England should not pick a spinner in the Ashes
With management group open to new ideas, this could free up more batting and bowling strength on placid pitches Down Under
Tim Wigmore 24/03
Shoaib Bashir or Jack Leach? Maybe Rehan Ahmed? Or even a candidate from outside the England set-up – Liam Dawson, at the end of his career, or Archie Vaughan, at the start of his?
Such are England’s options as they consider which spinner to pick for the Ashes. Yet perhaps debating the respective merits of these spinners is to ask the wrong question. Instead, England should be asking whether they need a specialist spinner at all.
England’s incumbent first-choice spinner, Bashir, is unwanted by Somerset for the start of the summer. Instead, he has signed on loan for Glamorgan for the first three matches: a repeat of last summer, when Bashir went on loan to Worcestershire in search of playing opportunities.
Bashir’s curious status at Taunton reflects his difficulties in the past year. Since a fine maiden tour of India, when the turning wickets complemented his bounce and drift, Bashir has struggled in conditions less conducive for spin, and averages 50.3 in his last nine Tests. Earlier this year, Bashir had an underwhelming tour of Australia with England Lions, taking four wickets at 68.5. Whether he would fare any better on a Test tour of Australia is a very legitimate question.
Any debate about England spinners Down Under quickly returns to 2010-11. In England’s lone away Ashes victory in the last 35 years, spin played a crucial role. Graeme Swann bowled 219 overs across the five Tests, more than anyone else on either side. Swann was a match-winner in Adelaide, taking seven wickets in the Test. When seam was the main threat, Swann still performed an essential containing role, conceding just 2.7 an over across the series. His control, including in the first innings, underpinned England’s balance, enabling the side to pick an attack with only four specialist bowlers.
Yet there is a simple problem with trying to emulate the 2010-11 template. England lack anyone of Swann’s control and guile – a package that was even more valuable when complemented by his outstanding slip fielding and dangerous lower-order hitting.
Even with his gifts, Swann ultimately averaged 52.6 in eight Tests in Australia.
That number has been put into new context since Swann retired. In their last 12 Tests in Australia, going back to Boxing Day 2013, England’s spinners have returned combined figures of 26 wickets for 1,682 wins – averaging 64.7 runs per wicket, and conceding 3.76 runs an over. In the same period, England’s seamers average 35.8 runs per wicket, with an economy rate of 3.02.
The travails of England’s spinners are no surprise. This century, Muthiah Muralitharan averages 61.9 in Australia, Harbhajan Singh 73.2 and Yasir Shah 89.5. Even Ravichandran Ashwin, the greatest spinner since Murali and Shane Warne, averages 42.4. All told, overseas spinners average 54.3 in Australia this century; that number reaches 59.1 when Indian spinners are omitted.
Overseas spinners ‘almost obsolete’
In recent years, spinners have become even less essential on Australian pitches. Across the five Tests against India during the recent Border-Gavaskar series, Nathan Lyon only bowled 122.4 overs, the fewest that he has ever bowled in a series comprising at least three Tests. Lyon was scarcely called upon because of a cocktail of the new batch of Kookaburra balls, which have offered sharply more seam movement, and spicier pitches.
The upshot has been to make overseas spinners almost obsolete. Since the new Kookaburra balls were used ahead of the 2021-22 Australian summer, touring spinners average 65.3, taking just 35 wickets in 20 Tests. Overseas seamers average 32 in the same period.
Traditionally, the sharp turn and bounce at Sydney demanded two spinners. Yet in this year’s Sydney Test, spinners bowled just 10 overs in the match; India’s spin twins, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, were picked as batsmen, and bowled four overs between them. With Australia and India collapsing to 185, 181 and then 157 all out in the first three innings, spin was as redundant as swim shorts in English winter.
And so, as they finalise their plans for the winter, England should be freed from the straitjacket of thinking that they need a spinner, “just because”. Picking spinners in Australia, because it is the done thing, has contributed to England’s recent misery there. In 2021-22, Jack Leach was picked at the Gabba, and duly pummelled. Figures of 1-102 from 13 overs attested to England’s folly in selecting a spinner while omitting both James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
Rather than feel obliged to pick a specialist spinner, England have the opportunity to think creatively about how to assemble their side. Handily, their top seven might well include two useful spinners, who turn the ball in different ways: Joe Root and Jacob Bethell. Root’s off spin should be deployed freely against Alex Carey: Root has dismissed Carey four times in Tests, while conceding just 47 runs.
Freed from the obligation to pick a specialist spinner, unless conditions demand, England could instead unleash four frontline quicks. Such a structure would be a return to the formation that England used in the last three Ashes Tests in 2023.
Just as it did then, a four-pronged pace attack could get the best out of Mark Wood – liberating him to be unleashed at full throttle in spells of three or four overs, and maximising the amount of Tests that he could play. With Wood or possibly Jofra Archer in this role, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse and one of Chris Woakes and Matthew Potts would make up the rest of the attack.
There would be wider benefits to this balance, too. This sextet of seamers are all useful batsmen; England could conceivably line up with Carse, who has a first-class average of 30.3, at No 10.
Selecting four frontline quicks would also protect Ben Stokes. England hope that Stokes will be able to play a significant role with the ball in Australia. But an attack comprising, say, Atkinson, Carse, Wood and Bashir would risk Stokes being over-bowled – diminishing his effectiveness, and bringing a risk of injury.
