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Australia’s Test squad have arrived in Sri Lanka and talk already has turned to the inability of their batsmen to prosper on spin-friendly surfaces.
Yet their frontline spinner, Nathan Lyon, also has plenty to prove on this three-Test tour, while his understudy Steve O’Keefe’s Test future could be decided over the next six weeks.
That may sound melodramatic, but unless O’Keefe shines in Sri Lanka he easily could find himself falling permanently back in the spin-pecking order. The 31-year-old left-arm tweaker never has been popular with the national selectors and now, for the first time in years, Australia’s spin stocks are looking relatively bright.
Fawad Ahmed continues to take bags of wickets in the Shield, the selectors have high regard for ultra-gifted 22-year-old Ashton Agar, and 24-year-old leg spinner Adam Zampa is running amok in short-form cricket.
Recent reports from journalists close to the Australian team have suggested that Zampa, in particular, is on the fast track to Test selection, despite a poor first-class record.
In the past ten weeks, Zampa has played 13 limited overs games – four ODIs, five IPL matches and four Caribbean Premier League fixtures. Across those matches he has returned the incredible figures of 32 wickets at an average of 14.
Zampa reportedly was in strong contention to make Australia’s 15-man Test squad for Sri Lanka, with O’Keefe narrowly edging him out for the second spinner spot.
Given how swiftly Zampa is ascending, O’Keefe cannot afford to underwhelm in Sri Lanka. With Lyon firmly entrenched as Australia’s number one Test spinner, opportunities for other tweakers are scarce. While O’Keefe should get a run against Sri Lanka on expected dry decks, after this series it seems unlikely Australia will play two spinners in a Test again until next February, in India.
By that stage, Zampa likely will have spent plenty more time under the noses of the selectors as Australia’s first choice spinner in both the ODI and T20 teams.
That is why O’Keefe’s Test future seems to rest on this upcoming series in Sri Lanka.
In his last Test appearance – the washed-out match against the West Indies at the SCG in January – O’Keefe bowled equally as well as Lyon in securing 3-63 from 27 overs. There is little doubt that both he and Lyon are fine bowlers in Australian conditions.
Now they must prove they can be effective on the subcontinent, after being pounded by the Pakistani batsmen the last time they teamed up in Asia, in late 2014.
Australia were slaughtered in that two-Test series on dull, parched UAE decks not too dissimilar to those which they will encounter in Sri Lanka.
Lyon and O’Keefe posed next to no threat, combining for series figures of 7-641 at almost four runs per over. The Pakistani batsmen either reached the pitch of the ball by advancing down the wicket or using the sweep shot, or moved back deep into their crease to cut and pull length deliveries.
A major reason the Pakistan batsmen mastered Lyon and O’Keefe with such ease was that the Australian spinners did not operate at the correct pace. On Australian surfaces, which typically offer good bounce and fast turn for spinners, tweakers can afford to bowl predominantly in the low 80 km/h range.
Asian decks, however, reward spinners who get the ball through the air quickly. While they offer more generous turn than Australian pitches, it is of the slow variety and so batsmen have time to play deliveries off the pitch unless the bowler hurries them through the air.
In Australia, spin bowling is about beating batsmen in the air with loop and drift. In Asia, it is more about pinning batsmen to the crease and then defeating them off the pitch.
Spinners who hurry the batsmen are more likely to be rewarded by the natural variations of bounce and turn afforded by Asian decks. Lyon and O’Keefe tended to bowl too slow in the UAE and it will be interesting to see how they adapt almost two years later in Sri Lanka.
It was in Sri Lanka that Lyon made his Test debut five years ago. He famously took a wicket with his first delivery, dismissing the legendary Kumar Sangakkara, and finished with 5-34 in the first innings.
From that innings forth, Lyon has laboured on Asian decks, taking 21 wickets at 60. He is, however, a far better bowler than he was two years ago – since the series in the UAE, Lyon has snared 80 Test wickets at 28.
His achievements in that period have been considerable. He grabbed a 12-wicket haul against India, had an impressive series in the Caribbean, was the second best bowler in last year’s Ashes after Stuart Broad, and played a vital role as Australia went 6-0 against New Zealand and the West Indies last summer.
Now Australia need him to prove his worth in Asia. While they should account for a weak Sri Lanka side in the upcoming series, Australia do not have a hope of being competitive in India next year unless Lyon flourishes.
At 28 years of age, the off spinner is approaching his peak. With 54 Tests and 195 wickets to his name, he now is an experienced cricketer. Over the next six weeks we will see just how far he has come as a bowler.