The art of spin bowling
Test Match Special
BBC
4.4 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mark Chapman, Sir Alastair Cook, Jack Leach and, Phil Tufnell discuss the attitude towards spinners in England, how franchise cricket has affected the art of spin and whether England know what they want from their spinner heading into the summer.
How do you become a spinner? Is it down to the player or coach? Jack Leach and Phil Tufnell give insight into how they found themselves becoming spinners and, whether a batters’ attitude changes as you get older and as they get older.
As a spinner, what do you need from your captain? Is it blind faith? Is it protection if you are going for runs? The panel dive into the mind of a spin bowler and how they can adapt their game.
TIME CODES: 00:00 Intro and London Marathon 01:50 County Cricket’s substitute rule 04:03 The art of spin bowling 05:30 Captains and spinners 15:32 The nuance of spin 17:30 How did it start? 25:05 English attitude towards spin 33:26 When were you at your peak? 35:00 What if you started as a spin now? 38:20 The mental side 41:40 What do England want this summer?
Transcript
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| 0:36.1 | You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. |
| 0:41.5 | Welcome to 5 Live cricket then. |
| 0:43.5 | We're talking spin bowling with us, Jack Leach, England and Somerset Spinner, |
| 0:48.5 | former Englanders spinner Phil Toffnell, and London Marathon Runner, Alistair Cork. |
| 0:54.8 | Is it, this isn't a typo in front of me here. |
| 0:58.4 | Three minutes, three minutes, that would be a typo. |
| 1:01.1 | Three hours, five minutes and 15 seconds. |
| 1:04.6 | It was the five minutes, 15, which got away, chaffers. |
| 1:08.0 | Oh, no, were you trying to break three hours? |
| 1:10.6 | Yeah, this is my second |
| 1:12.5 | attempt at it. I had to go last year and I was 316 and I said, right, I'm going to try and break |
... |
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