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Serchers wrote: I note that the previous two posts - very interesting though they are - make no mention of spinners. Maybe we've just given up hoping on this 'department'. Stop it Aggers wrote: Beat me to it! A top quality spinner should be equally effective at finishing off the tail, as a strike bowler. We currently have neither.

Still having problems with tables

O W Avg SR Econ 5wI 10wM %O %W

90-94 14,683 1,345 32.48 65.5 2.98 41 2
All spin 4,283 327 33.51 78.6 2.56 9 1 29.2 24.3
Home 1,808 133 34.32 81.5 2.53 2 0 42.2 40.7
Away 2,475 194 32.96 76.6 2.58 7 1 57.8 59.3

95-99 12,183 1,200 33.15 60.9 3.26 42 5
All spin 3,203 220 40.54 87.4 2.78 7 2 26.3 18.3
Home 1,440 109 34.98 79.2 2.65 1 0 44.9 49.5
Away 1,763 111 45.99 95.3 2.90 6 2 55.1 50.5

00-04 11,355 1,220 29.26 55.8 3.14 40 7
All spin 3,138 231 38.59 81.5 2.84 8 1 27.6 18.9
Home 1,167 88 38.93 79.5 2.94 2 0 37.2 38.1
Away 1,971 143 38.38 82.7 2.78 6 1 62.8 61.9

05-09 9,600 975 34.04 59.1 3.46 35 4
All spin 2,725 197 41.05 83.0 2.97 6 0 28.4 20.2
Home 1,261 81 46.89 93.4 3.01 1 0 46.3 41.1
Away 1,464 116 36.97 75.7 2.93 5 0 53.7 58.9

All spin 13,348 975 37.82 82.1 2.76 30 4 27.9 20.6
Home 5,675 411 37.96 82.8 2.75 6 0 42.5 42.2
Away 7,674 564 37.72 81.6 2.77 24 4 57.5 57.8

Did something similar at the old place but in less depth - looking at championship games only in the last 20 years and comparing the analyses of all WCCC spinners vs all WCCC bowlers (including 2009 CC season correct to Yorks game)

Of course there are a lot of factors in play other than the calibre of the spinners - captaincy, strength of squad and bowling attack as a whole, changes in preparation & ground staff, winter floods and wicket modifications at New Road, speed at which the wicket deteriorates, the quantity of championship cricket, which away grounds we visited and latterly which Division we were in.

A few odd things happened between '00 and '04 where our bowlers generally made hay in Div 2 and seamers returned a unparalleled number of 10 wicket matches but overall in the Championship strike rates for all bowlers are coming down, economies are going up and we are seeing less 5-fers. Our bowling averages have shot up in the last 5 years but I attribute this to 3 short spells in Div 1 against higher quality batsmen, and the influence of T20 on strokeplay and speed of scoring. The gap between bat and ball is increasing.

In the last 5 seasons we have bowled more spin at New Road (relative to total number of overs) than at any time in the last 20 years and we have been more successful at taking wickets with spin in the championship than in the previous decade but interestingly are taking less 5-fers with spin than ever before. No WCCC spinner has taken 10 wickets in a match at New Road in the last 20 years and you can expect to see just 1 or 2 5-fers falling to spin in a given 5 year period. No WCCC spinner has taken 10 wickets home or away in the last 5 years.

In the period '90-'94 the averages of our spinners were nearly as good as those for all bowlers (33.51 v's 32.48) but since then have generally been 7-10 runs per wicket more expensive. Strike rates for all bowlers hover around the 60 mark and around 80 for spinners both at home and away.

Spin was a weak suit between '95 and '99, particularly on our travels. Overall the strike rate approached 90 and we bowled the least number of overs of spin (26.3% of all overs sent down and just 18.3% of all wickets taken) of any of these periods. On the road wickets were costing 46 a piece and the strike rate was approaching 100. Graeme became less effective the more he bowled, Illy was on the wane, Matt Rawnsley failed to deliver and Vik's part time OB was arguably the most potent. To demonstrate how barren the period was, between '98 and '01 our spinners picked up just one 5-fer and between '93 and '01 there wasn't a single 5-fer for a spinner at New Road.

