Bishan Singh Bedi surprised with the dearth of spinners in England team

New Zealand defeated England 1-0 in the two-match Test series as the second Test match at Seddon Park in Hamilton ended up in a draw. The Joe Root-led side piled 476 runs in response to Kiwi’s 375 with the captain leading from the front with 226 runs, his first score of over 100 after 14 innings. England had lost the first Test by an innings and 65 runs.

The home side batted first after losing the toss and Latham hit 105, while BJ Watling, Ross Taylor, and Daryl Mitchell, on debut made half-centuries. Stuart Broad picked four wickets, while Chris Woakes claimed 3 scalps. Rory Burns scored 101 in addition to Root’s double ton in reply, while Ollie Pope made 75 as England took a substantial lead in 1^st innings. Neil Wagner picked 5 wickets.

Bishan Singh Bedi surprised with England not playing a specialist spinner

Former India captain and one of the legendary spinners of the game, Bishan Singh Bedi pointed out a major flaw in England’s tactics in this game. England decided to ditch a specialist spinner for this Test match and went in with four genuine quick bowlers in Broad, Woakes, Archer and Curran with Stokes for company. They dropped Jack Leach from the first game, which left many others scratching their heads.

Bedi took to Twitter and mentioned, “How can #England go into a Test w/out specialist spinner..or is there no specialist spinner in whole of England..?!! Pretty sordid story of modern Crkt thinking..!!!”

How can #England go into a Test w/out specialist spinner..or is there no specialist spinner in whole of England..?!! Pretty sordid story of modern Crkt thinking..!!!

— Bishan Bedi (@BishanBedi) December 3, 2019

The former left-arm spinner was on point as England has struggled to find a decent spinner after Graeme Swann retired from the game and Monty Panesar sabotaged his own career. With every team playing atleast one specialist spinner, England has also tried a lot of tweakers, but have not managed to stick with one for a long time.

Their two limited-overs spinners Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali are currently out of contention with both struggling for form in the longest format. Meanwhile, Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson scored unbeaten centuries in the second innings to take the match to a draw. The focus of New Zealand will now shift to the tour of Australia and England will travel to South Africa with both of the series coming under the ICC World Test Championship annals.