By his own calculation, former Australian Test spinner Peter Philpott has been involved in 60 cricket summers in his 67 years of life.

A roving ambassador for the craft of spin, Philpott is spreading the good word this week to New Zealand's leading coaches at the High Performance Centre at Lincoln University.

It is a continuation of the fascination spin bowling has for him and which has seen him called upon by cricket bodies around the world.

The part-time history master, is well-placed to discuss spin's place in the game, and the shape of cricket overall.

Not surprisingly, the decline of spin bowling around the world is dear to his heart while he fears also for the future of cricket, especially in his native Australia, but also in New Zealand, if the pre-occupation with excellence and elitism over-shadows the enjoyment cricket brings to so many who make up the game's broad-base of support.

That area where participation is as much fun as success is for those in the game's highest reaches.

Philpott fears the break in the pyramid that has ruptured the game in England, is set for a repeat performance down under in both Australia and New Zealand.

It is something he also fears is afflicting other sports and most notably rugby in both countries.

"We are going the American way, where there is a small elite group at the top of the game and nothing underneath.

"The beauty of having that base beneath is that those people who play do it because they love it.

"In the long run those at the apex get all the kudos and publicity, but the base is most important.

"My concern is that because they are so concerned about the apex, those people don't see it.

"The marketing is American-oriented and I wouldn't want our sport to go the way of American sport," he said.

Cricket has been a great vehicle in Philpott's life. As a schoolmaster he found that teaching and cricket worked in well together and he has been coaching consistently ever since getting into teaching.

"The thought of stopping has never entered my head," he said.

And he has very definite views on the role of coaches.

"The coach is there to help each individual develop his own particular talent to his optimum and to enhance his enjoyment of the game.

"Enjoyment is the key," he said.

"A coach shouldn't be someone who is looking to change people.

"A coach should always remember that it is much easier to muck someone up than it is to make them better."

Coaches also had to know the people they were dealing with very well. The last thing a coach wanted to do was create a group of clones.

Philpott had also seen coaches taking videotapes of players they hardly knew and then analysing their style before they had made any attempt to know the player.

They needed to keep in mind that the three requirements for sport were; physical, technical and mental, and the mental aspect was more important than the other two put together.

The mental aspect was the most difficult part of the job and frequently, because of that, it was the one least looked at, he said.

Yet it is the state of spin bowling that is the dearest to his heart, and things in the garden are not as rosy as many might think.

The on-going effects of limited overs cricket are still being felt where the creation of the state of mind that containment is more important than getting people out has permeated right through the game.

It is a negative attitude that is being felt everywhere. Dry medium-pacers have become the norm rather than wicket-takers.

"The trouble is that kids are all watching the older players and they follow what happens.

"What you find then is that kids don't know how to get people out," he said.

Philpott said the one-day game has become very predictable and he would like to see a system introduced that would encourage a team to try and take wickets. That would make the game more interesting.

It would involve giving bonus points for getting wickets.

"It could be something to encourage wicket-taking and to indoctrinate people that it is just as important to get people out," he said.

Philpott said he grew up in the game playing backyard cricket like many of his generation and if he couldn't get his brothers out, he never got a bat.

While the emergence of spin bowlers like Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan and Stuart MacGill had been good in bringing spin back into the game as a significant force, the problem with the influence they were having on young players was that captains were still not used to dealing with spin bowlers.

And while young players might be keen on spinning, if they were not getting a chance to bowl in that fashion they would soon try something else.

Philpott feels the influence of Warne and MacGill was camouflaging the lack of spinners beneath them. There were very few quality spin bowlers in state cricket or in the age-group sides.

"The game will suffer for it and administrators need to be very careful," he said.

Looking to the future was another thing administrators needed to keep in mind, and it was very important in Australia where their side at the moment was the dominant force in the game.

Philpott said the Australians at the moment are a very good side, but the other cornerstone sides in the world game, South Africa, England and the West Indies are not strong and that was a concern.

Philpott also wonders about the bowling injuries that have occurred in the modern game and wonders also if young cricketers are more aware of injury and stop as soon as they feel something.

"I don't recall ever playing without some pain or another.

"I asked Dennis Lillee how many matches he played without some pain or another and he said, 'None.'

"The best way to get fit is to bowl and I think a lot of modern bowlers don't bowl enough," he said.

Philpott's continuing regard for cricket, and his concern for its welfare, is a model for all of the game's virtues and when he expresses concern for aspects of the game, his is not a view that is easily countered.

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