Dawson hails 'versatile' England spin attack ahead of Pakistan clash

Combination of Dawson, Rashid and Jacks continues stellar run for English spinners in Pallekele

If you haven't followed England at this T20 World Cup, first of all, why not? They've had one of the more interesting campaigns so far.

But perhaps more importantly, the news is that they've got a full quartet of spinners now. They've got the old wise one in Adil Rashid, two journeyman types in Will Jacks and Liam Dawson, plus the upstart batter-who-bowls-a-bit in Jacob Bethell. Rashid is a legspinner, Jacks bowls offspin, and Dawson and Bethell both deliver slow left-arm (although the latter has not been able to bowl since cutting a finger on his spinning hand against West Indies).

Are they any good, though? At the Pallekele International Stadium - very much. Jacks is fresh from figures of 3 for 22 against Sri Lanka, having dominated the hosts inside the powerplay. But they have longer-standing form here, having now played four T20Is at this venue in the past four weeks, winning all four against Sri Lanka.RelatedSpin turns Harry Brook off, but he's turning England on to it

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Their numbers in Pallekele through that stretch are fearsome. Jacks now has seven wickets and an economy rate of exactly 5.00. Rashid also has seven, and an economy of 5.23. Dawson has six wickets and Bethell four. Together, their tally is 24 wickets from four matches, and their combined economy rate 5.81.

Dawson, who claimed 2 for 27 against Sri Lanka on Sunday, said England's variety has been key to this success.

"We're all very different types of spinners," he said. "Jacksy gets a lot of overspin and a lot of bounce. Dilly [Rashid] has all his variations. Me - I sort of don't get the bounce that the other two get. It will be a different challenge on Tuesday night [against Pakistan]. We might get a better batting wicket. We'll have to see."

The surface for that Pakistan encounter is likely to be better for batting, as Dawson suggested. It is a fresh pitch, where they played on a used surface on Sunday. Pallekele is also generally known for higher-scoring surfaces than the tracks in Colombo.

Dawson said he was prepared to bowl in the powerplay in the last match, although Jacks ended up getting that job in the end. He added that Pallekele was a ground that rewarded spin-bowling variety.

"The beauty of this ground is that you can bowl whenever and be versatile," he said. "We've got four good spinners, with Bethell. And we've exploited conditions here in the past. If it's a lot better wicket on Tuesday, we might need different plans and to work differently

"I think we're all very experienced as spinners," Dawson said of the frontline trio. "Adil and I have played a lot of cricket, and Jacks has as well. It's probably only Bethell who has a little less experience when it comes to bowling."

Captain Harry Brook's confidence in his spinners also appears to have grown over the course of their stay in South Asia. He admitted that England felt they were 15-20 runs short in their innings against Sri Lanka, but nevertheless said "had the faith" his bowlers could defend their 146 for 9. The spinners ended up taking seven wickets between them as Sri Lanka crashed to 95 all out.

"I think the way Harry Brook captained against Sri Lanka was phenomenal - he used us all differently," Dawson said. "There's a lot of trust in the guys to go and execute."