All Test Ratings on the website are from 01/01/1950 onwards (Know Why). Most of our ratings are dynamic, and as new matches are played, the rating of earlier bowlers may change if current bowlers set new benchmarks. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation). So, here are the Top 10 English Spin bowlers in Test Cricket since 1950.

*Note: All Test Ratings are updated till 2025-09-10

CONTENTS

3. PRIMARY CRITERIA

3.1. PROLIFIC

3.2. CONSISTENT

3.2.1. Against All Teams

3.2.2. Against Top Teams

3.3. ATTACKING

3.4. BEST BOWLING (WKTS)

3.5. PRIMARY RATING

4. CONDITIONS CRITERIA

4.1. HOME/AWAY

4.1.1. At Home

4.1.2. Away From Home

4.2. FAVOURABLE/UNFAVOURABLE CONDITIONS

4.2.1. Favourable Conditions Rating

4.2.1.1. Non Asians In Asia

4.2.2. Unfavourable Conditions Rating

4.2.2.1. Non Asians Outside Asia

4.3. CONDITIONS RATING

5. SECONDARY CRITERIA

5.1. TOP FORM AT HOME

5.2. TOP FORM AWAY

5.3. IMPACT INNINGS

5.4. SECONDARY RATING

6. OVERALL RATING

7. TOP TEAMS

7.1. Top Teams In Asia

7.2. Top Teams Outside Asia

Nations Filter

The Nations Rating filters the OVERALL Rating to show players only from England.

The Rating of the players from England remains the same as in the original OVERALL Rating.
Thus the Trend Setter can be from any nation and is not necessarily from England.

THE CRITERIA

CRITERIA	CONSTITUENTS
Primary	Wickets, Average, Strike Rate, Top Inns
Conditions	Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary	Top Form Home, Top Form Away, Impact Inns

The Trend Setter (TS)

TS is the player which does the best in a criteria. The rating of all other players are calculated taking the TS as the benchmark. Know All About TS. Here is an example:-

TS Ave: 25.00; Player X Ave: 30.00; Section Points: 300.00
TS Points: 300.00(Max); Player X Points: TS Ave/Ave X 300 = 25.00/30.00 X 300 = 250.00
Ratings of all sections are calculated similarly with Ave being replaced by the Criteria Stat.

Top Teams (TT)

Some sections consider performances only against the top teams. Here is some information about the Top Teams:-

Win/Loss Ratio is used to determine top teams.
The top teams are calculated by decades.
Further, they are divided into In Asia and Outside Asia.
A bowler's performace is counted in TT if it comes in the specific condition and in the specific decade.

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings (TT)	30
Min Career Wkts	50

PRIMARY CRITERIA

CRITERIA	STAT	POINTS
Prolific	Wickets Taken	200.00
Consistent	Average	400.00
Attacking	Strike Rate	300.00
Best Bowling	Top Bowling Performances	100.00

PROLIFIC

The Eras

The time period from 1950 to present is divided into eras for this section. This is because less cricket was played earlier. To make it fair for earlier players they are compared with players of the same period with a slight reduction in points. Know More About Eras.

Era 1	MP before 1991
Era 2	MP between 1990 And 2016
Era 3	MP greater than 2015

Criteria: Points For Wickets Taken

RANK	ERA 1	NAT	FP	LP	MP	INNS	WKTS	RAT
TS	LR Gibbs	WI	1958	1976	1967	148	309	140.00
1	DL Underwood	ENG	1966	1982	1974	151	297	134.56
2	GAR Lock	ENG	1952	1968	1960	88	174	78.83
3	FJ Titmus	ENG	1955	1975	1965	90	153	69.32
4	JE Emburey	ENG	1978	1995	1986.5	103	147	66.60
5	DA Allen	ENG	1960	1966	1963	65	122	55.28
6	G Miller	ENG	1976	1984	1980	50	60	27.18

RANK	ERA 2	NAT	FP	LP	MP	INNS	WKTS	RAT
TS	M Muralitharan	SL	1992	2010	2001	230	800	200.00
1	GP Swann	ENG	2008	2013	2010.5	109	255	63.75
2	MS Panesar	ENG	2006	2013	2009.5	85	167	41.75

