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Australian spinner Xavier Doherty did not bowl poorly against Sri Lanka. Strangely enough, that’s why he shouldn’t play any further part in this tournament, unless Australia encounter a parched pitch.
It wasn’t as though Doherty offered up a buffet of boundary balls in Sydney. He just doesn’t have the tools to be effective in modern ODIs when conditions don’t favour him.
The left armer’s effort against Sri Lanka was standard Doherty: flat deliveries, upon which minimal spin was imparted, speared in at the stumps.
These kind of darts used to be commonplace in ODIs. Limited spinners like Doherty formerly had value in hurrying through overs in the middle stages of an innings and returning figures of 1-50 from 10 overs.
Now, with tougher fielding restrictions and evermore powerful striking, a spinner must either be extremely accurate and crafty, like Daniel Vettori, or be an attacking option with a bag of tricks, like Imran Tahir, Saeed Ajmal or Sunil Narine.
Doherty’s modus operandi is not dissimilar to that of Vettori, who is enjoying a stellar World Cup with 12 wickets at an average of 11. There are, however, two crucial differences which make Vettori a vastly superior bowler.
Firstly, the Kiwi is five inches taller and so gains not only sharper lift from the pitch but also a greater variety of bounce. The short Doherty tends to skid on to the bat, which many strokemakers enjoy.
Secondly, Vettori varies his pace more and with a less discernible change in action. Against Sri Lanka, Doherty’s speed was consistently in the 86 to 88 kilometres an hour range, topping out at 95.
When Vettori befuddled the Australian batsmen in Auckland, his pace dropped to as low as 82 kilometres an hour and rose to as high as 102. Together with his more disconcerting bounce, these variations were key to tying up the Aussie batsmen. Doherty bowls at a too-consistent pace and just slides the ball on to the bat.
He now looks even less effective than all-rounder Glenn Maxwell. The Victorian is a genuine wicket-taking option as he puts a lot more work on the ball, often getting it to loop and dip tantalisingly.
While his batting has been spawning headlines, for negative or positive reasons, Maxwell’s off spin has quietly improved out of sight. He has eliminated many of the loose deliveries batsmen used to sweat on, while managing to remain an attacking operator. In Sydney it was Doherty, not Maxwell, who the Sri Lankans targeted. The former gave up 34 runs in boundaries from his seven overs, while Maxwell went for just 12 runs in boundaries from his six overs.
Without the rank long hops and full tosses that used to punctuate his expensive spells, Maxwell is now the more difficult spinner to get after. As such, there is no need for Doherty unless conditions dictate that spin will play a major role in one of Australia’s coming World Cup matches.
The bowling strength of the co-hosts lies with pace and Josh Hazlewood appears far more likely to influence the result of a knockout match than Doherty.
Australia have one more pool match, against the struggling Scotland, but already have booked a quarter final at Adelaide. Their opponents in that match have not yet been confirmed – it could be any of Ireland, Pakistan or the West Indies.
With their batting line-up having clicked and their pace attack a major threat, Australia would be overwhelming favourites against any of those three teams.
A semi-final against India at the SCG beckons. The Indian batsmen would be delighted to see Doherty skipping to the crease. A striding Hazlewood would be a far less welcome sight.