‘Ginger’ Swann’s not nuts about the heat but it’s the key to his chances in Sri Lanka

 
1/3
Giuseppe Muro7 September 2012

England fans might be concerned about Graeme Swann after his long-term elbow problem forced him to miss the back end of the one-day series against South Africa.

But the spinner will be reinstalled into the bowling attack for the Twenty20 opener against the Proteas at Chester-le-Street tomorrow, refreshed and confident of playing a key role in a busy winter schedule.

The England and Wales Cricket Board were keen to manage Swann’s workload after he represented his country in all three formats this summer,

particularly as the World Twenty20 champions begin the defence of their title in Sri Lanka in a fortnight.

The 33-year-old will then switch his attention to the longer format when England travel to India in November for a four-match Test series.

“It’s important getting a few weeks off here and there for my elbow, it doesn’t cope with playing non-stop too well these days,” he said. “It appreciates the time off, as do I.

“The elbow was a bit of a worry at the start of the summer but it seems to be going in the right direction and I would be lying if I said I’m taking one game at a time.

“I look at the fixture list and see when the next series that excites me are coming up. We’ve got only a couple of weeks off in the next four or five months, so it was important to rotate.

“It’ll be good to get back into the dressing room and the boys are looking forward to the World Cup.”

Swann has fond memories of Sri Lanka after his 10-wicket haul in Colombo helped England avoid a Test series defeat in April.

As one of England’s main wicket takers in the shorter format of the game, he is confident of playing another key role on the subcontinent.

“It’s always nice going back to a country where you’ve done well,” he said. “That gives you a little boost of confidence you need going into the tournament. I just hope it’s hot because then the pitches tend to be dry and the ball spins.

“A lot of the boys absolutely love the heat, sitting by the pool and training in the sand, but I’m ginger — it’s in my genes — so I burn to a crisp. I tend to lock myself away.

“When we won the last tournament in the West Indies, that was probably the best cricket we have played in this format. We were excellent and deserved to win out there.

“We don’t actually play that much Twenty20 cricket. Since that World Cup I doubt if we have played a dozen games so it’s difficult to say how the squad has evolved but, hopefully, we will come home with the spoils again.”

If England are to retain their World Twenty20 title, they will have to do so without Kevin Pietersen, who is in ongoing talks with team director Andy Flower about his future after being dropped for sending texts critical of former captain Andrew Strauss.

“You hope that situation will be resolved soon,” added Swann. “I don’t know the comings and goings and that is the best way to be, it’s not for anyone else to get involved in. It’s for the board and Kevin to sort out.

“All we can do is focus on matters on the pitch. We are world champions so we have to put up a good defence of our crown in Sri Lanka. It would be easy to focus on a distraction like that but we’re not let going to let that happen.

“We’re not going to allow it to become a distraction, you only have to look at the one-day series to see that.

“Obviously he is a world-class player and was the player of the tournament in the West Indies. Ideally, he would still be a part of the team but hopefully when we get out there the guys who fill that position will do it well.

“Look at Jonny Bairstow. Arguably, he was the stand-out batsman in the [Test] match at Lord’s and everyone will take a great deal of confidence from that.

“Whatever decision is made, I’m sure that it will be in the best interests of the side.”

Graeme Swann is an ambassador for Rubicon Exotic Juice Drinks. See him in action at RubiconExotic.com/LoveCricket

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT