Former England captain Gooch's advice-India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Former England captain and coach Graham Gooch has said the national team has worked hard to perform well on spin-friendly conditions in the subcontinent. He said the team needs to work more to get success against spin. England is back in Asia, playing on the slow and low pitches, which caused them so much torment earlier this year. England's defence of the World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka will give the first clue to their powers of recovery against spin, as they managed only a single Test win the last time they played in subcontinental conditions after four consecutive defeats. England would tour India this winter for their longest Test tour to India for 20 years. During the summer, Gooch tried to prepare for the winter by squeezing in a few extra sessions against spin. "When you are in England , you have to do anything to make it turn more. You throw the mat down in the nets and the ball turns off the dimples. The batsman has to think quickly and use his feet and hands," the Telegraph quoted Gooch, as saying. "It might help make that little bit of difference and you have to try anything to try and develop a good technique against spin. We improved playing spin as the winter went on but it is not a quick fix," he added. "You don't suddenly become a good player of spin. It takes a long time to work and evolve. You have to introduce into your game a lot of skills. You can't play spin without being able to defend first, which means judging flight, length and a whole myriad of things that we have to improve," he said. Gooch added: "We are trying to get away from regular practice and trying to make it more interesting with more stimulating variations. We take them out of their comfort zones. You have to practise the basics, because everyone needs strong basics, but it is about adding that extra little bit."

Gooch's therapy to banish England's spin demons