How England turned the tables on spin bowling to establish a new ODI dominance

When England last toured Sri Lanka for ODIs, in 2014, their batsmen had essentially tripped over themselves in their attempts to defuse spin. By the final game of the seven-match series, captain Angelo Mathews could have packed his attack with spinners, set them loose inside the Powerplay, then slapped his hands over his eyes, and still soon found the England top order in a tangled, twitching heap in the middle of the pitch.

Four years later, England have at times been imperious against slow bowling - fancy footwork, strapping sweeps, and fuss-free strike rotation characterising their batting, at least until after they had taken an unassailable 3-0 series lead. Even in the fifth ODI, in which England fielded a substantially depleted XI, it was the fast bowling of Dushmantha Chameera and Kasun Rajitha that derailed the visitors' chase, though allsorts offspinner Akila Dananjaya would later claim a clutch of wickets.

It turns out, however, that England haven't merely been good against spin in Sri Lanka. In fact, in a matter of a few years, they have transformed themselves into one of the finest spin-playing ODI teams on the planet. Since May 2016, when England's ODI form became truly monstrous - 12 out of 13 bilateral series won in that period (not counting the one-off Scotland game, which, you know, no one seems to) - they have averaged 56.44 against spin everywhere in the world. This is second only to India. As the graph below lays out, both teams are well ahead of the competition. Where England have been even better than India, though, is in run rate; no team comes close to their 5.91.

While India have been more or less excellent against spin right through their ODI history, it is the velocity of England's advance that is truly surprising. In the three years prior to their 2015 World Cup group-stage exit, England had averaged only 33.06 against spin. This means that the average of 56.44, which they have maintained since May 2016*, represents a whopping 71% improvement.

Their batting has got better in general, of course - their overall average climbing by 13.1 between the periods considered. But compare their gains against spin, to those against pace. In the three years before the last World Cup, they averaged 31.83 against pace, with that average only going up to 40.94 since May 2016. While ordinarily an improvement of 29% is nothing to snigger at, this figure pales in comparison to their progress against spin. Note that this also means that England are now 38% better at playing spin than they are playing pace.

Essentially, of all England's one-day improvements over the past three years, it is this manic advance against spin that is the most significant. Even accounting for the fact that England have scored only 35% of their runs against spin (as opposed to 65% against pace) since May 2016, we can attribute more of their overall increase in average to their improvements against spin.

Perhaps you may argue that England's statistics against spin have been unfairly embellished by the flat tracks they have tended to play on at home. There may be an element of truth to this, but it tells only a fraction of the story. For starters, England's own spinners have been more effective in ODIs at home than they used to be (more on that later). There is also the matter of England's outstanding recent batting record versus spin in Asia, where slow bowlers have traditionally ruled. Since the 2015 World Cup, in which England have played in all four major Asian destinations (UAE, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka), England's batting average against spin in Asia is an excellent 46.70 - once again second only to that of India. Their run rate against slow bowling is the best among teams playing next year's World Cup.

So how have England transformed what was for decades a crippling flaw, to arguably the strongest and most forbidding wall in their one-day fortress? Team insiders provide several reasons. The batting order they have put together in ODIs now contains Joe Root, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler - all decent players of spin to begin with - who have arrived in the prime of their careers, and can share the information they have gleaned from previous battles against spin, including in the IPL, with their teammates. In general, the spin intelligence in the England dressing room is understood to be far higher than it has ever been.

Coach Trevor Bayliss, who has been credited with overseeing this sharp ODI rise, says this of conversations within the team: "What we're trying to do is get them to speak to each other, and work it out between them, to a certain degree. If someone is a good sweeper, well, the other guys speak to him about how he plays the sweep shot. Other guys are good at dancing down the wicket to the ball. Well, speak to your mate and find out the plans that they might use and how they go about it. Share the information. They've all got an input. It can be when they're having coffee, or over a meal. Working it out themselves is better than someone actually telling them what to do."

From a technical perspective, Graham Thorpe, the main one-day batting coach, has focused on two particular ploys. The first was to emphasise that spinning deliveries should not be intercepted in that in-between zone where batsmen are not far enough forward to smother the turn, and not far enough back to confidently play the turn off the surface. This strategy came out of an analysis England had done for Test batting, where they looked closely at Rahul Dravid, whom they considered perhaps the best recent player of spin. In doing so, they had realised Dravid intercepted only 9% of deliveries between the danger-zone, which is between 2-3 metres from the stumps. Moreover, he attacked only 2% of overall deliveries in that area. Though originally intended to enhance England's Test game, the benefits of this analysis eventually began to be felt - perhaps even more emphatically - in ODIs.

"Playing in those safer areas puts the pressure back on the bowler to hit a length that's about a foot long, rather than a couple of yards long," says Bayliss. "It's about picking up the length and using the crease."

The other of Thorpe's priorities also had roots in a Dravid insight. Late in his career, asked what he would have liked to have learned earlier, Dravid replied that he should have hit against the turn more in his younger years. England took this on board.

Where previous England sides were apprehensive of employing such a strategy, the philosophy of fearlessnes that Bayliss, Paul Farbrace and Morgan had ushered in after the 2015 World Cup was a fertile environment in which this tactic could take root. Where England had once seen danger, they now saw opportunity - hitting against the turn meant you were generally targeting the side of the field that is less-well defended by fielders. Beat the infield and fetch yourself a boundary. Morgan does this to excellent effect with his reverse sweep, which is perhaps his most reliable stroke. Root has also been good at accessing the off-side against offspinners.

The cumulative effect of these changes has been dramatic to the point of being unbelievable. The graph below charts individual batsman's growth. The first figure is their pre-World Cup average against spin. The second is the average after May 2016. (Jason Roy is not featured here as he had not played ODIs before the last World Cup.)

In many ways, these individual numbers are the most telling of all. Root has gone from being a very good player of spin, to a fire-breathing, spin-devouring demon. Morgan is a monster himself, having averaged 195 during the just-concluded Sri Lanka series. Stokes and Buttler look like the weak links compared to their team-mates, but have better than healthy numbers. Think about where these batsmen play in the top order - No. 3, 4, 5 and 6. Think about when bowling teams usually deploy their opposition spinners. At the very stage of the game that opposition captains are most likely to bring on their slow bowlers - the middle overs - England have batsmen who average 124.5, 79.7, 51.36 and 52.60 against spin over the last two years.

With this taken into consideration, it is possible that England's recent dominance of spin is even more central to their rise as an ODI batting force, than even these stats lay out. At some point, even Asian opponents may justifiably begin fielding seam-heavy attacks against England - an almost unthinkable strategy four years ago. They might also reserve their spinners for the Powerplay or the death, because based on these numbers, why bowl middle-overs spin to these freaks?

Finally, we come to England's use of their own spinners - principally Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali. Rashid's re-inclusion in the England squad was at Bayliss' insistence; he believed a wristspinner would play a fundamental role in a new, aggressive England outfit. While the batsmen have been scoring more runs at a quicker rate off opposition slow bowlers, their own slower bowlers have been taking a greater proportion of wickets, increasing their share by 13 percentage points.

All of which is to say that, although much has been said about England's rebirth as a fearless and successful ODI unit, this change of approach has been matched by a marked increase in cricketing skill and intelligence. The majority of this new prowess has been in the area of playing spin; some of it has also been about bowling it. Once a side of entangled gropers and finger-spinning forgettables, England have, in the course of a little over three years, re-oriented themselves so dramatically that spin is their foremost ODI strength.