In-form Devendra Bishoo called up by West Indies to unleash leg-spin late on against England
Wrist spin has long been a bête noire for England batsmen
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Your support makes all the difference.England are set to face trial by leg-spin after the West Indies captain, Denesh Ramdin, confirmed Devendra Bishoo will play in the second Test starting today.
Wrist spin has long been a bête noire for England batsmen, a quirk that has been passed down the DNA since Australia’s Shane Warne dominated the old enemy for more than a decade.
Peter Moores’ current side, with the fresh faces of Gary Ballance, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler throughout the order, have yet to face a frontline leg-spinner in Tests but that will change when Bishoo returns at the National Stadium in Grenada.
His record over 11 caps is modest, with 40 wickets at 39.55, but the 29-year-old comes into the game in place of the dropped Sulieman Benn in superb form.
His last five first-class matches for Guyana have yielded a phenomenal 37 wickets with six-wicket hauls against Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago and the Windward Islands.
“Bishoo will be in,” said Ramdin, when asked about his bowling line-up. “The pitch will turn out to be better – in terms of spin – than the first Test in Antigua. He has bowled really well in first-class cricket in the last month and a half.
“In our squad’s practice match he bowled long spells and got results.
“It’s going to be a batting track for the first two days and then the fourth and fifth days, the spinner will come into play.
“With a leg-spinner you get bad balls and you get beauties. Hopefully he’ll get a lot of beauties in this game.”
The West Indies made a point in the first Test of highlighting England captain Alastair Cook’s struggles outside off stump.
Paceman Kemar Roach said the home side had focused on a technical weakness that “everybody knows”, while Jermaine Blackwood revealed the plan was to get the left-hander driving away from his body.
Ramdin continued the policy of openly debating his opposite number’s perceived flaws on the eve of the match.
“Our aim with the new ball is to take wickets at the top of the order. So far that’s gone well,” he said.
“Cook has his strengths and his weaknesses, so we try to bowl more to his weak areas. He’s out a lot caught behind, the slip areas, inside edges. He falls over a bit. But he has probably worked on that in the last couple of days.”
Fast bowler Shannon Gabriel was added to the Windies’ 14-man squad from the first Test ahead of the match, but they are expected to retain Roach, Jerome Taylor and Jason Holder as their seam attack.
Elsewhere, opener Devon Smith is set to become the first Grenadian to play Test cricket on the island and 40-year-old batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul goes into the match 79 runs away from overtaking the great Brian Lara as the top Test run-scorer in West Indies history.
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