Patterson-White tops the pecking order as England reassess spin stocks

Liam Patterson-White, the man in question, finished the season with 42 wickets at 25.11 - more than not only Harmer (35 at 36.28) but any other spinner in Division One - plus 474 runs at 24.94, including a century from No. 7, and 16 catches. It has earned him a first Test call-up for England's tour to South Africa next month, when he will come up against Harmer once again.

"He pretty much bowled unchanged from one end, and threatened all game," recalls Paul Franks, Notts' assistant coach, who has worked with Patterson-White for more than a decade. "The ball took spin, pretty much from ball one… He did a brilliant job: he didn't go for any runs, he held his length, he spun the ball. He did everything you'd hope for in that situation."

It is a pragmatic, back-to-basics pick, with Bashir (four-day) and Rehan (50-over) both instead involved in the Lions squads that will shadow England's tour. It is also a reminder of Fleming's deep connection to Notts, where he "fell back in love" with cricket as captain from 2005-07 and worked under a head coach in Mick Newell who remains the county's director of cricket.

Notts are often criticised for failing to produce their own players and relying on other Midlands counties, but Patterson-White is one of their own. He has been at the club since the Under-11s, went to nearby Worksop College (the same school that his new captain Joe Root attended), and graduated to the first team in 2019.

He has since played 75 first-class matches and the same number of games across List A and T20 cricket. Unusually for an England squad member, he has also honed his craft through more than 100 appearances for Notts' second XI and a substantial volume of club cricket in the ECB Premier Leagues, most of it for the Notts Academy and Farnsfield CC.

He started the 2025 summer out of the Championship side but made a century in his second game back and has been ever-present since. He largely played a holding role as Notts won the title that season, but was used as more of an attacking weapon in 2026; Marcus North, England's national selector, cited his ability to play different roles as a key reason for his inclusion.

North added that England wanted a spin option who could complement Dan Lawrence and Root by turning the ball away from right-handers and suggested that, despite the recent Australia series, they do not expect spin to play a huge role in South Africa. "We've got [the first] two Tests on the Highveld, which tends not to spin as much," North said.

Franks and Patterson-White recently worked together on the Lions' tour to St Kitts, where the coaching staff also featured Richard Dawson, the ECB's new spin-bowling lead as well as one of Fleming's assistant coaches. The pair will work together increasingly often over the next year, with Patterson-White recently signing his first England development contract.

England's decision to move on from another left-arm spinner in Jack Leach - which was signalled by North last month - has been widely criticised, including by Harmer himself on the Sky podcast last week. But their view appears to be that Patterson-White has simply moved ahead of him, offering about as much with the ball and more with the bat and in the field.

With Liam Dawson now retired from red-ball cricket and Tom Hartley losing his way (he is expected to leave Lancashire this winter, even with a year left on his contract), Patterson-White has emerged as the best available cricketer in his role. If he does play in South Africa, his battle with Harmer will be one to watch closely.