Saqlain Mushtaq impressed by Windies spinner Shane Shillingford

Bridgetown (Barbados), Sep 17 (IANS): Former Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq has singled out West Indies off-spinner Shane Shillingford as a player who has impressed him as he leads a bowling clinic in the Caribbean.

Shillingford and several other male and female West Indian spinners have been attending the clinic at the Sagicor High Performance Centre (HPC) at Cavehill Campus in Barbados.

The Dominican cricketer has emerged as one of the more consistent spinners for the regional side in recent times.

“Shane is a lovely guy and a hard working chap,” said Mushtaq who bewildered opponents with his mesmerizing off spin in his heyday.

“He is watching really well, asking a lot of questions and you can tell that he is really thinking,” he said Monday.

Mushtaq said he was also impressed with a number of other players at the clinic including the Guyanese leg spinner Davendra Bishoo who has played for the West Indies.

“Shane and the other guys are clicking all of these boxes, and once they continue to click these boxes again and again and again, there will come a time when they will reach their full potential.”

“A great player is a great believer, a great thinker, great learner and a great observer . . . and in the nets I can see all of these qualities in the players.”

Apart from trying to improve the players’ technical and tactical skills, Mushtaq said he was also focusing on helping them to prepare mentally as well.

He said the bowlers who have been attending his clinics all have the potential to be world class spinners.

“When you speak about potential, you have to take a lot of things into consideration. You have to look at how passionate the player is, how hard-working the player is, their love of the game, their commitment,” he said.

“The guys that I have been coaching have all of these things,” he added.