I have just finished re-watching Jason Krejza’s 12 wicket’s on debut against India, and it really got me thinking. Why did this guy not get a longer run in the team and granted the persistence to develop his craft?
Sure, his 12 wickets went for a lot, and in both of his two Test career he went for about 4 to 4.5 an over through fairly extensive spells, which is far too high for a front-line spinner.
But if you look at his 12 wickets against India (in India), each and every one was a lovely piece of bowling and evidence of classic off spinner’s dismissal.
Krejza took 12 wickets against a batting line-up including a few handy players of spin, including Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly and Dhoni.
Each of his wickets were him bowling the batsmen out, and none of which were them trying to attack him and therefore gifting a wicket. He bowled with vigorous spin, bounce and looked a nightmare to face.
Krezja’s next and final Test for Australia was against another fairly decent batting line-up, the South Africans on the not-so-spin-friendly deck of Perth. Krejza bowled 50 overs and returned a very modest 1- 200.
Since Shane Warne’s retirement the Australian selectors have seemed to prefer spinner’s who can contain, tie up and end and pick up a couple of wickets here or there. Nathan Hauritz and Lyon fall into this category.
We haven’t had a spinner who could be seen as a potential match-winner; someone that could rip through a batting line-up in the second inning’s of a Test match.
In Shane Warne we were so very lucky in that he could not only win a match but he could also contain and frustrate the opposition. There will probably never be another Shane Warne again.
Nathan Lyon shows definite promise and is obviously well respected by both team-mates and selectors.
However, just as the majority are calling for patience and persistence with Nathan Lyon, surely the same should have been granted to the potential and promise shown by Jason Krejza?
Dufus
Guest
The answer to all this discussion- FAWAD AHMED! Pick him for the ashes...
Roger
Guest
And to day we have Lyon returning 3/215 in India and has been given 19 (20 now) tests to grow into the role.... Me, I'd prefer the bloke who can take wickets
Bakkies
Guest
Krejza was going at about 100 runs per innings that's too high when you have bowlers like Johnson in the side who gets carted regularly. You are talking about having two bowlers that could concede 200 runs between them frequently, which is expensive. Now with the guts of the batting lineup being ripped up by retirements and players with no form in the side the bowlers will be defending small totals. On top of that Clarke's rich vein of form will drop eventually so Australia can't afford to carry an expensive bowling attack and a wicketkeeper that drops a lot of chances.
josh
Roar Rookie
And Doherty was only they tried Haurtiz. Didn't he bowl straight enough?
matt h
Guest
I think no one is against Lyon, just that would Krejza have developed if he was persisted with. I think no actually, he does not seem to have the temperament. No one hates Lyon, just that everyone loved Warne, and even had a fondness for his little brother McGill... I actually think that Beer is not terrible
Turnover
Roar Guru
We live and die by averages every other day of the week, so +1 to you.
Jake
Guest
Hauritz has taken more test wickets than Lyon, in less Test's. His average is slightly higher (1 to 3 runs) but took more wickets per match.
Joel
Guest
Yeah, fair comment the criticism directed at Lyon is pretty harsh, and I certainly think he has been been unlucky. I do rate the bloke and I would like to see him paired with O'Keeffe for the tour of India. However the ease with which du plessis was able to stretch out and smother the spin for much of day 5 was frustrating.
Neil
Guest
To slightly rephrase what Josh wrote (and correct his spelling): Shame there isn’t a Sheffield Shield spinner with good figures, say an average under 30 IN EACH OF THE PAST THREE SHIELD SEASONS, a good economy rate, with the maturity to lead his state perhaps... Actually, such a bowler does exist. But it's not O'Keefe: he's only averaged under 30 once in the past three Shield seasons. Nor have Lyon, Beer, Holland, Hauritz, Smith, Boyce or Krejza averaged under 30 more than once. But one guy has averaged under 30 for three seasons in a row. And he's a frontline spinner. And he achieved this despite playing most of his matches on the seamer's paradise at Bellerive. You have to look beyond just his full career record and place more emphasis on his more recent form. You have to look beyond the defensive way he bowls in One Day cricket and look instead at the way he bowls in the Shield. If only he'd had the luxury of a Test debut at Galle instead of the roads at Brisbane and Adelaide.
JJ
Guest
Watched Jason last night and he got smashed by a relentless pomesback. In His first few overs he was inconsistent and all over the shop- he didn't land one good ball. It's one thing to be able to spin the ball but it's another thing to actually land them and a bowler who cannot land them half the time doesn't deserve to play state cricket let alone for Australia. I'll stick with Lyon any day. I don't know why everyone is so against him at the moment? He has had a few bad games but his figures are not bad. In fact their pretty good! We'll never find another warne so we should stick with lyon and develop him as a player. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download it now [http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-roar/id327174726?mt=8].
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
Nathan Lyon's summer would be looked back upon as rather successful and further cemented his place if all the chances he created went to hand. Wade's poor keeping a miss here or there at first slip have blown out his bowling average for the summer and now he's being unfairly criticised. Not that you're necessarily criticising him. I just think that's an important point to take into consideration.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
Beginners luck or not, his record is solid to this day and is by far the best of any post-Warne spinners. If we're to play a spinner, at the moment it just has to be Lyon. Next in line should really be Steve O'Keefe, but it doesn't look like he's in the selectors minds at all.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
12/358. After taking an incredible haul, he still averaged 29.83. Fine on it's own, but that's after having a blinder? He was never going to replicate that again. His first-class figures are disgusting. There is no way a specialist bowler can get picked for international cricket when they've got a first-class bowling average of nearly 50. Surely there's no other professional cricketer in Australia, who is a bowler, with a first-class record that poor.
BennO
Guest
That tells me he deserved another 4 tests at least to secure his place.
Frankie Hughes
Guest
Lyon had beginners luck. He's been exposed in recent times. His time will be up after India and England. Then we will be back to square one...
Frankie Hughes
Guest
He had 1 good game vs India - 12 wickets He had 1 poor game vs SA - 1/204 combine match figures. The second scenario can happen to anyone.
Joel
Guest
That hits a crack! No doosra there. Still, in terms of putting a big rip on the ball and bowling an attacking (if inconsistent) length Krezja remains one of the better spin options. The biggest problem with Lyon (and I still think on balance he is the best option for the next two series) is his tendency to bowl too full. This was showcased on the last day of Adelaide especially- the batsmen could lunge forward to him and smother any spin on the half volley far too comfortably.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
He took that big haul in his first test and only played one more match after that, yet still managed to average 43.23 with the ball in test cricket. What does that tell you?
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
Don't get me started on the straight break specialist Xavier Doherty.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
Steve O'Keefe looks a walk up start if you look at his shield figures, but the selectors don't want a bar of him. Lyon has managed to lift his game at test level, which is unusual. I'm happy for him to be persisted with as he's constantly developing and I'm hopeful he'll continue to do so. Krezja and Hauritz have played many seasons of shield cricket, compared to Lyon's handful of games, and they've got a good sample size across the peak of their careers that show they've never really been test class spinners.