Justin Langer

“If you can walk and chew gum at the same time, then you can eat spicy food and also play spin bowling. The trick is to acquire a taste for the former and be taught the latter correctly at a young age.”

“I acquired a taste for spicy food at 19 but learned to play spin bowling from about eight. I retain my enjoyment of spicy food to this day and those lessons I was taught as a youngster stood me in good stead as my career progressed, culminating in a few months at finishing school – a tour of India.

To me, it is at a young age that the real problem lies with modern Australian batsmen, and it is here that the roots of their disconnect with playing good spin bowling lie: the coaches overlook the correct footwork fundamentals.

The first things I was told about playing spin bowling were among the most important:

1) Don’t worry about the wicketkeeper when you leave your crease, because if you do it means you are thinking about missing the ball.

2) You might as well be stumped by three yards rather than three inches.

To make a real difference to a spin bowler’s length you have to advance a decent distance, and coming out of your crease only a little generally improves the delivery.”

“Playing spin bowling well is a state of mind. To succeed, a batsman has to be decisive, look to dominate, have a plan and not fear the turning delivery. Once I learned on the 1969 tour of India that because of the slower nature of the pitches you had a fraction more time than you first thought, and that when the ball turned a long way it provided opportunities for the batsman as well as the bowler, I never again worried about prodigious spin. I was often dismissed but I never again feared the turning ball; I looked upon it as a challenge to be enjoyed.”

“Eating spicy food requires mouth-work and ability to roll one’s tongue. Playing spin bowling requires footwork and a sharp eye. You can do both because they exercise different body parts. Now, did you get my analogy?”

“Spicy chewing gum, anyone?”

“It’s almost like Indians have chillies from a very early age, therefore if you eat chilli it doesn’t really bother you. But if we eat chilli, it burns our mouth, which is the same while playing spin.”

“No matter how much you try and prepare, it [playing spin] is very difficult.It’s like when India come to Australia, we have bouncier and faster wickets, which gets harder for them to play.”

“We are brought up on fast and bouncy wickets that swing around and not so much on spinning wickets. So when we come up here, it’s like eating chilli and it is hard to get used to it. I know in Australian cricket there is a focus in becoming better off playing spin bowling, but it is something that is going to take a long time to develop.

When you come here and you are not used to playing spin, and then you come out against world-class spinners like Sunil Narine and Mohammad Hafeez, you are always going to be tested.”

“It might be easier to teach our guys to swallow hot peppers than have them move their leaden feet against top-notch spin.”

“All quality players of spin are chilli eaters. And thus Mexicans (with their tabasco sauce) would be able to hammer Warney out of the park  any day.”