The Spin Drought: England's Struggle to Turn the Tide

With Shoaib Bashir's average now north of 40, time to look elsewhere?

As all attention turns to England’s white ball side ahead of the Champions Trophy, I thought it might be fun to look at who the Test team will have as their spinner when we take on Zimbabwe at Lords on the 22nd of May. I must first warn you, I am fairly stats-driven in this piece. Not very Bazball of me I know, in the words of Rob Key; “Stats are for Prats”.

This is by no means an anti-Bashir article, he is only 21 years of age and has done a ‘fine’ job so far. However, with his bowling average surpassing 40 for the first time in his short career, his position in the side is no longer untenable. Bashir first got noticed by skipper Stokes via a video on Twitter (now X), in the video Bashir was bowling to England legend Sir Alistair Cook. He didn’t get Cook out but he did beat his edge a couple of times, enough for Stokes to reckon it was something he and Baz could work with. Before he knew it, and with 10 first class wickets to his name, he was making his test debut against India in Visakhapatnam. Quite the rollercoaster start to his journey, a man snubbed by Surrey early in his career, not often Surrey make those sort of errors. Bashir went on to average 33.35 in India, a more than promising start for the 6ft 4 lad from Woking.

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By the end of the English summer, Bashir had bowled well enough to remain England’s frontline spinner for the Pakistan series. The problem came when Somerset teammate Jack Leach returned to the side for this tour. Ironically, Bashir was England’s first choice spinner but couldn’t get a game for Somerset as his mate Leachy was number one in the West Country.

In Pakistan, Bashir did not adjust well to the bunsen burners and averaged 49.55 for his 9 wickets. His spin twin Leach took 16 wickets at 31.43. Have England backed the wrong horse?

Next stop on their winter travels was New Zealand where England would only require one spinner. They backed their new boy Bashir, once again, his returns were minimal. 8 wickets at 51.75. I concede that New Zealand is not a spinners paradise, fair enough, but an economy rate of 4.75 suggests that he was not able to do a job as a holding spinner either. The final tour to tell you about before we get into the contenders is the recent trip taken by the England Lions to Australia. Bashir was sent out under the tutelage of England great Graeme Swann. The plan was to get some experience on Aussie pitches before England head downunder next winter. Bashir finished the tour with 4 wickets from 3 games at an average of 68.5. Travis Head is already licking his lips….

However, England are all about ‘ceilings’, and they believe Bashir’s is very high. Graeme Swann, England Lion’s spin bowling consultant, was gushing over the length of Bashir’s fingers, “they are even bigger than Monty’s” he cried. So what do England do? Keep the faith or look elsewhere? Let’s take a look at the contenders.

Jack Carson, Sussex

First on the list is 24 year old Jack Carson from Northern Ireland. The tall off spinner moved to Sussex after his GCSE’s to join the academy. He made his debut in the Bob Willis Trophy in 2020, and to date has 150 wickets at an average of 32.32 in 50 games. He is also no mug with willow in hand. He has 11 first class fifties at an average of 22.59, a high score of 97. Keep an eye on this Celt, it is about time we had another Irishman don the three lions.

Liam Dawson, Hampshire

Dawson will be 35 years old by the time summer rolls around, and so any further honours seem unlikely. However, his county numbers are so good that I feel he needs some attention. He is another one of Hampshire’s ‘what if’ cricketers, alongside the likes of James Vince and to a lesser extent Nick Gubbins. Dawson has three tests to his name so far, one under Sir Alistair Cook, and two under Root. His test under Cook came in India, where a certain Karun Nair, smoked 303 runs batting at 5 as India went on to win by an innings and 75 runs. As England were swatted away like harmless flies, Dawson toiled away for 43 overs, finishing with 2-149. Not amazing, but in the context of the game, a fair return. This was enough to earn him two matches the following summer during Root’s first summer in charge. He took 5 wickets in 2 matches vs the South Africans at an average of 33.80. Dawson’s undoing was Moeen Ali being in the form of his life, finishing 2017 with 33 wickets, including his famous hat-trick at the Oval. Dawson has played a smattering of white ball games since, but in the main, has been picking up wickets for fun at Hampshire. He can also bat, a first class average of 34.91 including 15 hundreds.

