How do England fix their longstanding problems against spin?

Both set-ups’ lowest moments last year came as English batting line-ups floundered against superior spin-bowling attacks. Six of the Test side’s eight defeats last year came in Asia. In Pakistan, Noman Ali and Sajid Khan ran riot for Pakistan on two particularly spin-friendly decks in Multan and Rawalpindi, months after Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin carried a similar hold over England in India earlier in the year.

For the limited overs set up, their T20 World Cup defence was abruptly halted in their semi-final against India in Guyana. India’s spinners combined to take 6-58 off 11 overs against an England top seven that was entirely different to the personnel used in the Test series in India a few months prior. Different team, different-colour ball, different format but the same mode of downfall.

Those struggles against spin have once again been evident in their opening three games of their ongoing white-ball tour of India where 18 English wickets have fallen to spin.

There is more than one aspect to this. One is that India have enviable strength in depth in their spin department. Even without the now-retired Jadeja (from T20Is) and Ashwin and Kuldeep, they are still able to field a fiercely strong set of slow bowlers in Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi.

The flip side is that England’s long running issues against spin are showing no signs of abating, a problem that is becoming more pressing with next year’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka just 13 months away.

In the opening three games of the series, England have failed differently. In Kolkata, Varun ripped the heart out of the England innings, deceiving both Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone in the space of a few balls. It was incisive mystery spin bowling at its best – two aggressive middle order players curbed by an inability to read the direction of turn.

It was a slightly different story in Chennai, though Brook was once more deceived by Varun. This time, England were repeatedly unable to clear the rope off the India spinners, finding the hands of their boundary riders rather than those of the spectators as they attempted to respond to India’s first game dominance by applying pressure back onto the bowlers.

In Rajkot, it was a combination of the above. Varun worked his magic, dismissing Buttler with an old-fashioned away-swinger before bowling Overton and Archer with other variations, either side of being gifted wickets with simple catches in the deep. The impressive Ben Duckett was another whose demise came after going aerial against a spinner.

A quick look at the career records of England’s top seven against spin in T20I cricket does not bode particularly well for next year’s T20 World Cup. Jos Buttler and Ben Duckett aside, this is not an England line-up that is convincing against spin in white-ball cricket.

England batters against spin in T20I cricket

The disparity between Brook’s numbers against pace and spin is startling. He possesses genuinely elite numbers – an average of 52 and a strike rate of 165 – against pace, but poor statistics – an average of 16 and a strike rate of 118 – against spin. His middle-order partner Livingstone is in a similar boat. Even after his onslaught against Bishnoi yesterday, his career T20I strike rate against spin is just 108.50. And though it’s early days in Overton’s T20I career, the proximity of his respective entry (11.5 overs. 11.1 overs and 13.3 overs) and exit (13.3 overs, 15.6 overs and 13.4 overs) points this series, as well as the fact that he has fallen to spin in all three innings so far, suggest that at least in this line-up and in these conditions, he is batting out of position.

Even Salt, who has an excellent overall T20I record, demonstrates a skewed preference for pace – though his T20I figures against spin are well clear of those of Brook and Livingstone. In the IPL, he has previously benefited from opening with a complementary partner in Sunil Narine – a left-hander who is brutal against spin, particularly left-arm spin, Salt’s longstanding achilles’ heel. The theory will be Duckett will prove to be a similarly complementary opening partner, but such is Salt’s aggression against pace, you feel that stronger spin-bowling outfits will start with spin against him regardless of the identity of his opening partner. Speaking of the IPL, it’ll be interesting to see how Salt fares in 2025 away from his previous opening partner and potentially alongside another right-hander with a preference for pace in Virat Kohli.

What’s England’s way out of this funk? Joe Root’s run of form with both bat and ball in the SA20 is well timed. He is a world-class player of spin across formats and already has an outstanding T20 World Cup campaign in India behind him – he can surely fulfil a similar role to what Ben Stokes produced in England’s victorious run in the 2022 tournament, a calming presence in the top four who can send down a steady number of overs when required.

More generally, they feel a batter light. Overton is a fine six-hitter at the death but is currently coming in at least five overs too early. If he is only going to be an occasional bowler – though he was far more than that in victory in Rajkot – should he demand a place in the side? Elsewhere, Brook and Duckett are arguably both better suited to each other’s positions. England got away with it yesterday, there was no way India should have let England’s 127-8 turn into a target of 172. Should they get it right with the bat, they have an increasingly potent bowling attack that is used aggressively. How they manage their existing problems against spin will go some way to determining their success at next year's T20 World Cup.

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