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Ricky Ponting rated it a “top debut”. The test for Beau Casson now will be to try and back it up on the most unforgiving of Test tours – India this October.
Australia completed their mission of a series victory in the West Indies today, but will still likely head to the sub-continent later this year with question marks hanging over their bowling attack – most notably their third seamer and spinner.
To that end, the performances of left-arm wrist spinner Casson and paceman Mitchell Johnson were perhaps the most relieving for Ponting in the third Test against the West Indies.
Casson showed some promise – and character – in taking 3-86 in the second innings, while Johnson overcame an otherwise disappointing tour with career best figures of 4-41 in the first.
Dwayne Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul both targeted Casson this Test – with mixed success – and there is little doubt the Indians will likewise try to unsettle the 25-year-old should he remain Australia’s No.1 spin option for the four-Test series.
For the moment, though, Ponting was impressed with the way his young spinner handled the pressure on debut.
“I think they deliberately got after him a little bit, as you do with most young spinners coming into Test cricket, but I thought the way he handled himself throughout the game was terrific,” the skipper said of Casson.
“He kept changing things up. He never let the batsmen get too settled.
“What you want from your spinner on day five is to get you those crucial breakthroughs, and he got those for us today. That was a top debut for him.”
As for Johnson, Ponting continued with the Australian team’s line the 26-year-old was “a work in progress”.
“He has got everything there to become a very, very good Test bowler, with his pace and being left-arm and his ability to swing the ball, everything is there. We just need to keep aiding him along a little bit, helping him out,” Ponting said.
“At the moment you have got to think that Stuey (Clark) and Bing (Brett Lee) with their experience are going to be around for a while and we just want Mitch to keep on improving as he has and we want Beau to just build on what he has started here.”
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