Jenner disappointed with young English spinners

Jenner: "It breaks my heart" © Getty Images

Terry Jenner, the Australian bowling coach, has said that England will never unearth a bowler like Shane Warne unless the country's aspiring spin bowlers work harder and receive the support of the counties.

Jenner has been coaching Warne since 1990. He is presently at the ECB's wrist-spin programme at the Loughborough academy, where he is working with 20 of the most promising teenage wrist spinners in the country. Jenner said he was disappointed with the spinners he saw. "None of them has advanced since I last saw them," he told The Times. "It breaks my heart, but they are not putting in the work."

Jenner said that part of the problem lies in assuming that they will be an overnight success. "Wrist spinners mature late," he said. "Sadly, in England if you are not playing at the top level at 16 and have not made it by 19, then you are on the scrapheap. Where would that have left Warney?" He said that this is what gave Australia the edge in finding high-quality spinners. "England has plenty of promising wrist spinners and at 14 or 15 they are as good as they are in Australia. Where do they go?"

Jenner said he gets frustrated by players wanting to do too much too soon. "They all want to learn a wrong 'un or a slider rather than working on their legbreak, but Warne only gets wickets with his slider because his legbreak is so good," he said. Counties are also at fault, he said, because they are unwilling to give time to players, who are bound to be hit for a few runs.