When Muttiah Muralitharan left England with the taste of Kandy loss in their mouths on Wednesday, he continued an unhappy tradition stretching back more than 100 years. It is no wonder that Nasser Hussain sought that elusive mystery spinner during his time as captain; the weird and wonderful have been baffling batsmen for over a century.

The story of slow bowling in England is of relatively strait-laced finger spinners from the likes of Bobby Peel and Johnny Briggs through the Veritys, Lakers and Underwoods down to Monty Panesar, the present holder of the flame. Leggies such as Tich Freeman, Doug Wright and Ian Salisbury comprise a minority.

The outstanding sequence of Muralitharan, who is nearly impossible to classify, has been highlighted in this record-breaking week. But his figures against England - 102 wickets at an average of 19.37 and a mean of 7.29 wickets per game - are even more impressive than his overall statistics of 713 wickets at 21.69.

Shane Warne, too, enjoyed English company. Overall his 708 wickets cost 25.41 runs each. The 195 England victims came cheaper at only 23.25 apiece and two thirds of those were secured in England (at an even meaner 21.94), a place where surfaces and climate are believed to militate against the development of wrist spin.

Travails against mystery spin can be traced to the winter of 1905-06, when Plum Warner’s side lost 4-1 on matting pitches to South Africa, who included a quartet of googly bowlers in Reggie Schwarz, Aubrey Faulkner, Ernie Vogler and Gordon White. Schwarz had learnt the ball from its English inventor, B. J.T. Bosanquet.

In 1920-21, Arthur Mailey established the Australian wrist spinner’s grip, which has clamped England like a vice for much of the period since. Twice in that series he claimed ten wickets in a match as the first - but not last - 5-0 Ashes whitewash was secured against a team still rebuilding after the war.

Even among this peculiar breed, Jack Iverson was unorthodox. His giant hands allowed him to spin the ball either way from his thumb and middle finger without a change of action. His Test career was very short and very sweet: only four games, at the age of 35, but 21 wickets in Australia’s 4-1 win against England in 1950-51.

Practitioners from elsewhere have also had their moments. When India won for the first time in England in 1971, it followed a mesmerising performance at the Oval from Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, bowling wrist spin at medium pace from a right arm withered by polio in his childhood. The effects were hidden inside a shirt buttoned to the wrist.

More recently, Saqlain Mushtaq, of Pakistan, the first genuine off-spin bowler consistently to turn the ball from leg, did for England in the closing stages at Old Trafford in 2001. Warne, picking the top 50 he has played with and against in The Times this year, suggested that Saqlain fell into the trap of overdoing the doosra.

Others cannot use it at all. The strain on the fingers makes it devilishly hard to bowl accurately from more than 16 yards without straightening the arm or compromising pace and disguise. Muralitharan, three years ago, was advised by the ICC to remove it from his armoury, prompting revision of the throwing laws.

As they prepare for the second Test in Colombo beginning on Sunday, England can console themselves in the knowledge that Muralitharan is unlikely to be around come the next series in 2011. Nor will they see a doppelgänger with the same rotation of wrist and congenital defect in the elbow.

Those trying to replicate Muralitharan, but without the locking elbow, will almost certainly transgress the permitted 15 degrees of bend. Indeed, the serious debate is no longer whether Muralitharan throws - polarised opinions will not change - but of his impact on emerging players taking him as a role model.

The name of Munir Ansari may not be familiar. Back in 2000, supposedly aged 15, he played for a Pakistan Patron’s XI in a warm-up game against England. He was known locally as the “Rawalpindi Murali” and the action was evidently copied frame by unorthodox frame. Fortunately, the umpires were not from Australia.

Six years later, Ansari was among a staggering 55 bowlers reported for questionable actions in Pakistan domestic cricket during a season.

There will never be another Muralitharan and the doosra may never become mainstream, but history tells us that something equally cunning will emerge in its stead - and that England will suffer.