Oct 14, 2019Matt RollerCloseMatt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98FacebookTwitterFacebook MessengerPinterestEmailprintAny fool knows the story of spin bowling in 20-over cricket. In 2003 everyone thought spinners would be useless; within a couple of years it was clear they could hold their own, and they gradually grew to dominate the format as they do today.Well, not quite. Despite their continued success, spinners are still underbowled in T20. In each of the game’s three distinct phases – powerplay (overs 1-6), middle (7-15), and death (16-20) – spinners concede fewer runs per over and take wickets more cheaply than seamers do. But conventional T20 thinking still dictates that bowling spinners in the powerplay or at the death remains a risky business, with the underlying assumption being that there is greater variance in their returns – that is to say, when it goes wrong, it goes very wrong. Even now, spin accounts for only around 40% of overs bowled worldwide in the format, the same proportion as seven years ago.Several teams have noticed this apparent inefficiency. A handful of sides this year – the Chennai Super Kings, the Dhaka Dynamites, the Comilla Victorians, Zimbabwe, and the Birmingham Bears -…