When Mark Butcher fell to Shane Warne at Sydney in 1998-99, Wisden Cricket Monthly described him as "one of Test cricket's worst players of spin". The description wasn't unjust. On his recall last year, against Australia at Edgbaston, Butcher made a punchy start against the seamers - and then bat-padded Warne's second ball to silly point. It seemed as if nothing had changed, but Butcher's work with his father Alan on his technique soon paid dividends. Butcher has improved per se since returning to the side - he has made 1186 runs in 14 Tests in the last year, whereas before that he made 1253 in 27 - but the biggest improvement has been against the slow bowlers. Where once he groped, now Butcher waits, aided by a gentler, more relaxed grip. And the stats prove it: between 1997 and 2000 Butcher averaged 13.53 against the spin bowlers, having scored 203 runs and been dismissed 15 times. Since 2001 his average is more than four times that: he's made 325 runs at 54.16.

In the first phase of his Test career, Butcher's displays against the spinners were embarrassing. When facing Michael Bevan, Mark Waugh and Jimmy Adams - not exactly a trio of world-beaters - Butcher scored 9 runs off 40 balls and was dismissed four times. That's a thoroughly grim average of 2.25. Contrast that with his performance against Muttiah Muralitharan in the recent Sri Lanka series, when Butcher made 60 runs off 178 balls and was only dismissed once. Before last year, his Murali average was 5. And whereas before last year he averaged 11 against Warne, last year it was a very respectable 37.

Butcher has also upped his strike rate against the spinners, from 34 runs per 100 balls to 40. But it's against the seamers where he's really put his foot on the gas - he's gone from 37 runs per 100 balls to 55. Butcher's average against the seamers has almost doubled too. Before last year it was 30.88; since then it's been 57.40. Whichever way you look at it, it's a pretty impressive renaissance for a man who was nowhere near the Test team 15 months ago.

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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