Decoding England’s Spin Woes in T20I Cricket

Harry Brook of England bats from Sanju Samson of India during (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

England haven’t had the best of starts in the five-match T20I series against India and it is the batters who have let the team down at both Kolkata and Chennai. While Arshdeep Singh has been brilliant with the new ball and Hardik Pandya has played his part as the second seamer, it is the Indian spinners who have caused the real damage in the middle overs. England have struggled against quality spin post their triumph at the 2022 T20 World Cup Down Under.

RG breaks down the numbers.

England’s Poor Show vs Spin Against India

England have lost 11 of their total 19 wickets in the series to the Indian spinners at an average of 17.3. They have lost a wicket every 14 deliveries and have struggled to up the ante with a combined strike rate of just 121.8 against the slower bowlers. The numbers are even worse for the top and middle-order. Indian spinners have picked 10 wickets of the England top-7 across Kolkata in Chennai at an average of 13.8 and strike rate of 11.1. Four of these dismissals have been when the batters were in single digits and three more when they were between 10 and 20. Thus, the Indian spinners haven’t really allowed the English batters to settle and maintain any sort of momentum in the series.

With the exception of Jos Buttler, who has scored 63 runs off just 44 deliveries at a strike rate of 143.2 against the Indian spinners in the series, every other English batter has struggled against them. Even Buttler finally succumbed to Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel just when he looked set to post a big score which would have helped England post a challenging total in both the matches.

Liam Livingstone has scored just 13 runs off 16 deliveries in the series falling to spin in both the encounters. The much talented Jacob Bethell has managed to score just 5 runs against 10 deliveries of spin while Ben Duckett hasn’t quite found the success with his favourite reverse-sweep shot in the series! England’s latest batting sensation – Harry Brook – has also found the going tough. Though he has played a couple of attacking shots against the spinners, Brook has been castled by Chakravarthy in both the matches for just 17 and 13. The hard-hitting all-rounder, Jamie Overton, has succumbed to spin, getting dismissed for a single-digit score in both games.

England’s poor show against the slower bowlers is part of a larger problem for their batters. They do have a good record against spinners since the team’s triumph Down Under at the 2022 T20 World Cup.

England’s Struggle Against Spin Post 2022 World Cup

England have had it tough against the slower bowlers in the last couple of years. Since the start of 2023, their combined batting average of 22.7 in T20I cricket is the second-lowest amongst the top 10 teams in the world. Only Bangladesh with an average of 21.6 fares worse. England’s batters have, on an average, played just 17.1 deliveries per wicket – it is the lowest such ratio against spinners in this time-frame. Just for perspective and highlight the gap between England and the best teams against spinners – India has the best batting average against spin since 2023 – 37.1! They also have the best balls per wicket ratio of 25.1.

There is a big contrast between the returns of the English batters against pace and spin since 2023. They have scored at a rapid rate of 9.8 against the fast bowlers in this time-frame which makes them the second-fastest after Australia. However, against spinners, England’s run-rate drops down to 8 and is lower than the corresponding rate of India, West Indies, Australia and South Africa.  

A breakup of their performance reveals that England have found the going tough against all types of spinners. While slow left-arm orthodox have accounted for the most dismissals of English batters since 2023 – 44 at an average of 24.9, leg spinners have an average of 23.1 against them. Interestingly, the English batters have also been bamboozled by off spin who average 20.1 and have struck every 14 balls against them in this period.

Amongst the current set of T20I batters for England, Livingstone has really struggled against spin in the last two years. He has been dismissed seven times in 15 innings against them at an average of 14 and strike rate of 83. Brook has been dismissed nine times in 15 innings at an average of 16.11 while Will Jacks has also succumbed to the slower bowlers seven times in 15 innings at an average of 18.6 and strike rate of 112.

Expect more trial by spin in the remaining three matches against India.