The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

O'Keefe or Lyon must be dropped

25th October, 2014
Advertisement
Australia's Nathan Lyon was impressive in the BBL, yet still wasn't on the plane to India for the World T20. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
Expert
25th October, 2014
274
2341 Reads

Australia’s attack must be overhauled for the second Test against Pakistan next week after the side’s most toothless bowling display since the calamitous tour of India last year.

Not since Murali Vijay and Shikkar Dhawan blazed an opening stand of 289 in Chandigarh in March last year have Australia’s bowlers been treated with such contempt.

Not since 1994 have three or more Pakistan batsmen scored tons in a Test against Australia. Not since the first session of this current match in Dubai has Australia’s attack looked potent.

Bear in mind this is an Australian side which had won seven of its last eight Tests, including an upset series victory over South Africa, from whom they briefly pinched the world’s number one ranking.

Remember this is a Pakistan side with a famously fickle batting line-up, which in its previous 24 Test innings had only nine times managed to score 300 or better.

Yet in this match they have made Australia’s much-vaunted bowling unit look akin to an English Test attack from the 1990s.

The problem does not lie with Australia’s quicks. On a surface which has offered them no pace, minimal bounce and negligible seam movement, they could not reasonably be expected to be match winners.

Mitchell Johnson has been magnificent. Until Pakistan’s batsman started swinging from the hip in the second session yesterday, Peter Siddle had also been admirably tight, conceding just 66 runs from his first 35 overs in the match.

Advertisement

That is not to suggest that Siddle should take no responsibility for the side’s predicament. His job is to take wickets and he has not done that. But for the majority of the match he made Pakistan’s batsmen labour intensely for their runs and built pressure upon which Australia’s spinners failed to capitalise.

It was clear from the first session of the match that Pakistan intended to target Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe, who represented their easiest avenues for scoring. This is the ideal situation for a canny spinner – they want batsmen taking them on. But experienced campaigner Lyon and debutant O’Keefe have been toyed with by the Pakistan batsmen.

Neither has looked likely to make a breakthrough throughout the majority of their spells. The four wickets they reaped together in the first innings were snared during the cricketing equivalent of “junk time” as the Pakistan players heaved the willow with abandon.

Australia selected two spinners on the basis that the Dubai pitch looked dry and was expected to offer turn. While it didn’t grip significantly in the first dig, it remained the kind of surface on which a team relies upon its slow bowlers.

In the second innings there was considerable assistance for Lyon and O’Keefe yet, again, both were innocuous. Lyon, as the senior tweaker, had to lead the way. But he has looked unsure of the best approach to take against the Pakistanis. He has often lapsed into bowling with a flatter trajectory than the one he utilises when he is at his best.

Lyon has also tended to bowl slightly short, allowing the Pakistan too much time to play him off the pitch.

O’Keefe, meanwhile, has arguably been even less threatening than Lyon. While I am loath to judge a player too harshly on his first appearance at Test level, he simply has not done enough to retain his position for the second Test at Abu Dhabi.

Advertisement

Given the ease with which the Pakistan batsmen have played Australia’s slow bowlers it would appear likely that the tourists will not field two frontline spinners next week.

If they make that decision then O’Keefe seems the more likely player to make way. Lyon’s efforts may have been disappointing here but he has been a valuable member of the side the past 12 months and deserves leniency.

That leaves backup quicks Ben Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Starc to compete for the fourth bowling position. While bowling all-rounder James Faulkner is also in the squad it is unlikely he would get a gig ahead of one of that pair.

Even if Australia manage to save this Test and head to Abu Dhabi with a chance of winning the series, they will surely be fielding a renovated attack.

close