England vs Sri Lanka: Visitor's third spin options

With Moeen Ali out of England’s first test of their tour of Sri Lanka, reports suggest that a third spinner is being contemplated for selection. Here's a look at the three players they could turn to in Galle, as well as my opinion on who they should pick.

The conditions in Galle, the venue which will host both tests, are notoriously spin friendly and generally offer a lot of turn. With that in mind, as well as the potential for further absentees caused by the current Covid pandemic, England brought three spinners in the reserve squad.

England’s two first choice spinners Dom Bess and Jack Leach are both certainly going to play in the first game as teams usually play at least two spin bowlers in Sri Lanka due to the favourable conditions.

On England’s last visit back in 2018, they fielded three: Jack Leach, Moeen Ali and white ball sensation Adil Rashid. This balance worked fantastically, leading England to a series clean sweep 3-0. The variation of the three bowlers challenged the Sri Lankan batsmen.

Both Leach and Ali are off spinners, but Leach bowls left handed and Ali right handed. By having the difference in bowling hands, different considerations have to be accounted for by the batsmen. The direction of the spin was very different as the left handed Leach spun the ball away from the right handed batsmen, whereas the right handed Ali spun the ball into them. Also the change in angles created by the differing bowling arms called for careful consideration from a batsman. Perhaps a shift in position at the crease is necessary or prioritising defence against the ball spinning away. It was challenging for the Sri Lankans, especially with the reactions and catching abilities of Ben Stokes close to the action.

Adil Rashid’s leg spin only added further headaches to the batting side. Highly skilled leg spinners like Rashid are a huge asset to a bowling attack as they have the ability to spin the ball both into and away from batsmen with the smallest change in wrist position upon release. Batsmen have to pay close attention against a leg spinner and pick their shots wisely. Along with this is the fact that leg spinners can generally impart more spin on the ball than off spinners. This is due to the fact that the wrist plays a key role in imparting spin into the ball, whereas off spin utilises the fingers coming up the back of the ball to produce turn.

With the current spin options, the left and right handed off spinners of Leach and Bess are a good balance in terms of variation of angle and direction of spin. But the question is who from the three reserve spinners should be added if England opt for a third. Surrey off spinner Amir Virdi, Hampshire leg spinner Mason Crane and Lancashire leg spinner Matt Parkinson are those options.

Amir Virdi is probably the least likely to be picked in my opinion. This is not because he is less talented than the other two but the fact that England already have two off spinners in the main squad, as well as the bowling capabilities of captain Joe Root, suggests that having a leg spinner would benefit England greatly. Virdi is still uncapped but his record in England, usually a difficult place for spinners to prosper, speaks for itself. In 28 matches, he has picked up 91 wickets with an average of 28.08. There is little doubt that his time in an England shirt will come, but for me it won’t be in this game.

Mason Crane currently has one England cap, coming in an Ashes dead rubber back in 2018 where he took 1/193. His record for Hampshire is 96 wickets in 42 matches with an average of 45.16 is nothing to write home about. However, in the inaugural season of the Bob Willis Trophy last summer, Crane bowled brilliantly recording 14 wickets at an average of 13.57 from 7 innings. His recent vein of red ball form places him in a favourable position for any third spinner slot. He has also taken a wicket in the intra-squad warm up game played the other day.

The final option leg spinner Matt Parkinson. Like Virdi he is uncapped for the red ball side, but has seen action, although limited, for the T20 side. His County Championship record is solid despite the limited number of games for Lancashire as he his preferred in the T20 side. Parkinson has 62 wickets in 20 matches with an average of 25.22, the best average of the three. He was picked in the squad for the original tour of Sri Lanka back in March and took wickets in both warm up games, finishing with 4/68 against Lanka Cricket XI and 1/19 versus the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI.

But in my opinion, any third spinner slot should be filled by Matt Parkinson. For one, he is a leg spinner, which offers England with a varied bowling line up and a headache for batsmen with his ability to spin the ball in both directions; this would be exacerbated by the turning pitch in Galle. With his previous exposure to Sri Lankan conditions back in March, although limited, gives him valuable experience and a slight edge over the other two reserves.

Playing a third spinner is not guaranteed but with the options in reserve, England should be more than equipped to beat Sri Lanka in the first test. What do you think? Should England play three spinners or two? If three, which player would you pick for the third spot?