Over the last 35 years of Test cricket, there is no group that has endured more woe than English spinners in Australia.
Since the 1998/1999 Ashes tour, when Peter Such claimed 11 wickets, only twice has an English twirler claimed 10 or more wickets on a tour.
First was Monty Panesar in 2006/2007, who came into the series in the third Test after ‘Amazing Adelaide’.
Replacing long-time servant Ashley Giles, Panesar picked up 10 wickets at 37.90 – 5-92 at Perth the best of his offerings – laying the groundworking for a promising future but nothing more.
The last was Graeme Swann, England‘s greatest spinner since Derek Underwood and Jim Laker, and one of the 21st century’s best in his compact, effervescent career.
His 15 wickets at 39.80 during the triumphant 2010/2011 campaign came at a time when England were close to the top of the tree, and he himself was at the peak of his powers.
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However, his spells were merely a cog in a much larger wheel during that successful tour. The regaining of the Urn was more a feat of diligent planning than the amalgamation of outrageous solitary contributions, Swann included.
But even someone of the class of Swann struggled to reproduce his past efforts in 2013/2014 – one of England’s infamous series whitewashes that breathes life into Glenn McGrath’s customary ‘five-nil’ predictions – where 14 days of travail prompted a mid-series retirement.
In the series since, fans have been introduced to a conveyor belt of hopefuls, much like a mind-numbing ‘speed dating’ event for London twenty-somethings.
Scott Borthwick, Mason Crane, Dom Bess (picked in the squad for the 2021/2022 series), Jack Leach and Moeen Ali – many faces, many names, but little substance to remember in Australia.
Ahead of this winter, there is clarity in the minds of the ones who matter, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, around who will be their spinners; this, however, has done little to quell the doubters.
For Australia, the answer is simple.
This week, Cricket Paper writer Mohan Harihar interrogates the question of spin, examining England’s uncertainty and Australia’s inevitability.
What do England want from their spinner?
For all their limitations in technique and talent, England spinners post-2000 leading up to and including Graeme Swann largely had an identity.
In Giles’ case, reliability: left-arm over, on or just outside leg stump, ball after ball, over after over, and spell after spell.
Nothing exciting, and not someone you would bank on to run through a side. But as a captain, you knew what you would get.
Swann was blessed with an abundance of skills, more than the average orthodox finger spinner. His prickly personality rubbed more than a few up the wrong way, but his selling points – knowledge of his craft and execution under pressure – were unmatched.
In the first innings, he held an end without fail. In the second, any rough was hit without exception; against left handers he adjusted lines tactfully to trouble their front pads if the rough was out of reach.
In the years following Graeme’s ‘Swann-song’, England’s manufacturing of spinners has resulted in a loss of clear identity.
Most noteworthy is Moeen Ali, who earned his stripes at New Road as a batter before being entrusted with national spin duties in 2014. His batting made him an enticing prospect; a spinner down the order capable of scoring Test hundreds was too juicy to pass up.
But down this path lay the issue that stopped Ali from being a fully-fledged Test spinner a captain could believe in.
To his great credit, Ali eventually finished with 204 wickets (along with 3094 runs) during a severely understaffed period in his nation’s Test history.
However, an economy of 3.62 and an average of 37.31 suggested Ali never truly came to terms with his role as a bowler, often lacking the necessary control for his captain.
Compounding this was the captaincy during this time. Joe Root in particular appeared reluctant to use spin, instead opting for control and economy from his seamers.
With Shoaib Bashir and Liam Dawson, England’s current ‘Earls of Twirl’, it is safe to say that there will be no Frankenstein approaches this time.
And under Stokes, England spinners know they are valued, which is half the battle. But his captaining of spin will depend on who gets the nod in Perth.
It is time for Bashir to repay the faith
Rewind to June 2023, a little over two years ago, Bashir was making his first-class debut for Somerset.
Fast forward to February 2024, he was picked to debut in India on the back of Twitter footage of him bowling to Sir Alastair Cook, by happenstance, reaching Stokes.
In May 2025, 21-year-old Bashir became the youngest England bowler to 50 Test wickets.
Bashir’s swift journey to higher honours from obscurity is heartwarming, even if a little jarring, and the stuff dreams are made of. It is a story synonymous with England’s selection policies in 2025, with players like Jacob Bethell following suit.
However, for all the feel-good sentiments Bashir’s story elicits, there is a trend towards ill-discipline with the ball during periods when the captain requires control.
After 19 Tests, his economy rate sits at 3.78 with an average of 39.00 and a strike rate of 61.7, numbers that make for uneasy reading.
