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Graeme Swann fears that England are on a hiding to nothing when the Test series against India gets underway in Rajkot next week, thanks to what he perceives as the ECBs outdated attitude towards slow bowling that has caused both an alarming dearth of Test-quality spinners, and undermined the techniques of their own batsmen when facing it. Sneakers Online Australia Sale .Swann, Englands most prolific spinner of the modern era, claimed 255 wickets in 60 Tests and played a starring role in his teams remarkable victory on their last tour of India in 2012-13. However, he believes that his success - and that of his former England and Northants team-mate Monty Panesar - came in spite of the system, not because of it.Me and Monty were freaks of nature, we grew up in Northants where the pitches used to rag square, but I moved [to Nottinghamshire] because I wanted to become a better bowler on non-turning pitches, Swann said during the launch of BT Sports cricket coverage.We dont take spin seriously in this country, and then bemoan the fact that we havent got world-class spinners when we go to the subcontinent.Weve got a bloody good team with bloody good cricketers, but we will lose in India because of what has happened 20 years before. We are hamstrung by the fact that we treat spinners as third-class citizens.Swanns own path to international cricket is widely documented. He was picked as a 20-year-old for the 1999-2000 tour of South Africa, only to be banished after a solitary ODI by the then-coach Duncan Fletcher. It wasnt until Peter Moores took over after the 2007 World Cup that he was considered for a recall, and promptly picked up two wickets in the first over of his Test debut, against India at Chennai.Duncan Fletcher did a lot of good for English cricket - he and Nasser Hussain deserve a lot of credit for helping the game become ultra-professional - but spin bowling always lagged behind, said Swann. The best thing Fletcher did for me was not picking me for eight years, even though he did pick guys who I thought werent as good as me. It actually made me a better spinner. I taught myself to bowl because I was unsullied by the system.That system has made several strides in recent seasons, not least the change to the toss regulations in county cricket in 2016 which encouraged the preparation of wickets that offer more to spin bowlers. But, Swann says, that change alone wont be enough to right a generation of wrongs. Youve still got 18 county captains who dont trust their spinners, he said. Its the English way. An over before lunch, two before tea and six before the new ball. Thats it.For that reason, he adds, the fact that England have embarked on a nine-week tour of the subcontinent without appointing a full-time spin coach is a glaring oversight.There is no sort of system in place to provide the backing that spinners need, he said. From the day they arrive in county cricket to the day they play in Tests, its not there. It is for batting, for bowlers, for fielding, for fitness, for nutrition ... but not for spin bowling. And because of that, we are bad players of spin. Its a whole melting pot.To help prepare them for the tour of India, England have recruited the former Pakistan offspinner, Saqlain Mushtaq, in a mentoring capacity, but that appointment, says Swann, is little different to the piecemeal solution that Saqlains fellow countryman, Mushtaq Ahmed, offered during his day.For me, Mushy was a brilliant sounding board and a mentor, but he only used to do 40 days a year. Hed be there for a couple of weeks, then hed go home before the second Test. But thered still be a nutritionist or a psychologist on the tour.I know theres only one of me, but its stupid. Ive always bemoaned that, but until we take it seriously, we have to accept that when we play away from home in spin conditions we will be shown up.That fear was made abundantly clear on Englands tour of Bangladesh last month, where they endured a near-miss in the first Test in Chittagong before succumbing to an historic 108-run defeat in the second Test at Dhaka, which featured the stunning loss of 10 wickets for 64 runs in the space of a single session.And Swann, who had to surmount some of the flattest conditions of his career when he helped England win their previous Test series in Bangladesh in 2009-10, said that the identity of Englands conqueror in Dhaka, the teenage offspinner, Mehedi Hasan, really ought to be seen as a wake-up call for the ECB.On paper, Bangladesh are one of the two worst Test teams in the world, but they saw England - a bastion of the game - coming out to play and knew exactly how to beat us, by having turning pitches, simple, and picking an 18-year-old to win it.If that doesnt set off alarm bells in the upper echelons of the game, then we really are pig-headed. Its like that Blackadder quote: If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through!In England, it will take you until you are 28 to bowl