England’s Super Eight campaign is a work in progress, but a trend in their tournament has been conspicuous: the increasing reliance on spin. Across venues, England have backed their slower bowlers to control different phases of the game. To put things in perspective, 53.2 per cent of their overs have been delivered by the tweakers for the rich harvest of 19 wickets, the third-most among all 20 teams.
I think we’re all very different types of spinners as well. Obviously Will Jacks gets very good overspin, very good bounce. Adil Rashid has all the variations and me, I sort of don’t get the bounce that the other two get. So, yeah, we’re very different in how we go about things,” Liam Dawson said ahead of England’s fixture against Pakistan.
“I think we’re all very experienced. I think if you look at the amount of cricket that me and Adil have played, even Jacks as well. It’s probably only with Jacob Bethell that’s probably got a little bit less experience when it comes to bowling. But yeah, there’s a lot of trust in the guys that go out there and try and execute what you want to try and do. Some days it works, and obviously some days it doesn’t, but I think T20 cricket can be a little fickle sometimes.”
“We’re all very different, out of the three or four of us I’m probably more the defensive spinner in this and I know that’s my role and I’m just trying to be consistent for the captain. Adil can use all his tricks and he comes on us to get the wickets and get us back in games or put us ahead in games. Obviously Jacks has been brilliant, he’s exploited conditions here very very well, with the overspin he gets. So we’re all very different and hopefully we can continue, and obviously include Bethell in that as well.”
