Spin set to dominate again in Big Bash League

Squads for the second edition of Australia's Twenty20 Big Bash League continue to be formulated, with slow bowlers to the fore.

Five members of the Reliance ICC Twenty20 Championship Bowling Rankings top 10 are set to take part in BBL02 - three of whom, in Saeed Ajmal, Johan Botha and Shahid Afridi, are spinners.

Muttiah Muralitharan (Renegades) and Sunil Narine (Sixers) head the new recruits this year while young Australians Cameron Boyce (Strikers), Clive Rose (Stars) and Ashton Agar (Scorchers) are also among those who will play in the BBL for the time.

Shane Warne (Stars), Daniel Vettori (Heat), Xavier Doherty (Hurricanes), Brad Hogg and Michael Beer (Scorchers) are also set to feature when the tournament gets underway on December 7.

Legendary Sri Lankan Muralitharan revealed he is looking forward to taking part in BBL02 for his Melbourne-based franchise.

He said: "Spinners have done really well in the Twenty20 format so hopefully we keep doing well in this competition as well.

"It's not easy to hit spin because you vary the pace of the ball. Some players also turn the ball and have a lot of different deliveries these days so people struggle to read them.

"I watched some matches last year because I was playing in New Zealand. It was fun because there were a lot of good players involved and it was a great success. Hopefully we see it this year as well. There are a lot of great players playing in the tournament and hopefully this year will be successful as well like the IPL."

Spin played a huge role in BBL01 when the three most economical bowlers (Hogg, Stephen O'Keefe and Luke Doran) were all of the slow variety.

To that end, Adelaide Strikers coach Darren Berry is delighted to be adding Pakistani magician Saeed Ajmal to his team's spin battalion this season.

"It's no secret that we feel spin is a big part of T20," Strikers coach Darren Berry says.

"'Spin to win' has always been a flavor of mine as coach and with Botha, Lyon and now Ajmal, we believe we have secured three of the best spinners in the world.

"When Jon Holland unfortunately went down with his shoulder injury, we probably strategically moved to secure another quality spinner and we're delighted to be able to secure Ajmal."

Strikers gets its campaign underway on December 9 against Perth Scorchers with the Melbourne derby opening up proceedings two days earlier followed by the Sydney derby.