Spinners - Turning back the years

By Harry Underwood

Taking one of the most consistent spinners in the country to the turning tracks of the sub-continent appears a logical choice.

Shaun Udal has the best action of any off-spinner I've seen in the country Pat Pocock

But the inclusion of Shaun Udal represents a departure from the youth policy of the Duncan Fletcher era.

His return brings to mind the selection of Essex slow left-armer John Childs for the disastrous summer series of 1988.

A Wisden cricketer of the previous year, Childs played in two Tests against the West Indies at the age of 36 - the same age as Udal.

On this occasion, Udal appears to warrant the selection on merit - his figures of 36 wickets at just over 20 are an indication of his success at Hampshire alongside yet another 36-year-old, Shane Warne.

Udal has also enjoyed a much better season than younger rivals Gareth Batty, Graeme Swann and Richard Dawson.

Previously, Surrey off-spinner Pat Pocock returned to David Gower's side for the tour of India in 1984 after an eight-year hiatus from Test cricket.

"I know that at 38 I was bowling infinitely better than I was at 28," Pocock told BBC Sport.

Earlier in his career he toured with Colin Cowdrey's legendary team that won in the Caribbean in 1968.

Pocock added: "I was told by a senior pro, 'Don't even consider yourself a spinner until you get to the age of 30'."

The former Surrey man, delighted by Udal's inclusion, added: "If it happens to be that the best players in the side are in their thirties, then you play them."

"Shaun Udal has the best action of any off-spinner I've seen in the country."

Udal will share England's dressing-room with much younger players

The relatively minor physical exertions of the spin bowling trade has allowed the likes of Pocock and Udal to prosper late in their careers.

Slow bowlers can gain nous and variation whilst their quicker contemporaries are losing a yard of pace.

By contrast, fast bowlers spend their career steaming in past the umpire on hard wickets, causing various injuries to themselves, and often have to retire early.

Warne made an incredible contribution to Australia's attempt to keep hold of the Ashes.

And as a specialist slip, his decreasing athleticism was largely irrelevant in the field.

His understudy, Stuart MacGill, is only two years younger, the same age as Anil Kumble, and at 33 Muttiah Muralitharan is also a senior member of his side.

John Childs himself once commented, "They say spinners mature with age. I just hope they are right."

In his case they were, as he contributed 64 wickets to a Championship-winning side at the age of 40.

Looking back, Raymond Illingworth was allowed to frustrate international batsmen with his miserly off-breaks beyond 40, and Fred Titmus played county cricket in five different decades.

Sydney Barnes took 76 wickets at just over eight apiece when he retreated to Staffordshire in his mid-fifties.

And if Udal has a real drive to extend this belated opportunity of an international career, he can find inspiration in the example of the legendary all-rounder Wilfred Rhodes.

Rhodes went blind before he stopped bowling and was fully 52 when he made his final Test appearance in the West Indies.