The average cost of spinners wickets at New Road has increased from 34.32 to 34.98 and then dramatically to 38.93 and 46.89 in the last 10 years. The strike rate is currently the wrong side of 90 and economy the wrong side of 3. As mentioned we are bowling more spin at home than ever before but over the last 15 years the cost of spinners wickets has increased at New Road. However we can generally expect that 4 out of every 10 WCCC overs and 4 out of every 10 WCCC wickets will be via spin at home. QED New Road would appear to offer very little assistance to the spinners.

Away from home is a different story (Boris must look forward to fixtures at Lords and the Oval) 6 out of 10 overs bowled and wickets taken are via spin. In the last 15 years spinners wickets are costing less (from around 46 to 36) and the strike rate is reducing (from 95 to 75) away from home. However the paradox in the last 20 years for spinners overall has been that WCCC spinners wickets have cost the same home and away (around 38.0), come at nearly the same strike rate (82-83) and at a very similar economy (2.75-2.76). The big differences must include the cautiousness of our captain and the way we set out to play away from home, willingness to give the spinner the ball to polish off the innings etc. but ultimately it must be the speed at which other counties wickets break up and offer assistance to the spinner. Of 30 x 5-fer's and 4 x 10wm's in the last 20 years 24 and 4 have come away from home. Is this the way we prepare the wickets or does the Severn have a big influence?

In reply to Serchers and Stop it Aggers re. wicket taking spinners on the Yorkshire thread - in the 12 seasons between 1989 and 2000 Illy took 8 x 5-fer’s and 1 x 10wm with 1 x 5-fer at New Road, in the last 8 years since his arrival Boris has taken 12 x 5-fer’s and 1 x 10wm with 3 x 5-fers at New Road. Boris is arguably a better wicket taker but is comparing SLA and OB like comparing apples and oranges though?

There are two myths 1) that the wicket at New Road has got flatter since our heyday, and 2) that a wicket provides more assistance to spinners as the game progresses

If the definition of a spinners paradise is simply 'loads of wickets' and we split the season into early (April to June) and late (July to September) the figures are;

Richard Illingworth 1990 - 2000
422 total wickets - 237 in first innings and 185 in second innings
191 home wickets - 107 & 84
231 away wickets - 138 & 93

194 early wickets - 111 & 85
79 early wickets at home - 41 & 38
115 early wickets away - 68 & 47

228 late wickets - 117 & 111
112 late wickets at home - 63 & 49
116 late wickets away - 54 & 62

56% of Illys wickets came in the first innings of matches and more of them came away from home (55%) than at New Road. He particularly struggled for wickets early season at home. Richard took more overall wickets (54%) later in the season and the percentage of them coming at home increases from 41% to 49% at home across the whole season. Away from home he seemed to get the same amount of assistance regardless of the month.

Gareth Batty 2002 to 2009
314 total wickets - 169 & 145
133 home wickets - 70 & 33
181 away wickets - 98 & 83

154 early wickets - 76 & 78
79 early wickets at home - 34 & 45
75 early wickets away - 42 & 33

160 late wickets - 92 & 68
63 late wickets at home - 36 & 27
97 late wickets away - 56 & 41

54% of Gareths wickets have come in the first innings of matches and more of then have come away from home (58%) than at New Road. At home in the second innings his OB has been particularly ineffective and he gets much more assistance from the wicket in both the first and second innings on the road. There is little difference between the number of wickets taken early and late season. The percentage of wickets coming at home across the season decreases from 51% early doors to 39% in late summer. Gareth is quite effective at home, early season in the second innings.

A bit inconclusive as unfortunately I can't tell you how many FC matches and innings were played, if the wickets falling to spin were cheap or expensive, how many overs of spin were bowled compared to all overs bowled, what the strike rate was or how economical the spinner was. In conclusion;

New Road used to be a spinners paradise (certainly for SLA) late in the season but isn't any longer - it used to generate 8% more wickets than earlier in the season but now provides 12% less.

Apart from Richard Illingworth bowling late season away from home and Gareth Batty bowling early season at New Road our spinners have always been much more effective at taking wickets in the first innings.

Surely all bowlers take more first innings wickets.
Simply because of all the second innings that are incomplete.

Especially with Worcs recent heavy losses

Another epic

Henry Crun wrote

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A leggie on our early season pitches would be a bit of a luxury

In a career spanning 3 decades ('38-'58) and interrupted by the war, Roland Oliver Jenkins was and is Worcestershires most successful and most decorated leg spinner - 9 test caps including a South African tour and Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1950. Still holding a number of very safe WCCC bowling records 60 years later - could he be Rainbow Hills most famous son?

