When a young England spinner makes an exceptional start to his career, his feat is compared with past performances. High among them is that of the Leicestershire slow left armer Nick Cook - you can see him here making his debut against New Zealand in 1983.
As Wikipedia says:
He picked up 32 wickets in his first four Tests, taking four five-fors, including one on debut (after he had been called up at short notice), and a best bowling match return of 11 for 83 against Pakistan at Karachi.
But it was not to last:
Cook's next 11 Tests, spread over a period of five years, fetched him 20 wickets at an average of 56.75.
Cook's problem was not just England's chaotic selection policies in the Eighties, but also that he was competing with two established test-class spinners: Phil Edmonds and John Emburey.
Still, his overall test average was 32.48 (52 wickets), compares favourably with Phil Tufnell's average of 37.68 (121 wickets).
Like Edmonds, Cook flighted the ball and gave it a chance to turn. Slow left armers of the generation before - Derek Underwood, Norman Gifford, Don Wilson - bowled faster and flatter.
For younger readers it's hard to convey just how amazing county cricket was in the 1980s with world class overseas players and a profusion of domestic spin talent. Cook had it tough because he didn't just have to compete with Edmonds and Emburey, but also stellar talents such as Richard Illingworth, Vic Marks, Eddie Hemmings and John Childs. Spin was such a big deal with the cricketing public I remember the press giving Sussex major hype in 1989 because the county regularly picked two wrist spinners in one-day cricket - Andrew Clarke and Ian Salisbury. The decade ended on a bittersweet note wrt to spin for me. Kent played Leicestershire at Dartford, my home town in August 1990. Kent's two left arm spinners - Richard Davis and Min Patel (from my school) took all 20 wickets. The pitch was reported to the TCCB as was, Kent were never fined, but took it as a pretext to stop playing at the ground for good :(. A reminder that England regards turning pitches with hostility to this very day.
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