After Monty Panesar made his test debut in 2006 against India, he showed great promise. Two-and-a half years later, he hadn’t managed to bring too much variation into his bowling. He became predictable, and batsmen could read him with ease. And so one day, in his typically no-nonsense style, Shane Warne asked during commentary, ‘Is Monty playing his thirty-third test, or is he playing his first test for the thirty-third time?’ If you don’t innovate, you become predictable.
