Shane Warne - brilliant leg-spinner.

South African conditions rarely encourage slow bowlers, but there are those spinners who can influence matches wherever the location. Here, Richard Gibson assesses the merits of the world's leading exponents of spin:

Shane Warne (Australia): One of Australia's main match-winners, 33-year-old Warne has proved himself time and again at the top level over the past decade, coming back from a career-threatening injury which required shoulder surgery. The Victorian leg-spinner faces a new challenge, of course, to return after a second shoulder injury. But before he was struck down in the VB Series against England Warne was fitter than ever. He has the priceless ability to turn matches on their head, most significantly in the 1999 World Cup semi-final at Edgbaston when he single-wristedly wrestled South Africa into a corner from a position of strength at 48 without loss, chasing 214 for victory. His four for 29 was one of the best-ever spells in limited-overs internationals in what was undoubtedly the best contest the shorter form of the sport has produced. A tie was enough to send Australia into the Lord's final, and Warne once again shone on the biggest stage with another four-wicket return - he has done so on more than a dozen occasions during his career - in a crushing victory over Pakistan.

Harbhajan Singh (India): Not a big spinner of the ball, Harbhajan's success is more often than not gained by the exaggerated bounce he extracts from otherwise unresponsive surfaces. In fact, the 22-year-old's one-day international record outside India - where lifeless, slow, dusty tracks negate the bowlers' threat - is much better than in his homeland. On Indian soil his wickets come at a cost the other side of 30 compared to a return of 27.5-a-wicket overseas, where his economy rate is also considerably better. Harbhajan has matured into India's main threat in limited-overs cricket, believing he can claim wickets on any surface. As a teenager, the man nicknamed the Turbanator had his action questioned. But having attended a rehabilitation clinic with Fred Titmus at Lord's, he returned to the world stage to memorably down the Australians in a Test series in 2001.

Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan): A strike rate of a wicket every 30 balls in limited-overs internationals is testament to Saqlain's potency. He has an easy action, bowls with great control and variation and rarely offers a loose ball. It is in ODIs that the Surrey off-spinner has found his greatest returns. The main weapon in Saqlain's artillery is his 'floater', known as the 'mystery ball' by some - one which shapes as a conventional off-break but drifts away from a right-handed batsman. It is a delivery which has gained him numerous scalps and continues to do so. The world's other leading off-spinners have attempted to mimic this drifting ball with varying degrees of success. Such is the stock of Saqlain, he often bowls the death overs for Pakistan - sometimes at such a speed, off his staggering run-up, that to call him a slow bowler is an injustice.

Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka): During the early years as an international he rarely played one-day cricket but has since thrived at it. Like Harbhajan he has been hurt by suggestions of a suspect action and was no-balled twice during a tour of Australia in 1995-96. Murali was later cleared by the International Cricket Council, however, and despite being no-balled again in Australia in 1999 says he has become a stronger person. Ultimately he believes it has also made him a better bowler and Sri Lanka's greatest offensive weapon to the opposition's batting. Since Sri Lanka's World Cup triumph in 1996, he has added variation to his repertoire and now bowls three stock deliveries - the off spinner, top spinner and 'floater' which moves away from the right-hander. He developed the latter delivery after lengthy discussions with Saqlain - and he also announced he was working on a mystery off-spinner's flipper during his injury-plagued tour of England last summer.