There is wicket-taking potential in the young man – four five- and two four-wicket hauls attest to this – but it comes at a price.
Fans will recall the last time England toured Australia in 2021/2022 and the disdain with which the top order treated Jack Leach, a man who, unlike Bashir, has grounded his game in simplicity and accuracy.
Bashir will have his work cut out if he is the first choice.
A glaring difference this time will be how he, or any spinner, is managed on-field. For all of Joe Root’s measurable and immeasurable attributes as a batter, captaining spin was always a sticking point.
In Stokes, we have already seen the way he champions an inexperienced spinner. He gives them ample time to settle and pick wickets (at times even buy one), and sees them as genuine attacking options.
Aggressive, inventive fields and bigger grounds Down Under may well bring out the best of Bashir.
Dawson’s reliability and autonomy pose a new question for England
There could not be two more polar-opposite players vying for the spinner’s gig than Shoaib Bashir and Hampshire’s Liam Dawson.
Dawson made his first-class debut back in 2007, when Bashir was just three years old.
A stalwart in county cricket, Dawson earned his stripes before finally receiving a call-up to the England team in 2016; he played three Tests from December 2016 to July 2017 before being banished to the domestic wilderness for a further eight years.
Much was made of his return against India at Old Trafford this summer, not least his seniority over young Bashir who is learning on the job.
His comeback largely matched expectations – capable lower-order Test batsmanship (scoring 26) and miserliness with the ball (1-140 from 62 overs at an economy of 2.26).
A subplot that got many leaning forward with interest was his relationship with Stokes during that game. On more than one occasion the two were caught making impassioned pleas to one another about tactics and angles of attack.
It was a level of pushback Stokes has not contended with since Bazball began, and the compelling by-product of a selection of a cricketer that has played more first-class games in his career (213) than Stokes himself (198).
Dawson’s self-awareness and thorough understanding of his craft presents a figure of autonomy in a set-up which otherwise follows its leader blindly.
In contrast to Bashir, who leans heavily on Stokes for field placements and tactical plays, Dawson would argue that he knows better than anyone what gets the best out of him – a handy trait when the chips are down in Australia.
The sporadic nature of Dawson’s Test appearances makes it unjust to pass definitive judgement; the same could be said for Bashir who, through no fault of his own, is still developing at the highest level.
Much of their futures hinge on what England desire from their spinner in Australia.
Physical attributes, character and ‘vibes’ have all underpinned unofficial selection criteria since the summer of 2022.
Bashir was picked for his high ceiling, height and over-spin, the last two of which his opposite number, Nathan Lyon, has in spades; these may be surrogate indicators of potential success in Australia for Bashir.
In Dawson’s case, much like Giles before him, what you see is what you get.
In the situation England find themselves in where their pace bowlers are like delicate china, if England want a spinner who can confidently dry up an end to allow the injury-prone seamers to negotiate manageable workloads, Dawson is unequivocally their man.
Evergreen Lyon nears his last hurrah
Where England have questions to answer, Australia have no such issues.
Lyon, now 37, is not quite the force he was three or four years ago. There are more games, here and there, where he falls just short of breaking things open as he once did.
Much of last winter’s Border-Gavaskar trophy saw a subdued finger spinner operate until the Boxing Day Test, where he bagged 3/96 and 2/37 to contribute to a momentous 184-run win.
And in the World Test Championship final against South Africa in June, his fourth-innings returns of 0/66 lacked bite.
Yet, there have also been glimpses of Lyon’s old mojo.
In Sri Lanka earlier this year, he bagged 14 wickets at 22.50 in two Tests. Later in the Caribbean, Lyon picked up nine wickets at 18.33 in two Tests, a series otherwise dominated by seamers.
The only question Australia will field ahead of The Ashes is who the second spinner will be in the unlikely event a spinning wicket surfaces; neither Todd Murphy nor Matthew Kuhnemann, the team’s subcontinent specialists, have played at home.
Nathan Lyon’s vitality is the driving force of the side, something that was hailed in 2013 when Michael Hussey anointed him his successor to lead Australia’s victory song, ‘Under The Southern Cross I Stand‘.
Earlier this year, Lyon passed custodianship of the song to Alex Carey, marking the beginning of the end for Australia’s best spinner post-Warne.
‘It definitely doesn’t mean I’m retiring anytime soon’, Lyon said.
Only he knows how long he has left.
For the man who has been the heartbeat of the team for over a decade – 100 consecutive Test appearances a testament to this – ‘Gaz’ will dearly hope for an Ashes win on home soil one last time.
By Mohan Harihar
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