Friday, August 16, 2001 Shane Warne began the Ashes series by saying that he was not the bowler he used to be, and you would be forgiven for thinking that this was another of his confidence tricks. I believe him though. He took the vital wickets at Trent Bridge, but he is not the threat he was and England are playing into his hands.

Four or five years ago, Warne was a different proposition. He bowled teams out with sharp turn on any wicket. Now he turns the ball less, often relying on the rough to help him. It is his reputation that is causing England problems, not what he is actually bowling. Warne is not deadly any more and he bowls more loose balls than he used to.

He has three basic deliveries: a legbreak, a googly, and a flipper. England's batsmen must know that one of those deliveries is coming even before Warne approaches the crease. The next crucial stage is the wrist action. You have to pick a legspinner from the wrist. If your strategy depends on picking the type of delivery from the way it spins in the air or once it pitches, you will be deceived time and time again. With so many cameras at international matches and lots of technology available, England's batsmen have no excuse not to have done their homework.

That homework should include watching videos of how the Indians hammered Warne on turning pitches last winter. Tendulkar, Laxman, and Dravid showed how it should be done. It is no use lunging forward against a legspinner and committing too early. The secret is knowing which balls to leave, and you can only do that if you can read the delivery from the hand. You also need good footwork and an aggressive approach, but each ball must be played on its merit. And I don't mean aggressive in the way that Mark Ramprakash was dismissed at Trent Bridge; his stroke was premeditated and it was a mistake.

England's batsmen must wait for the ball, and play half-forward on the front foot so as not to over-commit. They should attack whenever they can and not be afraid to hit in the air. There are three main scoring strokes to the legspinner: the drive, the back foot shot through the off side in an arc from cover to third man, and the sweep. Be ready to play one of them.

I never played against Warne, and although he is still a great bowler, particularly in the way he reads a batsman's game, I do not rate him higher than Abdul Qadir, Pakistan's highest wicket-taking legspinner. He had more variety than Warne and he out-foxed the highest calibre of batsmen like Viv Richards, Greg Chappell, and Sunil Gavaskar. Today's batsmen are not as accomplished. The other reason that Warne has taken more wickets than Qadir is that umpires are more confident about giving batsmen out to legspinners now, especially lbw. Modern umpires seem to have a better understanding of a legspinner's armoury.

It is about time England played the Warne of 2001 rather than the greater bowler of memory. They should not let him live on his reputation.

Javed Miandad was talking to Kamran Abbasi

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd