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Spinners In June

An update to an analysis of spinners in the county championship.  These figures are taken from the county championship averages as as at 7 July 2023 when teams had played 7 or 8 games.  I set the standard for a front - line spinner as having bowled a hundred overs this season.  There were 12 spinners who met the criteria: Dawson (Hampshire), Watt (Derbyshire), Harmer (Essex), Leech (Somerset), Parkinson (Lancashire & Durham), Patel (Durham), Thompson (Derbyshire), Gohar (Gloucestershire), Hartley (Lancashire), Carson (Sussex), Bess (Yorkshire & Warwickshire) and Ahmed (Leicestershire).

Of the 12, 8 have their current contracts with a second division county, with Dawson, Harmer, Leech & Hartley as the only division 1 front line spinners.  Mark Watt who plays for Derbyshire and Scotland and bowls slow left arm is a new name to me.  Of the 12 Liam Dawson has the best average (16.4) & to no - ones surprise Simon Harmer has the most wickets, 36.  

Collectively the 12 front line spinners took 178 wickets, 8% of the total taken in the 2023 county championship so far at an average of  37.8, compared to an overall average of 31.5.   Although the number of "front  - line" spinners has gone from 8 to 12, the percentage of wickets taken at the time of my last post in April was also 8%.  At that time spinners averaged 37.5 a wicket compared to 31.9 for all wickets.  

So all in all, very little spin in the county championship and not particularly effective when used although perhaps spinners have bowled more for counties with flat pitches?  What surprises me is no sign of spin becoming more effective as the season develops.  

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