the amount of overs that an 18-year-old will have bowled in Bangladesh or India. These kids will have been bowling 30 overs a day since 11 to 12, because the conditions dictate that you cant bowl seam all the day. Its why they play spin better and bowl spin better. Its like playing the piano. After youve done it for 15 years, you can bang out a decent bit of Chopin.Consequently, despite confounding all expectations on their last tour of India four years ago, Swann sees few grounds for optimism in the coming weeks.I dont think weve got a cat in hells chance, seeing how [Ravi] Ashwin and [Ravi] Jadeja bowl, he said. Jadeja doesnt spin the ball, he doesnt try to. He just bowls straight and lets Ashwin do the work. Ashwin isnt a massive turner of the ball, he rarely bowls his carrom ball, but hes very, very accurate. Every Test in India he goes into, he believes hes going to win it.Watch the first Test of the Australia v South Africa series exclusively live on BT Sport 3 from 2am on Wednesday, November 3. BT Sport is your new home for Australias home international matches and Big Bash League, including the 2017-18 Ashes Cheap Sneakers Online Australia . The native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., captured a World Cup downhill event Saturday, his second this year and fifth career victory on the circuit. Wholesale Sneakers Australia . Its an influence in football and a big part of the game. http://www.sneakersaustraliawholesale.com/ . As the crowd erupted, Davis knocked the ball off the glass and back into his hands. With 1:14 to go in overtime, Davis sixth block also became his 17th rebound. That, along with his 32 points -- which tied a career high -- proved too much for Denver to overcome, and the Pelicans held on for their third straight victory, 111-107 on Sunday night. BOSTON -- Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona made a simple observation after his team went up 2-0 in the five-game ALDS series against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.The atmosphere is going to be a little different come Sunday, said Francona, the former Red Sox manager.Hes right. The scene shifts -- to Fenway Park -- and so does the noise. So does a bit of history: of the 28 teams that have rallied from 0-2 to win an LDS, the Red Sox are two of those teams, doing it to the Indians in 1999 and the Oakland Athletics in 2003.Franconas Red Sox also came from down 3-1 against the Indians to win the 2007 ALCS, the second of Franconas two World Series championships in Boston. Saturday, he called Fenway kind of like a cathedral and now he hopes to end this series on Sunday.Its not over yet. They have to beat us three times, not two, said Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia.Valid point.Backs against the wall. (Clay) Buchholz on the mound Sunday with an attitude of no tomorrow, Red Sox manager John Farrell said after David Price followed Game 1 starter Rick Porcello into the postseason abyss with a poor Game 2 outing.Game 3 features a matchup of two pitchers both banished to the bullpen this season because of poor work as a starter -- Buchholz and Clevelands Josh Tomlin. Both, however, have been better lately.Buchholz, actually exiled to the pen on three different occasions, was 3-0 with only one bad start in September. Tomlin had a 1.75 ERA and yielded a .540 OPS in his last 25/3 innings after a 7.96 ERA and .937 OPS in his previous 10 starts.Buchholz was 0-2 in two starts against the Indians this sseason, allowing 11 hits and eight earned runs in 10 innings. Cheap Wholesale Sneakers Free Shipping. He is 2-2 with a 4.85 ERA lifetime against Cleveland.Tomlin faced the Red Sox in a makeup game in Cleveland Aug. 15, turning in a quality start with seven hits and three runs in 7 2/3 innings. He is 2/3 with a 5.49 ERA in seven career appearances (six starts) against Boston.The Red Sox dont have great numbers against Tomlin. David Ortiz is 3-for-17 and Mookie Betts and Travis Shaw are 1-for-6 apiece. Jackie Bradley Jr., 0-for-6 with five strikeouts in the series, is 3-for-7 against Tomlin while Xander Bogaerts and Brock Holt are 2-for-6.Clevelands Jason Kipnis and Carlos Santana are both 4-for-8 with a home run, Coco Crisp is 5-for-18 with a homer and five RBI, but former teammate Mike Napoli is 3-for-15 against Buchholz.It looks like its just one more game for us, Kipnis said after Game 2. Guys look calm. They looked relaxed. Some of these guys who are younger and less experienced than I am are handling it way better than I handled my Wild Card Game (in 2013). Its impressive.Said Pedroia: I think we lost who we are -- were the Boston Red Sox.Added Price: I know Im going to get to pitch again in 2016 and Ill be ready. I want it for sure. And I know these guys will give it to me.Kipnis and Jose Ramirez are both 4-for-7, Brandon Guyer 3-for-4 and Roberto Perez 2-for-5 in the first two games for Cleveland. On the other side, Pedroia, David Ortiz and Xander Bogaerts are all 1-for-8, Sandy Leon is 1-for-6. ' ' '