Cricket: Salisbury set for the flight path

David Llewellyn meets the England leg-spinner who is enjoying life in his new home at The Oval

The summer of '97 could well go down in cricketing annals as the year of the leg-spinner. After all, there are enough of them around. The touring Australians will have the inimitable Shane Warne, Somerset have re-engaged the engaging and mesmerising Mushtaq Ahmed, while Kent have taken on Zimbabwe's Paul Strang.

It is highly likely that all of them - and the clutch of other wrist spinners around the shires - would echo the sentiments of Surrey's own leggie, Ian Salisbury, who greets the prospect of a dry, dusty summer and its concomitant hosepipe bans with unalloyed joy. "That would be absolutely beautiful," said Salisbury, who is hoping that his move from troubled Sussex to The Oval will relaunch his England career.

"I'll be quite happy if there is a hosepipe ban. Unfortunately," he added, a shadow flitting momentarily across his face as he indicates the lush acres of his new home through the windows of the Long Room, "it's still nice and green out there."

However, as he prepares to take on the giant-killing British Universities at The Oval today, Salisbury is happy. His pre-season trip to South Africa was a success, but not because of what he achieved on the field. "I took a few wickets," he says, "but the most exciting thing I did over there was to meet Terry Jenner. It was absolutely brilliant."

Jenner, a leg-spinner who won nine Australian caps during the 70s, is now the leg-spinners' guru of the 90s, his services have been used in New Zealand and South Africa, while he also works at the Australian Cricket Academy near Adelaide. "He is Shane Warne's coach," Salisbury explains.

"His personal mentor. He is a legend. And Terry was with us for a whole day while we were in South Africa." There is no doubt how Salisbury regards Jenner. "He was just unbelievable. He gave me a few tips, two or three pointers for me to work on. He is just the best person I could have chatted to. I'd love to have spoken to him when I was 18."

Nine years on, Salisbury is determined to prove that the meeting has not come too late. The move north and a winter off has left him, he says, with his enthusiasm for, and his desire to play the game "sky high". Surrey have made him welcome. "I feel a part of everything and that's before I've even played a game."

If his enthusiasm is at all infectious then the uptake of what was a dying art could reach serious proportions this summer. He is animated when talking of leg-spinning and its perpetrators. "Terry Jenner has a passion for leg-spinning," explains Salisbury, who, like Jenner, has just nine Tests to his name. "And if you haven't got that passion then there is no point. It is different from everything else. I love bowling leg- spin. I love it.

"Terry Alderman's swing bowling was almost an art form and fast bowlers are strong and clever, but there is a bullishness about them. A slow bowler is like an elegant batter. Leg-spinning has mystique and romance. Everybody wants to know how and why, but no one really knows.

"I think the public have got a little bit bored with fast bowling. Just watching them running in and bouncing a batsman, maybe getting a catch, maybe hitting them on the head is all very well, but it is nothing compared to the excitement that has been generated by Warne-mania.

"Warne has taken leg-spin to another level. As a performer and as an artist and entertainer he is in another league. The more people take an interest in Warne and the more they find out about him, then the more they will appreciate what's going on out there in the middle, and that's where the fun'll start. Warne is a superstar. He is the best there's ever been. I hope he bowls well."

The torrent of praise is dammed for a second as Salisbury filters his words through a sluice gate of moderation. He resumes with the qualification: "I don't want him to to get too many England wickets. But he is the catalyst. You ask any other leg-spinner in the world. You can compare him with anyone from the past and he is the best. He is up there."

Which is where Salisbury wants to be. His last Test appearance, at The Oval against Pakistan last summer, was hardly what might be deemed a howling success. His 29 overs went for 116 runs and all he picked up was a solitary wicket. Mushtaq, on the other hand, claimed eight victims in a match the tourists won by nine wickets.

But although Salisbury acknowledges that it was a poor show still he feels he can draw some encouragement to buoy him as he attempts to resurrect his England career during The Ashes series this summer. "In that Test, once I changed ends, shortly before the finish, the ball started to spin a lot. In fact every time I've played at The Oval it's turned."

He is nothing if not industrious. Salisbury is always looking to fine- tune here and tweak there. The latest thing is flight. "Flight is everything," he explains. "It is probably the single most important thing for a leg- spinner. Flight is what does top batsmen and that is what I will be working on." Stand by for take-off.