Graeme Swann fears that England are on a hiding to nothing when the Test series against India gets underway in Rajkot next week, thanks to what he perceives as the ECBs outdated attitude towards slow bowling that has caused both an alarming dearth of Test-quality spinners, and undermined the techniques of their own batsmen when facing it.Swann, Englands most prolific spinner of the modern era, claimed 255 wickets in 60 Tests and played a starring role in his teams remarkable victory on their last tour of India in 2012-13. However, he believes that his success - and that of his former England and Northants team-mate Monty Panesar - came in spite of the system, not because of it.Me and Monty were freaks of nature, we grew up in Northants where the pitches used to rag square, but I moved [to Nottinghamshire] because I wanted to become a better bowler on non-turning pitches, Swann said during the launch of BT Sports cricket coverage.We dont take spin seriously in this country, and then bemoan the fact that we havent got world-class spinners when we go to the subcontinent.Weve got a bloody good team with bloody good cricketers, but we will lose in India because of what has happened 20 years before. We are hamstrung by the fact that we treat spinners as third-class citizens.Swanns own path to international cricket is widely documented. He was picked as a 20-year-old for the 1999-2000 tour of South Africa, only to be banished after a solitary ODI by the then-coach Duncan Fletcher. It wasnt until Peter Moores took over after the 2007 World Cup that he was considered for a recall, and promptly picked up two wickets in the first over of his Test debut, against India at Chennai.Duncan Fletcher did a lot of good for English cricket - he and Nasser Hussain deserve a lot of credit for helping the game become ultra-professional - but spin bowling always lagged behind, said Swann. The best thing Fletcher did for me was not picking me for eight years, even though he did pick guys who I thought werent as good as me. It actually made me a better spinner. I taught myself to bowl because I was unsullied by the system.That system has made several strides in recent seasons, not least the change to the toss regulations in county cricket in 2016 which encouraged the preparation of wickets that offer more to spin bowlers. But, Swann says, that change alone wont be enough to right a generation of wrongs. Youve still got 18 county captains who dont trust their spinners, he said. Its the English way. An over before lunch, two before tea and six before the new ball. Thats it.For that reason, he adds, the fact that England have embarked on a nine-week tour of the subcontinent without appointing a full-time spin coach is a glaring oversight.There is no sort of system in place to provide the backing that spinners need, he said. From the day they arrive in county cricket to the day they play in Tests, its not there. It is for batting, for bowlers, for fielding, for fitness, for nutrition ... but not for spin bowling. And because of that, we are bad players of spin. Its a whole melting pot.To help prepare them for the tour of India, England have recruited the former Pakistan offspinner, Saqlain Mushtaq, in a mentoring capacity, but that appointment, says Swann, is little different to the piecemeal solution that Saqlains fellow countryman, Mushtaq Ahmed, offered during his day.For me, Mushy was a brilliant sounding board and a mentor, but he only used to do 40 days a year. Hed be there for a couple of weeks, then hed go home before the second Test. But thered still be a nutritionist or a psychologist on the tour.I know theres only one of me, but its stupid. Ive always bemoaned that, but until we take it seriously, we have to accept that when we play away from home in spin conditions we will be shown up.That fear was made abundantly clear on Englands tour of Bangladesh last month, where they endured a near-miss in the first Test in Chittagong before succumbing to an historic 108-run defeat in the second Test at Dhaka, which featured the stunning loss of 10 wickets for 64 runs in the space of a single session.And Swann, who had to surmount some of the flattest conditions of his career when he helped England win their previous Test series in Bangladesh in 2009-10, said that the identity of Englands conqueror in Dhaka, the teenage offspinner, Mehedi Hasan, really ought to be seen as a wake-up call for the ECB.On paper, Bangladesh are one of the two worst Test teams in the world, but they saw England - a bastion of the game - coming out to play and knew exactly how to beat us, by having turning pitches, simple, and picking an 18-year-old to win it.If that doesnt set off alarm bells in the upper echelons of the game, then we really are pig-headed. Its like that Blackadder quote: If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through!In England, it will take you until you are 28 to bowl the amount of overs that an 18-year-old will have bowled in Bangladesh or India. These kids will have been bowling 30 overs a day since 11 to 12, because the conditions dictate that you cant bowl seam all the day. Its why they play spin better and bowl spin better. Its like playing the piano. After youve done it for 15 years, you can bang out a decent bit of Chopin.Consequently, despite confounding all expectations on their last tour of India four years ago, Swann sees few grounds for optimism in the coming weeks.I dont think weve got a cat in hells chance, seeing how [Ravi] Ashwin and [Ravi] Jadeja bowl, he said. Jadeja doesnt spin the ball, he doesnt try to. He just bowls straight and lets Ashwin do the work. Ashwin isnt a massive turner of the ball, he rarely bowls his carrom ball, but hes very, very accurate. Every Test in India he goes into, he believes hes going to win it.Watch the first Test of the Australia v South Africa series exclusively live on BT Sport 3 from 2am on Wednesday, November 3. BT Sport is your new home for Australias home international matches and Big Bash League, including the 2017-18 AshesCheap Raptors Jerseys . Uniteds eighth defeat of a wretched campaign means Liverpool, which currently occupies the fourth and final Champions League place, could go nine points clear of its fierce rival by beating West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Charlie Adam scored both of Stokes goals at Britannia Stadium either side of Robin van Persies equalizer, with a miserable day for seventh-place United capped by first-half injuries to centre halves Jonny Evans and Phil Jones that forced them off. Tracy Mcgrady Jersey Large . 