Phil Tufnell, Simon Kerrigan, Graeme Hick... England's more controversial spin decisions over the years

With the first Test against Sri Lanka fast approaching, one of the dilemmas facing England’s selectors revolves around the make-up of their spin attack.

Moeen Ali - always reluctant to be pigeonholed as England's lead spinner - has impressed so far on tour, but there are several other slow-bowling options to be considered.

Should England keep faith with Adil Rashid? Will Joe Denly's capability as a leg-break bowler help to earn him a Test debut? Is left-armer Jack Leach the man to bring extra variation to the line-up?

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At times in the past, England have got their Test selection horribly wrong when it comes to the spin department. We cast an eye back over five of the best (or worst) examples…

1989, Headingley, vs Australia: England lost by 210 runs

Given Headingley's seam-friendly reputation, the decision to leave out your only specialist spinner might seem perfectly reasonable - but England captain David Gower later admitted regret over the omission of John Emburey.

The experienced Emburey might have brought some element of control as Australia amassed 601-6 declared against a quartet of identikit seamers and then scored quickly again to set up a second-innings declaration.

England were duly rolled over for 191, with Terry Alderman taking his second five-wicket haul of the match and setting the tone for what was to become one of the most one-sided Ashes series in history.

Australia eventually went on to regain the urn - which they would hold for the next 16 years - with a 4-0 win, while Gower was sacked and several players quit the England squad to join a rebel tour of South Africa.

1992, Kolkata, vs India: England lost by eight wickets

Emburey's omission was again a contentious issue as both he and left-armer Phil Tufnell were sidelined for the opening Test of the series, with England pinning their faith on Ian Salisbury and part-time spinner Graeme Hick.

Hick, with match figures of 5-28, bowled quite well on a turning wicket - but unfortunately not as well as Indian spin trio Anil Kumble, Venkatapathy Raju and Rajesh Chauhan.

Between them, the Indian spinners accounted for 17 of the 20 England wickets in the match, with only one visiting batsman, Mike Gatting, passing 50 in either innings.

India cruised to a comfortable eight-wicket win and, again, established the pattern for the three-match series as they went on to record innings victories at both Chennai and Mumbai.

1997, Trent Bridge, vs Australia: England lost by 264 runs

Trailing 2-1 with two Tests to play, England needed to gamble to keep their Ashes hopes alive - yet they continued to overlook Tufnell, so often a one-off match-winner in the past.

Instead, Robert Croft retained his place in the side and, while the Glamorgan off-spinner's match figures of 2-117 were tidy enough, he made little impact as Australia totalled 427 and 336.

The visitors set England an unlikely victory target of 451 and, despite Graham Thorpe's undefeated 82, they were bowled out for 186, with Shane Warne taking 3-43 to add to his four wickets from the first innings.

With the Ashes beyond reach, England made changes for the final Test at the Oval - including a recall for Tufnell, who returned match figures of 11-93 as the hosts gained a thrilling 19-run win.

2013, The Oval, vs Australia: Match drawn

Simon Kerrigan's selection for the final Test of the series may not have proved costly for England - but it was another matter for the Lancashire left-armer, whose career arguably never recovered.

Kerrigan bowled only eight overs, which cost him 53 runs as he was savaged by Australian batsman Shane Watson, who smashed his highest Test score of 176 in a total of 492-9 declared.

Half-centuries from Joe Root and Kevin Pietersen kept England in the game, but Kerrigan was not called on to bowl in Australia's second innings and the contest ended in a draw.

That was to be Kerrigan's only taste of Test cricket, despite the retirement of England's first-choice spinner Graeme Swann the following winter, and he announced last season that he would focus on coaching rather than playing at Lancashire.

2016, Mumbai, vs India: England lost by an innings and 36 runs

Two down with two to play, Alastair Cook's side had to win in Mumbai to stay in the series - so finding the right bowling combination was essential. Bizarrely, they picked four seamers and only two spinners.

Zafar Ansari and Gareth Batty, both of whom had played earlier in the series, were jettisoned, while Liam Dawson had to wait until the next Test to make his debut.

Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid manfully got through more than 50 overs apiece, but Virat Kohli's 235 underpinned a colossal India total of 631 and England duly collapsed in their second innings, with Ravi Ashwin taking 12-167 in the match.

Sky Sports pundit Nasser Hussain said at the time: "England have not picked the right side here. There is no way you could have looked at this pitch before the game and said it was a four-seamer pitch."

Watch the first Test between England and Sri Lanka live on Sky Sports Cricket on Tuesday, November 6 from 4am.