Rehan Ahmed, Leicestershire

Next on the list is 20 year old leg spinner Rehan Ahmed. Included in most England tours of late across all formats, but yet to nail down a slot. He is a way off when it comes to red ball cricket, particulary at home. He currently averages 43.76 with the ball in hand with 52 wickets in his pocket. Ahmed is only 20 and so I am wary of dissecting his figures in too much depth. With trepidation I mention his 2024 first class bowling average of 60 and economy rate of near 5. County batters seem to be lining up the young international leggie, showcasing they are good enough to wack around an international bowler. Ahmed’s numbers will need to increase if he is to become more than England’s third spinner in sub continent conditions.

Jack Leach, Somerset

Last but not least is folk legend Jack Leach. Forever in our hearts for his 1* at Headingley 6 years ago. I am keeping this segment short as we all know what Leachy can do. Leach is the statistically the best spinner England have had since Swann’s retirement. He has 142 wickets at an average of 34.07 and economy of 3.08. He holds his own at test level as he showed us once again in Pakistan where he was the pick of the bowlers. At 33, he could have his best years ahead of him, as Adil Rashid is proving at the moment in the white ball side. Unfortunately for Leach, England seem to think he’s reached his ‘ceiling’.

If I was Chief Selector?

I am picking Liam Dawson. It was a toss up between Dawson and Leach but in the end I like the batting prowess that Dawson provides. Picking Dawson would allow the younger spinners a chance to further their craft playing county cricket, whilst he has a final shot at glory on the international stage. His 54 wickets at 25 in the championship are far superior in comparison to other spinners. It also ridicules the argument that you can’t bowl spin in the county championship due to conditions. Spinners should be encouraged to learn how to take wickets on tracks condusive to fast bowling. For now, let’s reward county performances and give Dawson a final chance to prove his international worth.

By Bevan Fawcett

England fight back in crucial T20 match vs India at Rajkot.

Intro

India came into game three of this five match series as firm favourites having won the first two games relatively comfortably. This is a must win game for England to keep the series alive.

England Innings

India struck first blood by winning the toss and electing to field first. Rajkot is historically a batters paradise, England, therefore had 200 in their sights. It was the same old sorry start from England as Phil Salt was out tamely to Hardik Pandya in the second over of the innings for just 5 off 7 balls.

The in-form skipper Jos Buttler strode to the crease, uncharacteristically playing second fiddle to the blistering pocket rocket Ben Duckett. Duckett, who has had a quiet series so far, struck a mouth watering 51 off 28 balls. Buttler and Duckett put on 76 for the second wicket, the partnership was broken after a successful review showed Buttler to have gloved a reverse sweep through to the wicketkeeper Sanju Samson off the bowling of the imperious Varun Chakravarthy. Buttler looked guilty as sin as he made way for Yorkshire’s Harry Brook.

Duckett was next to go four runs later in what became India’s crucial wicket. The promising advantage for the batting side suddenly dwindled as England’s middle order failed to ignite. Brooks' struggles against spin continued as he chopped on to a delivery far too full for the sweep shot, Ravi Bishnoi doing the damage on that occasion. Jamie Smith was 6 and out, playing a brainless slog and holing out off the bowling of the wizard that is Chakravarthy after being dropped first ball. Jamie Overton came in next, and was out first ball to Chakravarthy with another pre meditated sweep shot leading to him getting bowled around his legs. Brydon Carse added just 3 runs, whilst Jofra Archer failed to trouble the scorers. England had slipped from 87-3 to 127-8 in the space of 6 overs. This was an innings that the middle order would do good to forget quickly, England's uber aggressive approach crossed into the area of sheer recklessness leaving Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone with plenty of work to do. Livingstone shielded the tail well, bludgeoning his way to a breezy 43, leaving Mark Wood and Adil Rashid to add 24 for the last wicket, doing well to bat out the last three overs.

The highlight for the Indian bowlers was a masterful 5-24 from Chakravarthy who now has 10 wickets for the series, the first bowler to achieve this feat in a bilateral series between these two sides. What makes this even more staggering is that there are still two games to go. The other positive was Mohammed Shami getting through his overs unscathed on his return from injury, even if his efforts were not rewarded with wickets on this occasion.

India Innings

At the halfway stage, the feeling around the ground was that England were 30 runs short of a par total and would have to bowl well to keep the series alive. This would be some challenge against an Indian side who have won 26 of the last 28 IT20 matches.