RANK	ERA 3	NAT	FP	LP	MP	INNS	WKTS	RAT
TS	NM Lyon	AUS	2011	2025	2018	262	567	170.00
1	MM Ali	ENG	2014	2023	2018.5	119	204	61.16
2	MJ Leach	ENG	2018	2024	2021	67	142	42.57

CONSISTENT

R Ave

Relative Average (R Ave) is a more accurate type of average. Know How It Is Calculated. Briefly it takes into account:-

Strength of Opposition.
Venues at which a player has played.
Time Period in which a bowler has been active

Criteria: Points For Relative Average

Min Qualification For TS
Min Wickets	100

Against All Teams

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	RUNS	WKTS	AVE	R AVE	RAT
TS	M Muralitharan	230	18180	800	22.73	23.65	200.00
1	GP Swann	109	7642	255	29.97	25.20	187.70
2	DL Underwood	151	7674	297	25.84	25.24	187.36
3	GAR Lock	88	4451	174	25.58	26.14	180.96
4	G Miller	50	1859	60	30.98	28.40	166.53
5	MS Panesar	85	5797	167	34.71	30.04	157.42
6	DA Allen	65	3779	122	30.98	30.10	157.12
7	FJ Titmus	90	4931	153	32.23	31.56	149.84
8	JE Emburey	103	5646	147	38.41	32.19	146.93
9	MM Ali	119	7612	204	37.31	32.47	145.63
10	MJ Leach	67	4838	142	34.07	32.85	143.96

Against Top Teams

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	RUNS	WKTS	AVE	R AVE	RAT
TS	SK Warne	211	14215	559	25.43	24.22	200.00
1	GP Swann	75	5618	167	33.64	26.33	183.98
2	DL Underwood	118	6298	230	27.38	26.40	183.46
3	G Miller	40	1569	50	31.38	27.88	173.75
4	DA Allen	58	3457	111	31.14	29.77	162.74
5	GAR Lock	68	3806	117	32.53	30.44	159.11
6	MM Ali	82	5683	151	37.64	30.63	158.15
7	FJ Titmus	82	4724	144	32.81	31.86	152.04
8	MJ Leach	55	3993	117	34.13	31.93	151.70
9	MS Panesar	62	4372	112	39.04	32.02	151.28
10	JE Emburey	86	4952	124	39.94	33.01	146.73

ATTACKING

R SR

Relative Strike Rate (R SR) for bowlers is calculated using the same method as R Ave with average being replaced with SR.

Criteria: Points For R SR or Balls/Wkt

Min Qualification For TS
Min Wickets	100

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	BALLS	WKTS	SR	R SR	RAT
TS	SK Warne	273	40704	708	57.49	58.23	300.00
1	GP Swann	109	15349	255	60.19	62.85	277.94
2	DL Underwood	151	21862	297	73.61	65.04	268.61
3	GAR Lock	88	13147	174	75.56	66.19	263.94
4	MM Ali	119	12610	204	61.81	66.57	262.40
5	G Miller	50	5149	60	85.82	71.78	243.37
6	MS Panesar	85	12475	167	74.70	75.68	230.82
7	DA Allen	65	11297	122	92.60	76.35	228.80
8	MJ Leach	67	9402	142	66.21	78.21	223.35
9	JE Emburey	103	15391	147	104.70	82.71	211.20
10	FJ Titmus	90	15118	153	98.81	83.15	210.09

BEST BOWLING (WKTS)

BBW

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 bowling performances by Wkts of a bowler. Best Bowling By Wickets (BBW) is simply the total wickets taken in the 7 innings divided by 7.

