With Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid both included in England’s 14-man squad for the fifth and final Ashes Test of the summer, it seems as though the selectors have settled upon the pair of all-rounders as the best two spin options in the country.
However, with a tour of the UAE coming up in October, in which England will be faced with three Test matches on spinning pitches against the in-form Pakistan, it seems as though one more spin option will have to be included in the touring party.
The sparsity of quality spinners in county cricket has been well-documented for several years; the leading wicket-taker out of any spin bowler in first-class cricket in England this year is Jeetan Patel, Warwickshire’s overseas player. In Division One of the County Championship, the leading three wicket-takers out of England-qualified spinners are Adil Rashid (22 wickets in five games, having missed large chunks of the season due to international commitments), Ollie Rayner (21 wickets in eleven games at 30.28 apiece) and Sussex batsman Luke Wells, whose part-time off-spin has brought him 20 scalps in ten games, coming at a cost of 35.05 each.
Surrey’s Zafar Ansari is the leading wicket-taker out of Division Two spinner, with 39 scalps at an average of 32.41, with Simon Kerrigan (30 at 29.36), Gareth Batty (29 at 26.96), Arron Lilley (23 at 22.04) and Andrew Salter (21 at 40.23) the others to have passed twenty victims in the season.
However, in terms of realistic options, it seems impossible that Wells, Batty, Lilley or Salter could have even a vague sniff of reaching the squad for the Test tour. As a result, there are only a handful of true candidates for the third spinner’s role as things stand.
OLLIE RAYNER (MIDDLESEX)
“The first thing that anyone says is ‘Tall, 6ft 5in German offspinner who doesn’t impart an awful lot of spin on the ball'”
29-year-old Rayner’s opinion of his own career does not exactly sound like a ringing endorsement for any England ambitions he may have. He knows his own limitations, and his role for Middlesex usually involves holding an end up and bowling the same ball six times in a row, simply hoping for a fault in a batsman’s concentration.
“It’s not a sexy role,” he said during a Championship victory over Hampshire earlier in the season, “I moved up from Sussex to play more games and I knew I was going to play half my games at Lord’s, which isn’t notoriously good for spinners. It’s generally a holding role – you get through a few overs and build a bit of pressure and think ‘Okay, it’s my time to attack now’.”
His strike-rate of 63.5 deliveries per wicket in first-class cricket this season is the fourth-worst out of any bowler to have taken twenty wickets in Division One this season, but his inclusion in the Lions squad for the 2013/14 Sri Lanka tour suggests he may be on England’s radar.
SIMON KERRIGAN (LANCASHIRE)
Were he to retire tomorrow, Simon Kerrigan’s career would be remembered for four numbers: 8-0-53-0. His match figures on Test debut against Australia in 2013 were ugly, and the loss of confidence he showed on the big stage despite a fantastic set of first-class statistics is a real worry for the selectors.
However, he has bowled well in Division Two this season, and 259 first-class wickets at the age of 26 is an impressive record; a couple of good games at the end of the county season could see the Preston-born slow left-armer force his way into the squad.
ZAFAR ANSARI (SURREY)
Calling Ansari a spinner is pushing the word’s definition to its limit. His bowling style is somewhat reminiscent of Michael Yardy’s, in that he bowls at around 55-60 mph, and imparts minimal spin on the ball.
Whilst he was picked for an abandoned ODI against Ireland earlier in the year, Ansari is unlikely to make the squad simply due to his bowling style, which is unlikely to prove effective against Pakistan’s good players of spin in the UAE. However, he passed 1000 first-class runs in 2014 when he was only 22 years of age, and has already been touted as a future Surrey captain; Ansari could be one to keep an eye on.
DANNY BRIGGS (HAMPSHIRE)
With combined figures of 18-0-199-5 from his seven T20I outings, Isle of Wight-born Danny Briggs has failed to impress in his limited overs career for England thus far.
His best Championship season came in 2014, but even then he only managed 27 wickets in Division Two, and his slow left-arm spin, which lacks much loop or flight, is unlikely to be suited to anything more than holding an end up in Test cricket.
However, his appearances in previous England squads may cause him to be considered if he finishes the season strongly.
SAMIT PATEL (NOTTINGHAMSHIRE)
A modest return of 35 wickets in 58 international matches sums up Samit Patel’s international career to date fairly well; he will probably be best remembered by a lot of fans for his fitness issues, which led to a three-year international exodus for the Leicester-born slow left-armer.
His batting, which he considers to be his stronger suit, has been excellent in one-day cricket this year. He has 228 runs in the One Day Cup at an average of 76, and a further 286 at 38.6 in the T20 Blast. However, in first-class cricket, his return has been miserable; his 450 runs have come at an average of 21.43, and his 22 innings have yielded one hundred and just two fifties. A bowling strike-rate of 73.4 also doesn’t suggest that he has much chance of playing in the UAE.
On the other hand, his selection on both the 2011/12 and 2012/13 subcontinent tours might suggest that he has a chance of getting back into the squad, on the assumption he can sort his county form out.
JAMES TREDWELL (KENT)
Tredwell was the man picked to fill the gap left in the Test side by Moeen Ali’s abdominal injury during the West Indies tour earlier in the year, and he performed relatively well, with match figures of 5-140. However, his second innings performance, which returned figures of 1-93 in 40 overs, meant Ali slotted straight back into the side for the second Test.
Since then, the 33-year-old has taken just seven first-class wickets at an average of 38.14 in five Championship outings. Unless England want to be ultra-conservative in their selection, which seems unlikely under Trevor Bayliss, Tredwell will not play.
THE REST:
Some may be surprised to see Adam Riley and Scott Borthwick omitted from this piece, but their combined first-class figures this season are 13-851. Riley has struggled for consistency after having his action remodelled over the winter, and Borthwick has become Durham’s second spinner behind 23-year-old Ryan Pringle.
18-year-old Matthew Parkinson has put in some strong performances for England U19s recently, but his failure to break into the Lancashire first team suggests he has a few years to go before Test selection.
WILDCARD: MASON CRANE (HAMPSHIRE)
Having made his professional debut in July, 18-year-old leg-spinner Mason Crane has impressed massively in his eleven outings for Hampshire this season, taking 23 wickets across all three formats, including the dismissals of Kumar Sangakkara and Jonathan Trott.
His 5-35 in the first innings against Warwickshire in his last Championship outing helped his county to a 216-run victory, and if he can continue to impress on the often spin-friendly Ageas Bowl pitch, there is a slim chance that he will feature in the UAE squad.
Regardless of who is picked as the third spinner on the tour, it seems unlikely that anyone will perform well enough to break into the Test team for a long time. Regrettably for their fans, it seems that England’s spin search will go on for quite some time.
