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On Australia’s upcoming Test tour, the West Indian pitches will offer plenty to spinners. This also looks to be a distinct possibility in the following Ashes series.
Having been bullied by Australia’s quicks on hard decks down under, England will request home pitches which will nullify them, just as they did in the 2013 Ashes.
In that series, which England won 3-0, the pitches were unusually parched. This had the two-fold effect of not only lessening the impact of Australia’s fast men but increasing the potency of gun English spinner Graeme Swann.
Australia’s pacemen still did a terrific job against England’s batting line-up, with their highest team total a meagre 375 in the five-Test series. Ian Bell was the only English batsman to average above 40 for the series.
The Australian batsmen wasted the good work of their teammates with frequent collapses across the series. Swann revelled in the made-to-order conditions, snaring 26 wickets to be easily his side’s leading wicket taker.
Australia’s struggles in that series were reflective of a trend of drastically underperforming with the bat on dry surfaces.
This issue was again highlighted in Australia’s two-Test series against Pakistan in the UAE. On pitches which resembled the country’s deserts, yet offered no extravagant levels of spin, many of Australia’s batsmen floundered. Only Steve Smith looked consistently unflustered against Pakistan’s tweakers, while Chris Rogers, Alex Doolan, Brad Haddin and even the normally spin-fluent Michael Clarke all laboured.
Between them, Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar reaped 26 wickets in the two Tests.
Australia were exposed for their poor tactics, or perhaps complete lack of strategy, against spin bowlers. All too often they played them from the crease. They never forced Pakistan’s spinners to change their lengths by getting to the pitch of their deliveries or by moving back deep into the crease to cut or pull.
This won’t have escaped England’s notice. They’ll know that their chances of regaining the Ashes would be healthier on pitches which are low and slow, more closely resembling Asian conditions than typical UK decks. With all-rounder Moeen Ali batting in the top six while also proving an incisive spinner, England have the scope to play a second specialist tweaker alongside three quicks.
Who that second spinner would be is not clear, although offie James Tredwell has again showed in the on-going Tests in the West Indies that he is an underrated operator.
Australia have two Tests of their own in the Windies in June and will almost certainly use that series to audition leggie Fawad Ahmed for a potential Ashes debut.
Incumbent spinner Nathan Lyon looks entrenched in the team and has in his favour a very good Ashes record – 28 wickets at an average of 30 from eight Tests.
A startling display from Ahmed against the West Indies could still vault him into the Ashes line-up, particularly if England serve up a spin-friendly deck, or several as seems likely.
Such a scenario may also depend heavily on the bowling output of Shane Watson and/or fellow all-rounder Mitch Marsh. If one or both of them is proving effective and reliable with the ball Australia would be more comfortable going into an Ashes Test with two frontline tweakers.
But first, Ahmed needs to prove in the Windies that he is capable of hurdling the gap between first-class cricket and Tests. Given how dry the Test decks typically are in that part of the world, he may even get two matches to make an impact.
If Ahmed does so then don’t be surprised to see Australia making the unusual move of fielding two slow bowlers at some point in the Ashes.