The Spin | England can only profit from using Mark Wood in the long run

Durham quick has improved with a longer run-up and, handled carefully, can be a thrilling and vital fixture in the team

Statistics, like alcohol, should be used responsibly. Before you lay down quantitative truths to the world, you need to consider context, sample size … all the old favourites. We all know this, yet most struggle to adhere to it. Some manipulate statistics to present alternative truths, also known in some cultures as bare-faced lies.

Others, such as the Spin, occasionally get giddy with a love of cricket and start to run wild, politely telling the more sensible voices in their head where to stick their admittedly well-meaning concerns about the legitimacy of the sample size.

Related: ECB gives green light for county cricket season to begin on 1 August

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