Australian chairman of selectors John Inverarity isn’t my cup of tea, but he may well have struck gold in left-arm spinner Ashton Agar.
A 19-year-old Melbourne-born player of Sri Lankan descent, Agar played for Australia against the President’s XI in Chennai over the last two days.
On Inverarity’s recommendation, the selection panel has sent Agar to India to fast track his development after only two Sheffield Shield games for Western Australia.
On debut against NSW at the SCG last month, Agar took 3-103 and was unbeaten on 34 after a first dig 10.
At the Gabba last week he had match figures of 5-138 off 47 overs and cracked 53 with six fours and a six in a state record 10th wicket partnership of 94 with Michael Hogan who finished with 43 not out.
But little did anyone expect Agar to play in Chennai under the stand-in captaincy of keeper Matt Wade
In the drawn two-dayer, Agar took 1-27 off his eight overs, and was stumped seventh ball for a duck.
But Agar was the most economical of the four spinners used – Nathan Lyon 3-69 off 13, Glenn Maxwell 1-20 off four, and Steve Smith 0-34 off four as well.
Although Inverarity will take the credit for Agar being in India, the 193 cm (6ft 4) spinner has two other strong believers in Greg Chappell and Justin Langer. Langer describes Agar as a young Daniel Vettori.
If Langer is on the money, Ashton Agar could be the dream answer to Australia’s spinning problems.
Time will tell. But the signs are encouraging.
Tony Harber
Guest
I played with Ash at McKinnon CC when he was 14, 15. He was mainly a batsman but his bowling improved very quickly and ended up coming on before our main spinner in the team. I didn't play that many games with him because he went to a higher team pretty quick. One game however we were 7/121 when I joined him at the crease and we, put on 80, Ash obviously making most of them. We ended up winning that game by about 10 runs. Good luck Ash, im following your career very closely.
Brad
Guest
We should be investing in a leggy
Jamiej
Guest
Imran Tahir clone if you ask me...
Jake
Guest
Red Kev Ashton is flying home this weekend, thus will be playing in the remaining Shield games. Pretty sure he's playing for Aus A next week so he might miss 1 Shield game though. The plan was never to keep him in India for the entire tour,
Alfred Chan
Expert
Last time we were in India, Jon Holland (also SLAO) was called over to bowl in the nets and at the time, he was equally as unknown as Agar. From all reports, Holland didn't do anything wrong in India but he's yet to get an Australian call up and at just 25, I would have thought he'd be prime for "development". I haven't seen much of Agar but unless he consistantly cleans up the 1's in the nets, he'll still need another one or two seasons of proven success to be considered. Although I dislike the decision to continually push Lyon, it's good have some consistancy in the Test team spinner so there probably isn't any need to push Agar's development by getting him in the team. As for jumping the gun, Jason Krejza took 12/358 in India, so even average spinners can look good in India.
Richard
Guest
Big call! How is the guy mentally, we don't really know yet. If they throw him into the bear pit at this age and he gets mauled badly it could set him back. Still, lets see how he goes 19 year olds are generally pretty resilient.
Joshua James
Roar Rookie
Good to see a fine spinner in the making...i havent given up on Lyon yet! He is still work in progress..would be nice to see Agar and Lyon operate in tandem..not sure Agar would play in this series though...
buddha9
Guest
re the coming back to back ashes which roar people talk about a lot -- i've consistently maintained, much to my own frustration but facts are facts, that oz has no chance whatso ever in any of these 10 test matches and will be lucky to win 2 -- thought roar people might be interested in the english perspective -- look at the relative appearances http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/21425414
DP
Guest
I haven't seen the kid play but his profile on the WACA website says he's 187cm tall not 194cm
SydneyKiwi
Guest
Excellent call to take him over considering the shortage of players- turn a negative to an opportunity.
jameswm
Guest
33? I think he's 30, meaning a good 5-7 years left in him. OK, just googled and found two articles, one saying he's 33 and the other saying 30. He might be one of those ageless types, like Radike Samo in rugby. Cricinfo says he's nearly 34. OK, sort of rules him out really.
Matt F
Roar Guru
Lyon's test average is comparable to many off-spinners that have represented Australia at test level so no he can't be added to that list, at least not yet. We simply don't produce off-spinners who average mid 20's in test cricket
Disco
Roar Guru
Another example would be Adil Rashid who was hyped massively based on his early Yorkshire performances, but then got stuffed around by the English selectors and is now well down the pecking order even in limited overs cricket.
Disco
Roar Guru
Perhaps Nathan Lyon can be added to that list.
Disco
Roar Guru
Bear in mind that Fawad is 33.
jameswm
Guest
I'm not 100% sure but I think that was part of the plan all along. Net bowler for the first part of the tour. If Beer's injured, I hope Agar plays all the remaining games. He's 19 and Zampa 20. Maybe there's some light in the horizon. I like Fawad too, I wonder if he'll get a look in. Is he qualified yet, does anyone know?
St Mark W
Guest
Only time will tell if its truly a visionary selection, I was pleasantly surprised to hear he played the first warm up match. I do hope he is returning to Australia to play out the rest of the Sheffield Shield season. With the backing of Inverarity, G. Chappell and Langer I'd think he'll get plenty of opportunity to show if he's good enough.
Disco
Roar Guru
Except X-factor.
Disco
Roar Guru
I quite agree.
Disco
Roar Guru
He's not Steve O'Keefe. Therefore he's deemed OK to tour with a Test squad.