Criteria: Points For Wkts Taken In Top 7 Inns

RANK	BOWLER	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	AVE WT	RAT
TS	M Muralitharan	9/51	9/65	8/46	8/70	8/87	7/46	7/84	8.00	100.00
1	DL Underwood	8/51	7/32	7/50	7/113	6/12	6/41	6/45	6.71	83.93
2	GAR Lock	7/35	7/51	6/20	6/53	6/65	5/17	5/28	6.00	75.00
3	MS Panesar	6/37	6/62	6/81	6/126	6/129	6/137	5/46	5.86	73.21
4	GP Swann	6/65	6/82	6/90	6/106	6/106	5/44	5/54	5.71	71.43
5	FJ Titmus	7/79	6/73	5/19	5/66	5/83	5/103	5/116	5.43	67.86
6	JE Emburey	7/78	6/33	5/78	5/80	5/82	5/124	4/43	5.29	66.07
7	MM Ali	6/53	6/67	5/57	5/63	5/69	4/36	4/39	5.00	62.50
8	MJ Leach	5/66	5/83	5/100	5/122	5/157	4/30	4/49	4.71	58.93
9	DA Allen	5/30	5/41	5/67	5/123	4/46	4/47	4/58	4.57	57.14
10	G Miller	5/44	4/70	3/21	3/35	3/38	3/44	3/99	3.43	42.86

PRIMARY RATING

The total of the above four criteria comes out to be 1,000.00 points. The Primary Rating is the addition of the points a bowler scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 40%.

RANK	BOWLER	PRO	CON	ATT	BBW	RAT	PRI PTS
1	DL Underwood	134.56	370.82	268.61	83.93	857.92	343.17
2	GP Swann	63.75	371.68	277.94	71.43	784.80	313.92
3	GAR Lock	78.83	340.07	263.94	75.00	757.85	303.14
4	MM Ali	61.16	303.78	262.40	62.50	689.85	275.94
5	DA Allen	55.28	319.86	228.80	57.14	661.08	264.43
6	MS Panesar	41.75	308.70	230.82	73.21	654.49	261.80
7	G Miller	27.18	340.27	243.37	42.86	653.68	261.47
8	FJ Titmus	69.32	301.89	210.09	67.86	649.16	259.66
9	JE Emburey	66.60	293.66	211.20	66.07	637.54	255.01
10	MJ Leach	42.57	295.67	223.35	58.93	620.52	248.21

CONDITIONS CRITERIA

The Conditions

The Conditions Ratings are calculated by applying the four criteria of the Primary Rating to diffirent conditions. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points. Click on the Ratings to see how they were calculated.

The four conditions criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA	POINTS
Home	30.00
Away	120.00
Favourable Conditions	30.00
Unfavourable Conditions	120.00

HOME/AWAY

HM/AW RATING

Points to note:-

U.A.E. is considered as a second Home for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
All Home and Away stats of Pakistani and Afghani bowlers are calculated accordingly.

At Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	DL Underwood	73	145	24.24	68.78	846.60	25.40
2	GAR Lock	50	104	19.52	62.02	839.26	25.18
3	GP Swann	57	120	28.94	56.97	717.50	21.52
4	MM Ali	69	113	34.91	55.52	714.64	21.44
5	MS Panesar	38	81	28.77	63.20	682.54	20.48
6	MJ Leach	20	32	32.53	62.78	617.77	18.53
7	DA Allen	22	35	31.74	84.20	606.29	18.19
8	FJ Titmus	38	54	29.72	94.87	593.10	17.79
9	JE Emburey	54	63	40.46	108.84	545.69	16.37
10	G Miller	21	16	40.44	103.00	500.00	15.00

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	GP Swann	52	135	30.88	63.06	783.30	94.00
2	DL Underwood	78	152	27.36	78.22	776.96	93.23
3	G Miller	29	44	27.55	79.57	704.07	84.49
4	DA Allen	43	87	30.67	95.98	652.41	78.29
5	JE Emburey	49	84	36.87	101.60	651.00	78.12
6	FJ Titmus	52	99	33.60	100.96	635.30	76.24
7	GAR Lock	38	70	34.59	95.67	602.23	72.27
8	MJ Leach	47	110	34.52	67.21	600.53	72.06
9	MM Ali	50	91	40.30	69.63	593.41	71.21
10	MS Panesar	47	86	40.31	85.53	587.37	70.48

FAVOURABLE/UNFAVOURABLE CONDITIONS

Favourable/Unfavourable Conditions Rating

Points to note:-

Unfavourable Conditions (UC) is Outside Asia for Spinners and In Asia for Pacers.
Favourable Conditions (FC) are the opposite.

