On the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, Yas Rana, Jo Harman, and Harry Josephs discussed which seamer should miss out, and which, if any, spinner England should pick. First choice in recent times has been Jack Leach, but with the bespectacled left-arm spinner still recovering from the sickness which has swept through England’s touring party, Chris Silverwood and Joe Root may be forced to look elsewhere.

Their two options are Dom Bess and Matt Parkinson. The former is a Somerset off-spinner who only joined up with the squad recently, receiving the call after the severity of Leach’s illness became apparent. He has played two Test matches, both against Pakistan at the start of 2018.

Parkinson, a leg-spinner, is uncapped, but was picked in the initial squad, and has played international cricket more recently than Bess, having appeared in England’s 3-2 T20I series win over New Zealand. Here is what the podcast panel had to say about which spinner England should pick for the second Test against South Africa at Cape Town:

Yas Rana: Do England have to play a spinner? Pick your four best bowlers right?

Jo Harman: I always like a spinner in the attack pretty much whatever the surface, and the feeling is that this surface is going to suit spin a bit more than Centurion. It seems that the sounds coming out of the camp is that Dom Bess has leapfrogged Matt Parkinson which is another issue you could raise with the selectors. Parkinson was picked for New Zealand, Bess wasn’t even really considered for that squad, now is Bess the leading spinner?

HJ: I think so, yeah. He’s a leg-spinner, traditionally they take a little bit more time to find their rhythm, which then maybe makes it difficult to chuck him into a Test match, I get that. But at the same time, he comes in from playing red-ball cricket for Lancs, and admittedly Division Two is not as good as Test cricket, but he does well every time. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think he was the leading spin wicket-taker in Division Two last year, and he played four games. I think he is the sort who, as the standard he plays goes up, his game would up as well.