Warne is right: Monty has not learnt since day one
Monty Panesar is a commendable bowler, yet his inability to learn from his own mistakes has been to his detriment, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian .
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Monty Panesar is a commendable bowler, yet his inability to learn from his own mistakes has been to his detriment, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.
There is a particular image to be carried from England's last tour of Sri Lanka and it is this: Monty Panesar is bowling to Mahela Jayawardene, off-stumpish and good length. Jayawardene plonks his left leg forward and waits until the ball is under his nose, at which point his left hand rotates the bat blade clockwise an eighth of a turn, his right deftly imparts a little energy and the ball slides away through point in the direction of a distant fielder. The batsmen stroll a single and the scoreboard clicks round. It happened time after time after time ...
He appeared to learn not one single thing from the trip, which rather sums up his international career: he began it as a very good bowler and he remains just that, stuck on the same level at which he started. Shane Warne, who is no Bertrand Russell when it comes to philosophy, nevertheless got it absolutely right with his observation that Panesar, rather than having played 33 Tests, had merely played his first one 33 times.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo