Chandigarh, Dec. 17 : England coach Peter Moores has defended the bowling of Monty Panesar, who failed to nab wicket in India's second innings in the Chennai Test that concluded on Monday.

"I have sympathy for Monty. He probably hasn''t played in a competitive game for three months. We didn''t have a warm-up game and that is difficult for a spinner who wants to bowl some overs in match conditions," The Independent quoted Moores, as saying.

"He needs this to go through the gears and to get back some sort of rhythm. And that is quite challenging for someone faced with the task of trying to bowl out an Indian Test match team," Moores added.

There is a feeling that Panesar is not learning and developing as a bowler as quickly as he should.

The paper says that it is not that he is not a good bowler - he is - it is just that he is not making the progress many think he should.

"Monty''s record in Test cricket, where he takes his wickets at an average of 32, compares very favourably to a lot of spinners at the start of their careers," Moores said.

"He is still quite young [26]. I don''t think you can just flip somebody over and turn them in to something different. He is what he is. He has a very good stock ball that he can repeat easily, which is very important in Test cricket. And he can do that under pressure. People talk a lot about him developing and changing his pace etc, but those skills take time to develop and they take confidence," he added. (ANI)