Is the finger-spinner a dying breed?

Over the last couple of decades, conventional finger-spinners have been struggling to make their mark in Test cricket. Harbhajan Singh has striven to keep the flag flying for his tribe with 238 wickets, and more than one matchwinning performance against the best team in the world, while Daniel Vettori and Saqlain Mushtaq have had their moments. Increasingly, though, they have lost ground to wrist-spinners, who, with their ability to extract turn and bounce even on pitches which are batsman-friendly, have become a more potent weapon for the captain than the steady and accurate finger-spinner.

Which is one of the reasons why the development of Monty Panesar over the last few months is so exciting for world cricket. In his short international career so far, Panesar has shown himself to be the real deal. All his nine Tests have so far been against teams from the subcontinent - reckoned to be the best players of spin bowling - and yet his numbers are impressive: 31 wickets at 30.12, with two five-wicket hauls already. If he keeps up his form, it could be a shot in the arm for finger spin, which, as the table below shows, is doing slightly better this decade after an extremely barren run in the previous two. (To exclude part-time spinners, the list only includes bowlers who sent down at least 90 balls per Test. And while there might be arguments over where he fits in, Muttiah Muralitharan has been slotted in the finger-spinner category.)

In the 1950s and '60s, the finger-spinners had a superior average to the wrist-spinners, and took more than twice the number of wickets, at a similar strike-rate. In the 1970s, the averages were similar, but wrist-spinners needed two fewer overs per wicket. The revival of wrist-spin started in the 1990s, with the advent of Shane Warne: the gap in the number of wickets between wrist and finger-spinners reduced dramatically, while the wrist-spinners were also far more successful in terms of average and strike rate.

The list of the eight most successful spinners in this decade is, as expected, dominated by legspinners and by Muralitharan. Sanath Jayasuriya's 67 wickets in this decade have come at 29.97, but he doesn't fulfil the qualification criterion of 90 balls per match, making Panesar the only left-arm spinner in the top eight.

The last 25 years have been especially unmemorable for the orthodox left-arm spinner: Iqbal Qasim is the only one since 1980 with at least 30 wickets to have an average of less than 30. Only two have a tally of more than 150 wickets - Vettori, who concedes nearly 35 per wicket, and Ravi Shastri, whose 151 scalps cost him more than 40 runs apiece. Ashley Giles, who was in charge of spin duties for England before Panesar, played 52 Tests in the 2000s, but his role was clearly that of a stock bowler - he only managed 140 wickets at an average of 39.60. Among current left-arm spinners from the subcontinent, only Mohammad Rafique, Bangladesh's most successful bowler, comes into contention: his 87 wickets have come at an average of 36.59, putting him in tenth place in terms of averages. Panesar has had a superb start in international cricket, but his big test will come in Australia: how he performs on good batting tracks against batsmen not afraid to use their feet could well determine just how long a run he gets for England.

Home advantage
Sri Lanka Cricket's decision to shift the venue of the now-modified three-match series against India is one that the visitors will not complain too much about. Not only do India have a much better record at the SSC - winning eight out of 15, compared to 10 out of 29 at the Premadasa - the Sri Lankans have a poorer winning percentage here too - 58.82, compared to 66.13 at the Premadasa. That percentage, though, is nowhere near putting the ground on top in the list of favourite home venues. That honour goes to the Arnos Vale Ground in St Vincent, where West Indies have won 14 out of 16 matches, a staggering win percentage of 87.50. Newlands in Cape Town has been a fantastic venue for South Africa, while Sri Lanka's favourite is Dambulla, where they have returned victorious 12 times out of 15. Sri Lanka's record at Premadasa is still good enough to place it among the top ten, though.