Jofra Archer bowled the first over and set the tone with just 3 conceded off the first over. The irresistible Abishek Sharma looked comfortable during Mark Wood’s first over, depositing a back of a length 150 kph thunderbolt over mid-on for four, gee, this young man has some talent. Sanju Samson was the first Indian dismissed as his vulnerability against the short ball came back to bite him once again in this series. He miscued an easy catch to Adil Rashid at mid-on, this is a great sign for England as Rashid dropped a crucial catch in game 2. Sharma followed suit shortly after, with Jofra Archer taking a scintillating catch to dismiss him for 24 off the bowling of the ever impressive Brydon Carse. The skipper Suryakumar Yadav then fell to the bowling of Mark Wood, leaving India in serious trouble, 51-3 after the powerplay.

In truth, India were always behind the 8-ball after this point mainly down to incredibly disciplined bowling from England. Adil Rashid, aging like a fine wine, returned figures of 1-15, taking the main wicket of Tilak Varma who was out for 18 runs. After Jamie Overton dismissed Washington Sundar for a stodgy 6 from 15 balls, Harsha Boghle announced that ‘this innings is formally in recession’.

Hardik Pandya, channeling his inner MS Dhoni, took the game deep but ultimately had far too much to do when he was finally out for 40 off the bowling of Jamie Overton. The rest of the innings was a mere formality with India finishing 26 runs short of England’s target.

This is the first win for England under the guidance of Brendan McCullum, and by jove they needed it. The series is well and truly alive. Next stop is Pune, let’s hope England can keep up the momentum and square the series!

By Bevan Fawcett

McSweeney Dropped, England Ought to Take Notice

McSweeney in. Bumrah in. McSweeney out.

The selection of Nathan McSweeney for the first test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy looked a fair one at first take. With no real frontrunner emerging from the pack across state cricket, McSweeney found himself almost by accident at the non-strikers end as Bumrah charged in at Usman Khawaja in Perth.

Three early season hundreds batting at three and four for South Australia earned a place in the squad to face India A, and an unbeaten 88* secured the baggy green. Easy on the eye, full of talent, but undeniably batting out of his preferred position.

Roll on a month and McSweeney finds himself out of the squad altogether for the Boxing Day test, his technique having been worked over by a remarkable bowler in Bumrah; his confidence shot. How, one might ask, was he ever expected to succeed immediately at this level? Why, one may question, was a young player with such talent exposed to arguably the best bowler of the 21st century in a position he has such little experience of doing?

England would do well to follow proceedings down under as they grapple with Zak Crawley’s horrific run of form. 52 runs from 6 innings at an average of 8.66 deemed Crawley’s series the worst of any England opener on record. Watching the wisened Matt Henry nip it this way and that at c.82mph was about as close to a nightmare as Crawley’s technique could have come up against, and so it proved.

Speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Michael Atherton was right to suggest that had there been tests four and five against New Zealand, Crawley would have been dropped. Since England keep their squads tightly knit and lean in number, Bethell would have been nudged up to open, Pope back to 3 and Ollie Robinson at 7 tucked behind Stokes. Hardly ideal, but a quick fix to the immediate issue.

Amongst others, Steve James in the Times has called for Bethell to open against India next summer. But England now have 5 months to figure this out, and I can’t help but feel McSweeney serves as an example to England not to overexpose Bethell at this stage, generational though he may be.

Bethell’s was the best debut series from an England batsman since Ian Bell said Wisden’s Phil Walker, and as Will O’Rouke make everyone but Bethell look inadequate last week, it’s fair for fans to get excited by how things could pan out for England’s new No. 3. But it’s at 3 where he should remain, and Pope make way for the returning Jamie Smith come Zimbabwe next May.

Bethell’s next red ball game could well be against the Zimmers with his IPL commitments, and then it’s Bumrah at the top of his mark. It would be unfair for the expectation on Bethell to be any higher than Crawley’s against India, and if you’re telling me that Crawley is no chance of averaging 50+ for Kent in Division 2 early next year, and not making a score against Zimbabwe, then we’re singing from a different hymn sheet.

Bethell isn’t an opener, Crawley is. England bat down as far as 10 with Carse. England already have a small, aggressive left-handed opening batsman in Duckett. Crawley’s average is proven to go up with the quality of the bowling. Crawley & Duckett’s effectiveness at the top owes to their height difference and right-hand left-hand combination.

For someone to be dropped, an improved offering must be put forward. As things stand, Bethell opening for England is not the long or short-term solution. What a start he has made to his career, let’s sit back and enjoy it before overcomplicating matters.

By Alex Holt-Evans