Yet the greatest logic behind selecting four front-line seamers is ultimately very simple. Such a line-up enables England to get more of their best bowlers in their final XI. For an England side who have delighted in abandoning conventional wisdom, lining up without a specialist spinner could merely be the next step.
Bonus points are latest plan to boost interest in Test cricket
Exclusive: Current system offers same number of points for all wins, with no additional weighting for the manner of victory
The final of the 2023-25 championship, pitting Australia against South Africa at Lord’s, begins on June 11. England’s five-Test series against India, which marks the start of the 2025-27 championship, then begins on June 20.
There have been widespread complaints – principally in England – about the championship, with a belief that the points system is unfair. The points penalties for slow over rates, which England have repeatedly fallen foul of, have already been relaxed. Now, there are discussions about wider changes to the points system.
Bonus points for the margin of victory – similar to the model used in rugby’s Six Nations – is one idea that will be discussed at the next International Cricket Council board meeting in early April. The current points system gives the same weighting to all victories, whether they are by one run or by an innings. Under the proposed reforms, teams could earn bonus points if they register an emphatic margin of victory, such as by an innings. It is hoped that the change could ensure that interest remains in matches in which the result is already inevitable.
Two other potential changes being considered would weight victories based on the side defeated. One such idea would award more points to wins away from home. It is thought that this could lead sides to give more focus to series overseas and encourage more rigorous preparation, ultimately producing more competitive cricket.
Another concept being mooted is a seeding system, which would weight the points that a team could win based on the country that they face. In practice, this would be likely to increase England’s chances of qualifying for the final of the competition, reflecting how England meet both Australia and India in each cycle.
With these two envisaged changes, a result such as New Zealand’s spectacular 3-0 victory in India last year would receive significantly more points. Under the existing system, New Zealand earned no more for the historic result than, say, England did for their 3-0 win at home to West Indies last summer.
There has been some criticism that South Africa’s route to this year’s final was aided by the schedule. During the 2023-25 cycle, South Africa defeated Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Test series at home and Bangladesh and West Indies away, alongside a home draw with India and a defeat in New Zealand. South Africa did not play either Australia or England in the period.
But any reforms to the championship will have to reflect the continued lack of fixtures between India and Pakistan, with the Indian government refusing to sanction matches between the two rivals outside of limited-overs tournaments. There could also be concerns that the proposed changes to the points system could make the championship league table even more confusing.
The championship’s unwieldy points system reflects the inequities in the fixture list, with Australia, England and India playing almost twice as many Tests as their rivals.
Yet Australia have now qualified for consecutive finals of the championship, after winning the tournament in 2023, while India reached the final in both 2021 and 2023. England have come fourth, fourth and then fifth in the three editions of the championship – an embarrassing sequence for a nation that considers itself the home of Test cricket and has hosted all the finals so far.
The potential changes to the championship, to come into effect immediately, are separate from any discussion about the future of the competition from 2027, when the Future Tours Programme begins. Cricket Australia has proposed a new two-divisional structure, which would allow for more lucrative series involving Australia, England and India. But the England and Wales Cricket Board has not been enthusiastic about these proposals.
In February, Richard Thompson, the chairman of the ECB, told Telegraph Sport that he supported revamping the World Test Championship.
“It is fully understood that the current structure does not work in the way it should and we need to find a fairer, better competition, but at this stage no recommendations have been put forward,” Thompson said.
“The World Test Championship should be fairer and more competitive. It is going to change to ensure it always encourages the best teams to reach the final and encourages other nations that want to play Test cricket, to play Test cricket.”
Stuart MacGill: Australian cricket great found guilty of cocaine supply
The 54-year-old was cleared by the jury of a more serious charge involving the commercial supply of the drug
Former Australia test cricketer Stuart MacGill has been found guilty of taking part in the supply of cocaine by a Sydney court.
The 54-year-old was cleared by the jury of involvement in the commercial supply of the drug, on Thursday.
MacGill, who had pleaded not guilty, admitted to the use of cocaine and to introducing his partner's brother to his drug dealer, state broadcaster ABC reported.
Prosecutors allege that the pair later made a deal for A$330,000 (£160,000) worth of cocaine but MacGill maintained his involvement was limited to the introduction, at his Sydney restaurant in April 2021.
A group of men were arrested a month later in connection with the abduction of MacGill, who said he had been taken to an abandoned house where he was beaten and threatened with a gun.
Police said MacGill delayed reporting the incident to police because of “significant fear.”
Detective Acting Superintendent Anthony Holton said it would have been “a horribly traumatic experience to endure.”
“To be dragged into a car, driven to a remote location, physically assaulted, threatened with a firearm, held for a period of time then dumped, I think you’d be pretty worried about your own personal safety, the safety of your family and your friends,” Holton said.
Police said at the time MacGill sustained minor injuries but did not need medical treatment.
Australian Cricketers’ Association spokesman Todd Greenberg said at the time his group was concerned about MacGill’s state of mind.
“Stuart is a wonderful former Australian cricketer and member of the ACA. My primary concern for Stuart is his wellbeing,” Greenberg said in a statement. “We’ve reached out to him in a variety of different forms and my primary message to Stuart is we want to make sure he is OK.”
MacGill, a spin bowler who probably would have played more than 44 tests if he had not been a contemporary of Shane Warne, will return to court for sentencing in May.
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