Here are a few county spin bowlers hoping to benefit from better pitches in 2016, encouraged by the new coin toss regulations in the Specsavers County Championship.
Scott Borthwick (Durham, 25) – leg-spinning all-rounder who was handed an international baptism of fire in Sydney in January 2014 as Australia completed an Ashes whitewash in what remains his single Test cap. He has been consistent with the bat but struggled to make an impact with the ball in the last two county seasons. He has spent the winter in Wellington working with Jeetan Patel, the New Zealander who has been such an outstanding overseas player for Warwickshire in recent years, in a scheme supported by the ECB.
Danny Briggs (Sussex, 24) – left-arm spinner who has been a key figure in Hampshire’s one-day success in recent years, but has been allowed to move along the south coast in pursuit of more regular red-ball cricket. Selected for the England Performance Programme in Dubai before Christmas, when he was one of several bowlers who relished the opportunity of working with the former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori.
Zafar Ansari (Surrey, 24) – earned selection for the England squad for the Tests against Pakistan in the UAE before Christmas, only to suffer a serious thumb injury in the penultimate fixture of the 2015 season at Lancashire. But Surrey hope he will be back in their side before the end of April.
Brad Taylor (Hampshire, 19) – off-spinning all-rounder who was England’s captain in the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh earlier this year. Made his senior debut as a 16-year-old in 2013.
Mason Crane (Hampshire, 19) – joined Taylor in England’s Under-19 World Cup squad after making an instant impression when called into Hampshire’s Championship team last summer, taking five first-innings wickets against Warwickshire at the Ageas Bowl.
Liam Dawson (Hampshire, 26) – a late inclusion on the England Performance Programme last winter, but his excellent white-ball performances for the England Lions in their Twenty20 and 50-over series against Pakistan A earned a surprise senior call-up for the ICC World T20. Described as “the heartbeat of the team” by Hampshire’s director of cricket Giles White.
Matt Critchley (Derbyshire, 19) – another leg-spinner, originally from Wigan, who underlined his all-round ability by becoming the youngest player to score a first-class century for Derbyshire in only his second appearance against Northamptonshire last summer. He was then invited to join the England Lions in Dubai after Christmas, after making an excellent impression in the nets at the National Cricket Performance Centre.
Matt Carter (Nottinghamshire, 20) – tall off-spinner, whose elder brother Andy has joined Derbyshire after several years at Trent Bridge, who took seven for 56 on his first-class debut against Somerset at Taunton last summer but did not play again, partly because of injury. He was also invited to bowl at the Lions at the NCPC.
Arron Lilley (Lancashire, 25) – off-spinner who has made a big impression in Lancashire’s white-ball cricket over the last two years, and was set to go to Wellington to work with Patel until personal circumstances forced him to withdraw.
There are plenty of others, as well. As Ashley Giles says, Lilley is one of several at Lancashire – along with Simon Kerrigan and Stephen Parry, who have already played for England, plus Matt Parkinson, a leg-spinner from Bolton who impressed for England Under-19s against Australia last summer.
Adam Riley earned England Lions selection with his impressive form for Kent in 2014. Ravi Patel remains highly-rated at Middlesex. The Glamorgan pair of Andrew Salter and Owen Morgan both spent time in Australia this winter, again supported by the ECB, as did Warwickshire’s leg-spinner Josh Poysden.
Will Beer will hope to team up with Briggs at Sussex. Rob Sayer is due an injury-free run at Leicestershire, after impressing in the 2014 Under-19 World Cup. Jack Leach impressed for Somerset at the back end of last season.
And of course there is the tantalising possibility of Monty Panesar rediscovering his mojo at Northamptonshire – although as he nears his 34th birthday, Monty would not expect to be included in a list of young spinners to watch.