Australia have been whitewashed by Sri Lanka and in the process surrendered their No. 1 Test ranking. That may be just the beginning of their nightmare, with a challenging 2017 tour of India hanging over the players heads like a hangmans noose.It has been suggested Australia are doing everything possible to address an ongoing weakness in spin-friendly conditions. Pitches are specifically prepared at the National Academy to replicate spinning conditions, and more youth tours are being undertaken to Asian countries. Both good ideas but they dont begin to address the underlying problem.Learning to play spin bowling is not something you do in your twenties. Correct and decisive footwork has to be learned from an early age so its ingrained by the late teens and you have the confidence to utilise these skills under any conditions.When I was ten, I was given some important advice by my old coach Lynn Fuller. He told me: Ian, it doesnt matter how good I am as a coach. I cant help you when youre out in the middle. The quicker you learn this game for yourself, the better off youll be.More specifically on playing spin bowling, he advised: Better to be stumped by three yards than three inches. Dont think about the wicketkeeper when you leave your crease, otherwise youre thinking about missing the ball.I saw Australian players in Sri Lanka stumped by what looked like millimetres. An adventurous advance drastically changes the length of a delivery in favour of the batsman; a tentative, minimal move forward only improves the bowlers chance of success. A good player of spin alters the bowlers length to his desire, and by doing so he can manipulate the field placings.By achieving these objectives and putting the loose ball away, a good spinner can be frustrated. A slogged six or a reverse sweep doesnt unnerve a good spinner; the maximum hit means hes still bowling to the same batsman. What drives a spinner crazy is batsmen constantly rotating the strike, using quick, decisive footwork to manoeuvre the ball into gaps and take singles. Once the spinner is tearing his hair out, then the loose deliveries come, and thats when a batsman has to pick off the boundaries.The young Sri Lankan batsman Kaushal Silva did this to perfection in the second innings in Colombo. To achieve this in a long innings under difficult conditions is exacting; by the end of a marathon innings a batsman should be knackered both physically and mentally. One of the great challenges of playing good spinners in difficult conditions is the batsman pitting his brain against that of the bowler.This is not easy to achieve but its impossible if you havent learned good footwork at a young age. If you have the confidence that is only provided by a solid foundation, you wont be panicked into playing low-percentage shots. And with a clear mind provided by that confidence, theres a realisation there are actually some advantages for the batsman when the ball is spinning sharply. The bowler has to pitch further outside the stumps to hit them, and with the ball coming at a sharper angle, it affords the batsman an opportunity to work it into a gap.A coach hurriedly preparing a young player for a lucrative T20 contract is incompatible with the education required for a successful Test career. However, a young batsman who is given a complete grounding can capably handle any form of cricket.Batsmen must have a plan, especially when facing good spinners, but it must be personally devised, not one prepared by a coach. Some of the Australian plans in Sri Lanka were based purely on survival. If a plan doesnt revolve around scoring runs in a reasonably secure manner, then it might as well be a map of the London tube system.Learning to play good spinners in conditions that suit them is not a 40-minute lesson, its a complete education, university included. If Australia dont already have batsmen skilled in the art, then chances are the Test tour of India will only add to their Asian nightmare. Wholesale Shirts China . Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the April 15 race in an area packed with fans cheering the passing runners. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured, including at least 16 who lost limbs. Cheap Nike Shirts . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. http://www.cheapshirtschina.com/ . "Hes going to have hip surgery on Jan. 7, and hell be expected to rehabilitate for four to six months beyond that," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said Friday in an interview. Cheap Shirts From China . Despite the cost, effort and an improved steroid test, its possible that very few -- if any -- positives will be detected, Dr. Richard Budgett told The Associated Press in an interview. "We just dont know what the results from Torino will be," Budgett said. Clearance Shirts China . Louis. To which I would say two things: 1. Where there is smoke, there is or perhaps has been a little fire. Or, in other words, the two teams would appear to have at least spoken. And spoken is defined as one calling the other to inquire, no more, no less. Haas boss Guenther Steiner says the teams main focus is now on its 2017 car because of the potential gains to be made under the new regulations.Significant changes are coming to F1 in 2017, with the new regulations bringing in faster and wider cars. Though Haas has impressed so far in its debut season the team feels it is beneficial to have a head start next year.?When asked how next years car was coming along, Steiner said: We are developing in the wind tunnel, as I think everybody else is. But our main focus now is on 2017, our main focus is gone from 16. You can [only] do so much for 16 and where we ended up in 16 was better than anybody expected anyway, so lets focus on next year.Steiner says Mercedes dominance of the V6 turbo era, something it achieved with a project which started several years before 2014, highlights the benefit of long-term thinking in F1.?If you focus now on 16 that car has got another 12 races left. Next years car has hopefully five years left and if you build a good platform to start off with its almost impossible to catch up with.Look at the Mercedes example, they come out with a rocket with the new regulations, nobody could cattch up.dddddddddddd. Everyone gets close but to make the big leap is almost impossible because your windtunnel time is restricted so nobody can do more to get better. Obviously we are focusing on next year because it doesnt just mean next year, its the next five years.Ferrari plans another engine upgrade for the British Grand Prix, something which will be available to Haas immediately, and Steiner says there is a limited amount of upgrades to come to the car itself for the rest of 2016.No, not much else. We are still discussing a front wing update but we are not 100 percent sure if we want to do it or not, if the gain is big enough to do it or if it is a distraction. There are small parts in aero but they all signed off an in production, but no big aero ...Once you develop something in the windtunnel it still takes two, three months afterwards to put it in production. In the windtunnel is one thing but to make a part to put on a car is another thing.Steiner suggested any new front wing upgrade will come after the summer break.? ' ' '