diff --git a/pitest-entry/src/test/java/org/pitest/coverage/CoverageTransformerTest.java b/pitest-entry/src/test/java/org/pitest/coverage/CoverageTransformerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..26d9efd05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pitest-entry/src/test/java/org/pitest/coverage/CoverageTransformerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+package org.pitest.coverage;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.mockito.Mockito;
+import org.objectweb.asm.ClassWriter;
+import org.objectweb.asm.Opcodes;
+import org.pitest.bytecode.analysis.ClassTree;
+import org.pitest.bytecode.analysis.MethodTree;
+import org.pitest.classpath.ClassloaderByteArraySource;
+import sun.pitest.CodeCoverageStore;
+import sun.pitest.InvokeReceiver;
+
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+// additional tests for coverage transformer which are
+// easier to write within pitest-entry due to access to
+// ClassTree
+public class CoverageTransformerTest {
+
+    ClassloaderByteArraySource byteSource = ClassloaderByteArraySource.fromContext();
+    CoverageTransformer underTest = new CoverageTransformer(s -> true);
+
+    @Test
+    public void doesNotDuplicateClinitWhenSynthetic() {
+
+        byte[] bytes = bytesForClassWithSyntheticStaticInit();
+
+        CodeCoverageStore.init(Mockito.mock(InvokeReceiver.class));
+
+        byte[] transformed = underTest.transform(null, "anything", null, null, bytes);
+
+        ClassTree instrumentedClass = ClassTree.fromBytes(transformed);
+
+        List<MethodTree> clinitMethods = instrumentedClass.methods().stream()
+                .filter(m -> m.rawNode().name.equals("<clinit>"))
+                .collect(Collectors.toList());
+
+        assertThat(clinitMethods).hasSize(1);
+    }
+
+    private byte[] bytesForClassWithSyntheticStaticInit() {
+        ClassTree classWithStaticInit = ClassTree.fromBytes(byteSource.getBytes(HasStaticInit.class.getName()).get());
+        MethodTree clinit = classWithStaticInit.methods().stream()
+                .filter(m -> m.rawNode().name.equals("<clinit>"))
+                .findAny()
+                .get();
+
+        clinit.rawNode().access = Opcodes.ACC_SYNTHETIC;
+
+        byte[] bytes = asBytes(classWithStaticInit);
+        return bytes;
+    }
+
+    private byte[] asBytes(ClassTree tree) {
+        ClassWriter classWriter = new ClassWriter(ClassWriter.COMPUTE_FRAMES);
+        tree.rawNode().accept(classWriter);
+        return classWriter.toByteArray();
+    }
+}
+
+class HasStaticInit {
+    static String FOO = "";
+}
diff --git a/pitest/src/main/java/org/pitest/classinfo/MethodFilteringAdapter.java b/pitest/src/main/java/org/pitest/classinfo/MethodFilteringAdapter.java
index 7c71afae3..cdeecdac6 100644
--- a/pitest/src/main/java/org/pitest/classinfo/MethodFilteringAdapter.java
+++ b/pitest/src/main/java/org/pitest/classinfo/MethodFilteringAdapter.java
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ private boolean shouldInstrument(final int access, final String name,
   @Override
   public final MethodVisitor visitMethod(final int access, final String name,
       final String desc, final String signature, final String[] exceptions) {
+
+    preVisitMethod(access, name, desc, signature, exceptions);
     final MethodVisitor methodVisitor = this.cv.visitMethod(access, name, desc,
         signature, exceptions);
     if (shouldInstrument(access, name, desc, signature, exceptions)) {
@@ -47,6 +49,10 @@ public final MethodVisitor visitMethod(final int access, final String name,
     }
   }
 
+  protected void preVisitMethod(int access, String name, String desc, String signature, String[] exceptions) {
+    // noop
+  }
+
   public abstract MethodVisitor visitMethodIfRequired(int access, String name,
       String desc, String signature, String[] exceptions,
       MethodVisitor methodVisitor);
diff --git a/pitest/src/main/java/org/pitest/coverage/CoverageClassVisitor.java b/pitest/src/main/java/org/pitest/coverage/CoverageClassVisitor.java
index 4ddad4df4..2172c32f2 100644
--- a/pitest/src/main/java/org/pitest/coverage/CoverageClassVisitor.java
+++ b/pitest/src/main/java/org/pitest/coverage/CoverageClassVisitor.java
@@ -59,16 +59,18 @@ public void visit(int version, int access, String name, String signature,
     this.isInterface = (access & Opcodes.ACC_INTERFACE) != 0;
   }
 
+  @Override
+  protected void preVisitMethod(int access, String name, String desc, String signature, String[] exceptions) {
+    if (name.equals("<clinit>")) {
+      foundClinit = true;
+    }
+  }
 
   @Override
   public MethodVisitor visitMethodIfRequired(final int access,
       final String name, final String desc, final String signature,
       final String[] exceptions, final MethodVisitor methodVisitor) {
 
-    if (name.equals("<clinit>")) {
-      foundClinit = true;
-    }
-
     return new CoverageAnalyser(this, this.classId, this.probeCount,
         methodVisitor, access, name, desc, signature, exceptions);
 
diff --git a/pitest/src/test/java/org/pitest/coverage/CoverageTransformerTest.java b/pitest/src/test/java/org/pitest/coverage/CoverageTransformerTest.java
index f216ede58..b4b35c1bc 100644
--- a/pitest/src/test/java/org/pitest/coverage/CoverageTransformerTest.java
+++ b/pitest/src/test/java/org/pitest/coverage/CoverageTransformerTest.java
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ public void shouldNotTransformClassesNotMatchingPredicate() {
   }
 
   @Test
-  public void shouldTransformClasseMatchingPredicate() {
+  public void shouldTransformClassesMatchingPredicate() {
     final CoverageTransformer testee = new CoverageTransformer(
         s -> true);
     final byte[] bs = this.bytes.getBytes(String.class.getName()).get();
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ public void shouldTransformClasseMatchingPredicate() {
   }
 
   @Test
-  public void shouldGenerateValidClasses() throws IllegalClassFormatException {
+  public void shouldGenerateValidClasses() {
     assertValidClass(String.class);
     assertValidClass(Integer.class);
     assertValidClass(Vector.class);