Favourable Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	DL Underwood	38	73	26.66	78.93	765.77	22.97
2	GP Swann	24	73	25.97	54.82	742.07	22.26
3	MJ Leach	31	79	31.96	57.97	594.47	17.83
4	DA Allen	14	34	27.00	85.15	591.73	17.75
5	MM Ali	26	56	35.82	59.50	574.48	17.23
6	MS Panesar	25	52	36.13	81.12	572.87	17.19
7	GAR Lock	12	32	30.13	88.59	564.34	16.93
8	FJ Titmus	10	27	27.67	88.63	561.74	16.85
9	JE Emburey	13	25	34.80	89.76	516.26	15.49
10	G Miller	5	4	65.50	144.00	500.00	15.00

Unfavourable Conditions Rating

Non Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	DL Underwood	113	224	25.57	71.88	837.45	100.49
2	GAR Lock	76	142	24.56	72.62	770.45	92.45
3	GP Swann	85	182	31.57	62.35	753.53	90.42
4	MM Ali	93	148	37.88	62.69	692.00	83.04
5	G Miller	45	56	28.52	81.66	691.44	82.97
6	MS Panesar	60	115	34.07	71.80	662.12	79.45
7	DA Allen	51	88	32.51	95.48	634.28	76.11
8	FJ Titmus	80	126	33.21	100.99	632.03	75.84
9	JE Emburey	90	122	39.15	107.76	629.35	75.52
10	MJ Leach	36	63	36.71	76.54	580.56	69.67

CONDITIONS RATING

The Conditions Rating is the addition of the points a bowler scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK	BOWLER	AWAY	HOME	UC	FC	CON PTS
1	DL Underwood	776.96	211.65	837.45	191.44	242.10
2	GP Swann	783.30	179.37	753.53	185.52	228.21
3	GAR Lock	602.23	209.81	770.45	141.08	206.83
4	G Miller	704.07	125.00	691.44	125.00	197.46
5	MM Ali	593.41	178.66	692.00	143.62	192.92
6	DA Allen	652.41	151.57	634.28	147.93	190.34
7	MS Panesar	587.37	170.63	662.12	143.22	187.60
8	FJ Titmus	635.30	148.27	632.03	140.43	186.72
9	JE Emburey	651.00	136.42	629.35	129.06	185.50
10	MJ Leach	600.53	154.44	580.56	148.62	178.10

SECONDARY CRITERIA

The Secondary Rating consists of three parts. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points. Click on the Rating Titles to see how they were calculated.

The three secondary criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA	POINTS
Top Form Home	30.00
Top Form Away	120.00
Impact Innings	150.00

TF RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

Top Form (TF) is calculated by taking the best 30 consecutive innings of a bowler.
There are two TF Ratings used in our OVERALL Rating: Home and Away.

TOP FORM AT HOME

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	GAR Lock	30	81	13.98	52.20	849.50	25.48
2	DL Underwood	30	80	16.88	56.20	829.18	24.88
3	GP Swann	30	67	24.57	48.09	688.49	20.65
4	MS Panesar	30	69	26.49	55.83	673.41	20.20
5	MM Ali	30	60	28.00	46.13	648.30	19.45
6	FJ Titmus	30	49	26.08	88.14	537.00	16.11
7	JE Emburey	30	44	30.16	85.64	526.23	15.79
8	MJ Leach	20	32	32.53	62.78	483.46	14.50
9	DA Allen	22	35	31.74	84.20	470.95	14.13
10	G Miller	21	16	40.44	103.00	331.64	9.95

