Monday 2 November 2026 22:26, UK Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player South Africa’s Simon Harmer guested on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast and looked at why England are struggling to produce spin bowlers , which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow cookies for this session only. Since Ben Stokes’ international retirement in June, England have rejigged the balance of their side with Dan Lawrence’s part-time off-spin now supporting four fast bowlers – a policy they could maintain when they play South Africa in three Tests from December 17. However, Proteas frontline off-spinner Harmer, a county-cricket stalwart with Essex, bagged 14 wickets in three games in the just-completed 2-1 series win at home to Australia, including a 10-wicket match haul in the deciding Test at Cape Town. Listen to latest episode of the Sky Sports Cricket PodcastSouth Africa beat Australia in decider to top Test rankingsGet the latest Sky Sports deals or stream with no contractWhat cricket is live on Sky Sports and when?
Full TV listings Image: Jack Leach has not played for his country since the tour of Pakistan in October 2024 Somerset left-arm spinner Leach last played for England two years ago – he does not have a central contract – and national selector Marcus North recently told the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast that the team were moving in a “different direction.”Harmer, though, told the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast Leach, who has 142 wickets in 39 Tests to date an an average of 34.07, “would be his guy” as England prepare to tackle South Africa in Johannesburg, Centurion and Cape Town, live on Sky Sports. “If you are going to play a spinner at those venues, you need, in the first innings, somebody who can hold an end so that your seamers can rotate, attack and bowl four overs of aggressive, fast bowling. Image: Leach has taken 142 wickets in 39 Tests at an average of 34.07 for England “If you don’t have that control, it makes it very difficult to find 90 overs in a day and how that stacks up with your seamers. So, for me, Leach is still the guy for England.”I know Marcus North was on a podcast saying that they’re moving away from him, but I just don’t understand [that].”I’m sure the chats are, ‘well, he doesn’t bowl teams out on day five’, but the amount of control that he gives you, I just think at the venues that South Africa will be hosting England, if you are going to take a spinner, he is probably your guy.”‘England need to be proactive improving spin bowling’Harmer also namechecked Shoaib Bashir – who is on an England central contract – Yorkshire’s Dom Bess and Sussex’s Jack Carson as players good enough for international cricket, but says they need more guidance at domestic level.England recently appointed former Glamorgan coach and ex-Yorkshire spinner Richard Dawson as elite national spin bowling lead in an attempt to boost that element of the game.
Image: Richard Dawson was recently appointed England’s elite national spin bowling lead Harmer said: “I worked with [former Leicestershire spinner] Carl Crowe for the first time at the SA20 with Durban’s Super Giants and he is an absolute genius when it comes to spin bowling. He understands the game and the biomechanics of spin bowling.”How he isn’t being utilised more within the county system, I don’t understand.”It’s not a lack of resources, it’s just a lack of want to get [spin] structures into the county game. Sky Sports Cricket Podcast Listen to Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton and guests dissect the game’s big talking points. “I think as a result of that, a lot of spinners feel isolated, feel alone, like they don’t have the means in order for them to take their game to the next level.”I think it’s something that needs to be looked at.
How are guys being developed when they are not with the England national team?”You’ve got [England assistant coach] Jeetan Patel working with the spinners there, but I haven’t seen him working with spinners at a county game or coming to watch.”What happens is that England will wait until they don’t have any spinners and then they will start to try and problem solve instead of being proactive. There are plenty of good spinners in England but they just don’t have the tools necessary to upskill.” Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Highlights from day five of the series-deciding third Test as Simon Harmer’s wickets helped South Africa beat Australia and go top of the rankings. Sky Sports Cricket pundit Michael Atherton said after listening to Harmer’s comments about spin on the podcast: “I agree with him.”When I was bowling leg-spin as a very young first-class cricketer, the absence of knowledge was a big thing, particularly around leg-spin.”When I went on my first Ashes tour to Australia, I was taken speaking to people who know about leg-spin intimately for the first time, whereas in England it was all a bit of a mystery.There is a sense of that still.”Watch England’s three-Test tour of South Africa live on Sky Sports from Thursday December 17. The opening game is at Wanderers in Johannesburg (8am UK time).
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