SYDNEY, Oct 28: England's Ashes wildcard Monty Panesar, who some fear will become the subject of hostility from Australian crowds in next month's Test series, says he has only experienced kindness from Australia.

Panesar, who became the first Sikh to play Test cricket for England and in doing so won over the country's followers this year, spent a summer in Australia last year working on his game in Adelaide.

He boarded with a couple for three months and Adelaide's Glenelg club opened its dressing room to him.

South Australia's former Test batsman Darren Lehmann offered batting advice and the South Australian squad helped with his suspect fielding.

“Kepler Wessels (Northamptonshire coach) said Adelaide was the best place to go, just to work on the other areas of my game, so I got an opportunity to train with the Redbacks (South Australia),” Panesar told The Age from England on Saturday. “That was very kind of them.”Rod Marsh, the former England academy coach now back in South Australia, said Panesar was the perfect student, despite his deficiencies outside the art of left-arm spin.

“He can throw OK, he's just a bit clumsy, a bit like a baby giraffe when he runs, but he's getting better all the time and that's all you can ask of a kid,” Marsh told the newspaper.

“He wanted to play Test match cricket so badly that nothing was going to get in the way. He's a typical Indian, just absolutely in love with the game of cricket.”

Less than a year later, with 32 wickets at 32 and a serious cult following from his first 10 Tests, Panesar is England's wildcard, and less of a liability in the field and with the bat.

Some in England are convinced Panesar, 24, will be the subject of ridicule or, worse, persecution from Australian crowds.

“Focusing on my own game plan helps me to stay thick-skinned, and do what I have to do for the team,” Panesar said.

Marsh does not anticipate much anti-Monty sentiment during the Ashes.

“(The Barmy Army) will worship the ground he walks on, and they might drag a few Australians with them,” he said.

“He's a lovable young man, he's got a beautiful smile and if the Australian crowds do get into him, it will only be because he's taken a lot of wickets.” Panesar fully expects Australia's batsmen to come at him hard.

“They at least have heard of me and I'm a thought in their mind, which is very flattering,” he said.—AFP