Few championship games were played in April and September in those days, pitches were uncovered, and 30-32 3 day CC, University and tourist fixtures were crammed into just 4 months i.e. non-stop playing and travellling. The number of fixtures missed in his 15 playing years (104/460) including his incomplete debut (14/33 played), injury hit 1953 (12/30 played) and final years (3/30 played) suggests that the condition of the pitches encountered throughout the summer when fit did not prevent his numerous captains (the 7 immediately before Don) selecting Roly week in and week out throughout the season - there is no pattern to suggest he was not selected due to his effectiveness on a certain ground at a certain time of year.

The competiton between bat and ball on uncovered wickets favoured the seam bowler but presumambly uncovered wickets put a spinner (particularly a leg spinner) at somewhat of a disadvantage compared to modern spinners. Of course selection was helped by the fact that Roly could field and bat a bit too - over 10,000 FC runs at 22.23 with one hundred (109) made as a nightwatchman on 3rd July 1948 at Trent Bridge and 40 x fifties. His best innings return of 28.3-7-62-8 came on the 17th June 1953 at Tipton Road - when he finished with a best match haul 40.3-9-122-15.

His career contained an amazing number of big hauls. 92 x 5'fers (34 achieved at New Road, 12 at WCCC out grounds and 34 at away grounds for Worcestershire) with 16 of them in May fixtures, 23 in June, 19 in July & 21 in August. And 20 x 10wm's with 2 pairs of consecutive 10wm's at New Road in 1949 when he took 183 wickets in the season and back to back 10wm home matches in 1950. 9 of these 10wm's came at New Road and a further 2 in Dudley, 4 of them were acheived in May fixtures, 8 in June, 1 in July and 4 in August. He bagged 100+ wickets in 49, 50, 51, 52 & 56 and 1000 runs in 47, 48, 49 & 52. Easy to see why he was nominated for WCofY.

Roly typically bowled 800 overs in a summer, with a peak of 1150 in 1949 and whilst you'd think he'd be used sparingly in the first half of the summer where there were slightly fewer fixtures scheduled he actually bowled more overs per innings in May (16.5) and June (17.5) than July (16) and August (15.5), but this may be because matches more often ended in results in the second half of the summer on harder, drier wickets?

258 of his career wickets for Worcestershire came in 121 May innings, 314 in 131 June innings, 293 in 139 July innings and 287 in 137 August innings. His wickets cost 24.52 in May (SR 46.52, Econ 3.16), 22.65 in June (SR 44.0, Econ 3.09), 24.12 (SR 45.98, Econ 3.15) in July and 24.02 (SR 44.33, Econ 3.35) in August - so he became most expensive and got fewest rewards when you'd least expect it. His career figures are 1,164 wickets @ 23.92, SR 45.3, Econ 3.17. So overall he was pretty consistent throughout the year with a SR that a quality seamer would be proud of.

Another factor may be the regular circuit of outgrounds used over these war divided twenty years - 8 outground fixtures visited in May, 23 in June - most often in Dudley, 31 in July - Dudley, Kidderminster and Stourbridge, 6 in August. Taking advantage of the Kidderminster surface and size of the ground Roly took 53 wickets @ 21.13 (SR 38.6, Econ 3.28) here - mostly caught?, whereas the below shows he struggled to make break throughs at New Road in July. Also Dudley and Stourbridge were at the other end of the scale SR 52.59, Econ 2.98 and SR 52.38, Econ 2.81 - larger ovals so easier to stem the flow of runs but less assistance from the pitch - although some of his biggest hauls came in Dudley.

Just bowling at New Road (and ignoring whether the summers were good or bad and the floods significant) - in May 108 wickets in 51 innings @ 23.94 (SR 44.83, Econ 3.2), in June 131 wickets in 47 innings @ 20.45 (SR 40.14, Econ 3.06), in July 118 wickets in 58 innings @ 23.93 (SR 47.19, 3.04) and August 136 wickets in 61 innings @ 24.17 (SR 45.64, Econ 3.18). Overall at New Road 499 wickets @ 23.36 (SR 44.7, Econ 3.14).

Was he a bowler for all seasons, and has the game and wicket really changed that much in the last 3 generations? Is it time for a leg spin revival at New Road?