Aussie pride takes a battering but Lyon proving a spin king

After Australia’s loss to Zimbabwe, coach Darren Lehmann said he didn’t have enough expletives to describe how he was feeling about his side’s performance.

When the Aussies’ colloquial, parochial mentor doesn’t have enough swear words floating around in his noodle to lambast his charges, I doubt all but Shakespeare himself would have the power to describe the inner churnings of Lehmann’s mind.

Michael Clarke was rightfully filthy too, but that will do little from here on. He’s likely enjoying a snack on his stopover right now, with not enough Wifi signal to Skype the lads and get up them. Text away Clarkey.

Aussie fans have the right to be disappointed and angry too, and it’s likely we would be even more outraged if the weird and wonderful worlds of the AFL and NRL weren’t so consuming right now.

But the worry for me isn’t for this loss, or Australia’s prospects in the Tri-series. I still think they’ll make the final, and they’re a good shot at winning that game against South Africa. You certainly can’t accuse South Africa of having a strong spin attack, so there’s that playing field levelled at least.

I’m not even worried about the World Cup starting in February next year. A loss on a slow, turning Harare pitch has so little relevance to a tournament held in Australia and New Zealand next year it’s not worth expending brain cells trying to think about it.

Losing the number one ODI ranking sucks, but it’s still not the worst thing to come from this.

The bigger concern has to be the Test series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in October. Because losing six wickets to a reasonable spin attack on a turning wicket says to me that Australia’s problems dealing with quality spin are still very much in the present.

Prosper Utseya is a fine bowler. I can’t say I’ve seen too much of either Sean Williams or Donald Tiripano’s offerings, but they looked very serviceable on Sunday.

None of them are Saeed Ajmal, the offie who will be Australia’s primary adversary in the UAE. The pitches there aren’t rank turners like Mumbai, but they’re not exactly the WACA either.

The two grounds on which Australia will play in October have at least one telling statistic in common; the top Test wicket-taker. Ajmal tops the counts for both stadia with 37 and 18 respectively.

Watching Phil Hughes, George Bailey and James Faulkner all fall to spin reminded me of the battles in India almost 18 months ago. Wince-inducing batting collapses saw Australia cop a 4-0 hiding there. Michael Clarke and Steve Smith were anointed Australia’s only successes with the bat after the rout. Shane Watson and Chris Rogers are also likely to soak up batting spots against Pakistan, but it’s hard to pick a sixth specialist bat who plays with confidence against the turning ball.

There are only two Tests in the Pakistan series, and unfortunately there’s little to suggest that whoever’s entrusted with the job of supporting Australia’s two best players of spin is up to it.

The only thing in their favour is that UAE decks spin less than those of the subcontinent. That’s little comfort when you look at Australia’s performances in turning conditions. If it hasn’t happened already, there might be wicket-related telegrams on the way to Abu Dhabi and Dubai right now.

On the positive side, Australia has a spinner who can combat Ajmal for top wicket-taker in that series. Nathan Lyon continues to show that his around-the-wicket method is worth persisting with. Hell, it’s about the only thing that went right in Harare. Four wickets gave Australia a sniff against Zimbabwe, as the hosts struggled to the paltry target of a bit over 200.

The trajectory from around the wicket suits Lyon. It allows him to come over the top of the ball with his spinning finger, giving his deliveries more fizz when they bounce. The downside is he is denied access to many of the footmarks created by Mitchells Starc and Johnson. His showings so far suggest it’s well worth the sacrifice.

His swat for six from the penultimate ball of Australia’s innings wasn’t half bad either.

I’m sure that of those expletives swirling inside Lehmann, not many would have been directed at Lyon, who continues to produce for Australia. Whatever little section of the choir that was left singing the wrong tune on the former groundsman will soon be converted.

So while Lyon continues to show he is the solution to the spinning question, doubts remain about the other main discipline of cricket, and I’m not talking about fielding. You can be assured they’re getting quality practice in the nets if Lyon’s there.

The loss to Zimbabwe doesn’t mean much, either in the context of this series or in the make-up of the team for the World Cup. But set against the broader context of last year’s failures in India and the Australian culture playing spin bowling, it is a body blow to the team’s pride.

Brutally exposed against Ajmal’s lessers, improvement, and lots of it, from our batsmen is the minimum required by the time October 22 rolls around.