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Authentic Custom Raptors Jersey . -- Ryan Getzlaf grabbed the three pucks wrapped in tape and held them up to his chest in the Anaheim Ducks dressing room for a celebration nine seasons in the making.SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -- Standing on a sideline at Estadio Nacional, where a running track and 20-30 yards separate the field from the stands, Kasey Keller remembered getting hit on the head by a half-eaten hot dog during a World Cup qualifier at nearby Estadio Ricardo Saprissa, where fans were on top of players and the U.S. went 0-7 in World Cup qualifying.Crazy and war were some of the words the retired goalkeeper used.American players were hit with bags of urine, coins and batteries. The result was no different three years ago at the spacious new venue, where Costa Rica scored twice in the first nine minutes of a 3-1 win.Coming off Fridays 2-1 home loss to Mexico in the opening match of the final qualifying round for the 2018 tournament, the Americans are convinced they will end their skid on Tuesday night.History is just that, its history, captain Michael Bradley said Monday. Theres nothing anybody can do to change that, and quite honestly, we dont spend a whole lot of time worrying about it.The U.S. is 0-8-1 in World Cup qualifying at Costa Rica, losing its last eight matches.For the first time in 15 years, all three home teams were defeated on the same day in the hexagonal, as the final qualifying round in the North and Central and Caribbean region is known. In addition to the Americans loss in Columbus, Ohio, Costa Rica won 2-0 at Trinidad and Tobago and Panama won 1-0 at Honduras.You want to make sure that youre not falling behind, so that gives it a little more spice here tomorrow night, U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said during a news conference at the 35,175-capacity stadium, which was paid for by the Chinese government and opened in 2011. We see it in many occasions that once we go a goal down, the dynamic changes and we add another gear to our game. Its maybe in the characteristics just of our program, of our players. Sometimes they need a wakeup call to get it really going.The U.S. struggled for much of the first 30 minutes against Mexico, leaving too much space in a three-center back formation designed around 18-year-old midfield wunderkind Christian Pulisic.It actually allowed us to get for Christian a position there where he can really have more freedom to hurt them. And here and there, he had a couple of runs. He couldnt finish those runs. Maybe the last touch was taken away from him, Klinsmann said. The 3-4-1-2 in a certain way is a system that actually plays to strength of our players that we have, because a Fabian Johnson plays more on a wing or even sometimes in the middle high up.dddddddddddd. A Timmy Chandler plays as a winger.The U.S. had more success against El Tri after switching to a conventional 4-4-2, and Klinsmann hinted his tactic Friday doesnt mean the next game has to be played that way.Still, a marking mix-up allowed Rafa Marquez to score on an 89th-minute header. Klinsmann blamed defender John Brooks.Hes angry at himself. He said in front of the team, My bad, the coach explained.Obviously we took the time to look at a few things and talk about a few things, Bradley said.The top three nations in the six-team round qualify for the 2018 tournament in Russia, and the No. 4 country meets Asias fifth-place nation in a playoff. After this match, qualifiers dont resume until the U.S. hosts Honduras on March 24.Even the pre-match news conference displayed how road games are different. Klinsmann removed the products of Costa Rican Football Federation sponsors that had been placed on the podium, so as not to have them in photographs with him.Its a very different stadium than Saprissa, but the atmosphere, it doesnt change, said Bradley, who missed the 2013 match after injuring an ankle during warmups. Itd be easy to look at it and say, ah, theres a track and its not as loud or theyre not as into it, but thats not the case.A 2014 World Cup quarterfinalist, Costa Rica is ranked 18th, one slot behind Mexico and six ahead of the U.S. At the Copa America in June, the U.S. beat the Ticos 4-0.I remember the last game we played here. It was definitely loud, said Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who missed the Copa America with a left Achilles tendon injury. When they support us like that, its incredible. We expect that from them, and they expect a lot from us.Game notesAmerican GK Tim Howard will have surgery Thursday to repair a torn adductor muscle in his right leg. Brad Guzan, who replaced Howard in the 40th minute Friday, will start against Costa Rica. ... Ds Matt Besler, Brooks and Chandler and MF Jermaine Jones would be suspended for the Honduras game if they get a yellow card. ... The referee is Mexican Cesar Ramos, who worked the Americans qualifier at Trinidad last year. ... Klinsmann anticipates having a January training camp that will include one or two exhibitions. Including qualifiers and the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the U.S. is likely to play 20-22 games in 2017. ' ' '