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Australia have fought the conditions in Bangladesh and lost. Their reluctance to employ spin bowlers as readily as their opponents has hurt them on dry decks in this T20 World Cup.
Pace has been the catalyst for Australia’s ascension in the Test and ODI rankings, but it is spin which can haul them out of the cellar of international T20 competition.
Despite the expected slow pitches, Australia selected just two specialist tweakers in their 15-man squad for this tournament. They were a truly odd couple – 43-year-old chinaman bowler Brad Hogg and 20-year-old leg spinner James Muirhead.
Their selections revealed the parlous state of T20 spin options in Australia.
When you have to rely upon a player well into his fifth decade on Earth and a kid who couldn’t even earn a Big Bash League contract just months ago, you truly are in a predicament.
That is not to denigrate Hogg or Muirhead. The former has been a wonderful performer for Australia in limited-overs cricket during his long career, while the latter is as raw as sashimi but has showed encouraging skill and composure in his brief international tenure.
However, Australia needs spinners in the prime of their careers, not the infancy or everlasting twilight.
Of the top 22 wicket-takers in the recent Big Bash League, only two of them were Australian spinners, and one of those was uber-veteran Hogg.
The previous summer, it was just two of the top 15 wicket takers. Hogg was there again and the other was journeyman Michael Beer, who managed three wickets in 2013-14.
The sole young spinner who excelled in the last Big Bash was 24-year-old leg spinner Cameron Boyce, who snared 10 wickets at 14 for the Hobart Hurricanes, bowling with confidence and deceptive flight.
With Australia already out of this World Cup, they must focus on the next one in 2016. The tournament will again be held in spin-friendly conditions, this time in India.
Hogg should be cut adrift. He was a decent selection for the current tournament, given the lack of alternatives, but Australia must focus on developing long-term spin options.
The likes of Boyce, Muirhead and Test spinner Nathan Lyon should be at the head of the queue.
Australia invested a lot of time and faith in Tasmanian left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty at limited-overs level. He has produced underwhelming performances, particularly in the T20s, with 10 wickets at 30 in his 11 matches.
The fact he was cut from Cricket Australia’s list of centrally contracted players this week suggests they will move on from the 31-year-old.
While Doherty has been granted consistent appearances in coloured clothing for Australia, the country’s best spinner has been constantly overlooked.
Lyon has never played a T20 match for his country and has won just two ODI caps. The 26-year-old has bloomed into a formidable Test bowler, but his style is well suited to T20 cricket – the heavy overspin he imparts on the ball causes it to loop beautifully and bounce sharply off the pitch.
Some will argue that heavier exposure to the shortest format will contaminate Lyon’s Test bowling, but I believe it could well turn him into a more rounded and cunning operator.
Crucially, it will force him out of his comfort zone. The biggest criticism of Lyon as a Test player is that he is too rigid in his approach. T20 cricket would teach him to adapt to a wider variety of match situations.
It must be remembered that it was his T20 performance for South Australia that was pivotal in landing him his unexpected Test debut two-and-a-half years ago.
Lyon, Muirhead and Boyce are the future of Australian T20 cricket.