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Spin-bowling depth excites Adams

Pretoria - Paul Adams believes South Africa has an exciting crop of spin bowlers coming through the ranks who will get an opportunity to stake their claim for a spot in the Proteas team during the upcoming tours of Bangladesh and India.

Speaking at the annual spin bowling camp at the Centre of Excellence in Pretoria, the former Proteas ace said he was thrilled with the talent that has emerged in recent years.

"We have quite a young crop of spinners currently in our system, it is a great opportunity for them to grab that berth," Adams said on Thursday.

"Going now into subcontinent tours some of them haven't really been over and played there so it will be a great opportunity for them."

Among the national players that attended the camp were spinners Aaron Phangiso and Dane Piedt, while JP Duminy, Temba Bavuma and Reeza Hendricks were the batsmen.

The bowlers were given some guidance from Adams and former international Nicky Boje on what to expect in the subcontinent.

Adams said the players that will be going to the India and Bangladesh for the first time will be pleasantly surprised with the spin-friendly surfaces.

"You start smiling! One of the main things is their batsmen play differently to ours, you just have to be aware of various things," Adams said.

South Africa's perceived lack of spin bowlers has been raging over the past few years, but Adams believes the tide is finally turning.

"We have a young group of guys who are looking to grab the opportunity over the next year and it's the one who puts in the most consistent performances who will get the opportunity," he said.

"There is a lot of internal competition among them which is always healthy to make sure they stay on top of their game."

Adams said while the conditions in the subcontinent may be favourable to spin bowling, the camp was preparing the bowlers for what they could expect.

"Generally it is the pace you bowl and your lengths it is different to our conditions. I found in those conditions you can bowl really quick on them and things happen quickly off the surface," he said.

"Whereas here in South Africa if you bowl quick it's easy to hit it as it just slides on. Over there you can bowl and get some purchase.

"You have to be aware that that can be the case there. You've got to be prepared to do it and it not be a shock to the system."

Adams said it was important to teach the spin bowlers to really think about every single delivery and bring some variation into their bowling.

"The subtle variation of pace instead of the variation of turning the ball in different directions is the art of what we are discussing here," Adams said.

"Especially the young players who play a lot of one-day cricket and they just fire the ball in. We need to chat about how to deliver the ball slower or quicker with the same action, but landing the balls on the right lengths all of the time."

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