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	WKTS	AVE	SR	RAT	WTG
1	GP Swann	30	82	27.93	58.21	771.95	92.63
2	DL Underwood	30	70	22.13	59.66	748.50	89.82
3	FJ Titmus	30	73	26.03	82.38	700.08	84.01
4	MS Panesar	30	71	33.69	70.38	665.70	79.88
5	JE Emburey	30	61	33.61	88.31	651.78	78.21
6	DA Allen	30	69	28.68	91.01	631.23	75.75
7	GAR Lock	30	59	30.42	89.61	613.54	73.62
8	MJ Leach	30	72	33.53	68.28	581.34	69.76
9	G Miller	29	44	27.55	79.57	575.10	69.01
10	MM Ali	30	53	41.04	71.36	536.80	64.42

IMPACT INNINGS

Impact Innings (II)

Impact Innings are those innings which have an impact either in terms of wickets or strike rate. Know All About II. These are the criteria for an inning to be included in II:-

A Bowler takes equal to or more wickets than 5.
A Bowler equal to or more wickets than 2 at a good AVE or SR.
1st and 2nd; and 3rd and 4th inns are clubbed together.
The AVE should be less than 80% of the AVE of the better innings or
The SR should be less than 80% of the SR of the better innings.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 30

RANK	BOWLER	INNS	II	II Perc	RAT	WTG
1	DL Underwood	151	52	34.44	602.73	90.41
2	DA Allen	65	25	38.46	593.72	89.06
3	GP Swann	109	45	41.28	587.72	88.16
4	MM Ali	119	40	33.61	522.10	78.31
5	MJ Leach	67	24	35.82	509.66	76.45
6	FJ Titmus	90	28	31.11	499.16	74.87
7	GAR Lock	88	29	32.95	460.47	69.07
8	MS Panesar	85	27	31.76	425.34	63.80
9	G Miller	50	14	28.00	399.51	59.93
10	JE Emburey	103	25	24.27	392.17	58.83

SECONDARY RATING

The Secondary Rating is the addition of the points a bowler scored in the three criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK	BOWLER	TF HM	TF AW	II	SEC RAT
1	DL Underwood	24.88	89.82	90.41	205.11
2	GP Swann	20.65	92.63	88.16	201.45
3	DA Allen	14.13	75.75	89.06	178.93
4	FJ Titmus	16.11	84.01	74.87	174.99
5	GAR Lock	25.48	73.62	69.07	168.18
6	MS Panesar	20.20	79.88	63.80	163.89
7	MM Ali	19.45	64.42	78.31	162.18
8	MJ Leach	14.50	69.76	76.45	160.71
9	JE Emburey	15.79	78.21	58.83	152.83
10	G Miller	9.95	69.01	59.93	138.89

OVERALL RATING

OVERALL Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000 Pts.

RANK	OV RANK	BOWLER	NAT	PRI RAT	CON RAT	SEC RAT	FIN RAT
1	6	DL Underwood	ENG	343.17	242.10	205.11	790.37
2	10	GP Swann	ENG	313.92	228.21	201.45	743.57
3	21	GAR Lock	ENG	303.14	206.83	168.18	678.15
4	35	DA Allen	ENG	264.43	190.34	178.93	633.71
5	36	MM Ali	ENG	275.94	192.92	162.18	631.04
6	38	FJ Titmus	ENG	259.66	186.72	174.99	621.38
7	40	MS Panesar	ENG	261.80	187.60	163.89	613.28
8	42	G Miller	ENG	261.47	197.46	138.89	597.82
9	43	JE Emburey	ENG	255.01	185.50	152.83	593.34
10	45	MJ Leach	ENG	248.21	178.10	160.71	587.02

TOP TEAMS

Top Teams In Asia

DECADE OF MAT	1	2	3	4	5	6
1950s	AUS	WI	PAK	IND	ENG
1960s	WI	AUS	PAK	IND	ENG	SA
1970s	PAK	ENG	IND	WI	SA	AUS
1980s	PAK	WI	ENG	NZ	AUS
1990s	IND	PAK	SA	AUS	WI
2000s	AUS	IND	SL	PAK	SA	ENG
2010s	IND	PAK	SL	ENG	SA	AUS
2020s	IND	AUS	PAK	NZ	SA	ENG