Is it fair that every spin bowler in Australia is being turned into a trivia question? Soon it will be “Who were the 104-thousand tweakers tried and turfed by the Australian selectors since Shane Warne retired?” Okay, the number is more like 9, but how much longer can this continue?
How much longer can another spinner be handed a baggy green and then a month later have it sitting on his mantle piece instead of in his kit-bag?
In 20-years we’ll still be calling for Warnie to pull on the whites once again and roll the arm over!
Xavier Doherty, poor chap, is the latest spinner under pressure to keep his place in the Australian side. He has played just two tests!
I know his figures weren’t flattering, his ability to tie up an end went missing and that most deliveries had less flight than an emu, but doesn’t he deserve time to settle in?
It’s about time the selection panel picked one spinner and stuck with him for a while. It’s not an easy art and far harder to master than your average grunting paceman.
Some days it’s magic and on others it’s murder.
What happens if Steve Smith is given the nod on the back of his 4 for 57 in the first innings of South Australia’s Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales at the SCG?
Say, for example, he is belted all over the WACA in the third test and leaves the MCG battered and bruised following the Boxing Day clash.
What happens then?
Do we move on to Stephen O’Keefe? After that? Who knows! It takes time to settle in at international level. It takes time to adjust from state cricket. It, one more time, takes time!
But time is a luxury no-one seems to have anymore.
These spinners are probably so petrified about being dropped before their career has even started that they bowl more half trackers than John Howard (if you haven’t seen the video, check this out).
It’s time we stop looking for the next Shane Warne. He isn’t out there and the sooner Australia’s selectors realise that the better.
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