the series against the West

Indies during the summer.

Some of

my dismissals tended to be from

balls that slid on.

Like I said, spin was not

Duncan's department.

I'm not

someone who looks at individual

records too much, but I have

already taken six five-fors in Test

cricket.

I didn't like the suggestion in the

book that Northants haven't really

helped much.

I have been there for

a long time and I've worked with

various coaches there.

They

should get credit for that and shouldn't be undermined or underestimated.

I think Duncan could have shown

a bit more thought before saying:

'Northants haven't done this or

haven't done that.'

I wouldn't be

here playing for England without

them, simple as that.

They must

be doing something right.

Since arriving here, Peter Moores

has said that I am the team's No 1

spinner in Test cricket and it is

great to have the backing of the

coach.

He is a wicketkeeper, which

really helps because he can see

things that you don't.

He also

really understands spin.

People may think there is extra

pressure on me going into this

series as a spinner up against

Muttiah Muralitharan, but that's

not how I see it.

How can I be a rival to him? How

can the student be a rival to the

teacher? The student cannot

become the master, there is only

one master and we all know who

he is.

I'm just a servant! Murali is

incredible.

In some ways I feel

fortunate that — even though it

will be against us — I will be there

to witness it when he breaks the

world record for Test wickets.

He is so successful because he

has so many different ways to

attack a batsman.

He knows how

to bowl with different degrees of

turn, bowl different angles and use

all the tricks of a spinner.

He has

the whole package.

Murali definitely turns the ball

more than anyone I have ever

seen.

It is amazing what he has

done for cricket and for spin

bowling — both he and Shane

Warne.

They are the reason why

the rest of us spinners get a bit of a

mention. I have to thank those

boys — before they came along, no

one cared what spinners did.

Sri Lanka have some seriously

good attacking batsmen and, you

never know, they could teach me a

lesson here. It's going to be tough.

In their own country, I'm sure they

will look to dominate the

opposition spinner, but I see that

as an exciting challenge.

Someone like Sanath Jayasuriya

is capable of the same sort of

assault that Adam Gilchrist hit me

with in Perth last winter.

He has all

the shots and the confidence to go

after me.

But I believe I have more to fall

back on now — different angles,

different pace, different field settings

and more experience.

I'd like

to think I'm better equipped to

cope now compared to a year ago

when Gilchrist went after me.

David Parsons, England's spin

coach, wasn't really involved then

and he has been a great help to me

— working on the thinking side of

spin bowling as well as on the

technical stuff.