New Zealand’s Mark Craig is the latest in a long line of foreign spinners to flounder in Australian conditions. Their main problem? A lack of overspin on their deliveries.
In Australia, if a slow bowler doesn’t get the ball to both drop sharply on the batsman and kick up at them off the pitch, they will be cannon fodder. And they can’t achieve this without imparting heavy overspin on their deliveries, like Nathan Lyon and, to a greater degree, the legendary Shane Warne.
Bowling with a significant amount of side spin makes sense on most overseas decks. Why? Because they are softer and so offer not only greater turn, but also more natural variation in bounce and sideways movement.
When Australia were flogged by Pakistan in the UAE last year, Zulfiqar Babar got wicket after wicket with straight deliveries. Commentators at times incorrectly dubbed them arm balls. In fact, side-by-side replays of Babar’s deliveries showed identical balls – with the same seam position and seemingly equal revolutions – reacting from the pitch in vastly different ways.
One would turn and bounce sharply, beating the bat, clipping its edge or rapping the batsman’s glove. The other would skid on with the arm.
Because of the turning deliveries, the batsman often was playing for the movement when they encountered the straight ones and promptly perished. Australian after Australian was dismissed by these skidding balls either bowled, lbw, or caught in close off the inside edge.
Bowling with heavy sidespin like Babar works on softer decks because of not only the sharp turn that can be gained, something which is not on offer in Australia, but also because of the much more inconsistent bounce offered by the deck.
In that two-Test series, Babar snatched 14 wickets despite essentially just bowling the same delivery over and over again. Rarely did he use significant changes in pace or angle of delivery.
Babar just bowled around the wicket, angling in at Australia’s right handers, and landed the same delivery on the same spot constantly until the surface eventually reacted in a manner the Australian batsmen didn’t expect.
Now, the batsmen contributed to the success of his strategy by failing to make him change his length either by advancing or using the full depth of the crease, as I outlined at length in this piece at the time.
But were Babar to replicate his approach on Australian pitches I would wager that he would be hammered and milked, in equal proportions, by the home batsmen.
Why? Because his deliveries would react off the pitch in an almost identical manner, there would be no random variations in turn and bounce. Thus the batsmen could predict confidently what each delivery would do and react to them in a positive manner.
In Australia, spinners rarely beat batsmen off the pitch with sharp turn or natural variation. It is bounce and flight which are their weapons, and these can only be produced as a result of hard overspin.
Even the greatest foreign spinners of the modern era have struggled in Australia, and more often than not it’s because they couldn’t get the ball to dip or bounce alarmingly.
It long has been remarked in the subcontinent, India in particular, that the biggest mistake visiting spinners make is bowling too slow. The dry Asian decks typically are so responsive to spin that you needn’t bowl slowly like on Australian decks, where lowering your pace often is crucial to achieving turn.
On Asian pitches you will normally turn the ball regardless, so it’s wise to bowl quicker so the batsmen have less time to react and adjust their strokes. Even Warne struggled to adapt to this, although it must be said that increasing your delivery speed is many times harder for a wrist spinner than a finger tweaker.
The same way so many visiting spinners are not nearly as effective as the home tweakers on Asian pitches, foreign slow bowlers constantly flounder in Australia. Finger spinners, in particular, battle for effectiveness Down Under.
This is because not only do they naturally get less revolutions on the ball than wrist spinners, but it’s also easier to spin over the top of the ball with a wrist spinner’s action.
Craig is in good company – Muttiah Muralitharan, Graeme Swan, Saeed Ajmal and Harbahajan Singh are the four greatest off spinners of the modern era. Yet all four of them were utterly pedestrian in Australia. Combined they played 18 Tests here, taking just 45 wickets at the sky-high average of 66.
As wily and talented as that quartet was, none of them managed to acclimatise. The missing ingredient was overspin.
I flagged in my preview of the New Zealand Test team that Craig’s style of bowling would likely be ineffective on firm Australian pitches.
“The inexperienced tweaker does not get nearly as many revolutions on the ball as Nathan Lyon and bowls with more side spin than his Australian counterpart,” I wrote. “The second of these issues will be key as the success of finger spinners in Australia is dependent upon their ability to extract maximum bounce from the hard pitches, as Lyon has done so effectively in his career.”
This has been patently clear so far. Craig has been butchered by the Australian batsman because he is so easy to read through the air. Across the two Tests, the Kiwi has taken six wickets at an average of 73 – figures which, as horrendous as they are, actually flatter him immensely.
Craig is yet to take one proper wicket in the whole series – all six of his breakthroughs have come in junk time as Australia have been slogging towards an imminent declaration.
Because Craig doesn’t get much work on the ball – he merely rolls his deliveries out rather than ripping them like Lyon – he doesn’t earn the same bounce and elusive dip on his deliveries as does Lyon. The Australian tweaker hasn’t had a prolific series but played a pivotal role in the first Test win and has an admirable Test record at home for a finger spinner.
The key difference between Lyon and Craig is that the former has not only regularly beaten New Zealand batsmen in the flight, but also has repeatedly surprised them with his kick off the pitch.
Overspin. Overspin. Overspin. That’s all visiting tweakers need to know about bowling in Australia.
Rob
Guest
Hi Ronan. What do you think Todd Astle needs to do to get in the side? He has dominated 4 day cricket in NZ over the past 3 or 4 seasons, and recently took 11 wickets in a match against Sri Lanka A. Surely he is more likely to take wickets than Craig, and probably go for less runs looking at the mixed bag he dished up in Australia. Tail enders traditionally struggle against leg spin, whereas Craig didn't pose that threat. I hope the selectors don't stick with. Craig for the sake of it. Give Astle a chance I say.
Cheese
Guest
Todd Astle in the last two domestic seasons in NZ has taken 81 wickets @ 26.8 and last season was the highest wicket taker in the first class competition. He's a leg spinner playing on NZ pitches that don't tend to crumble apart suited for pace swing bowling. I really don't know what more the guy has to do to get in the team.
Jacko
Guest
Since he only made his test debut in 2014 I am willing to give him time to learn more on the international scene. He averages 40 with the bat and 40 with the ball. Not the worst record I've seen for a new guy
Cheese
Guest
The one spinner in New Zealand taking wickets but overlooked is Todd Astle. He played one test years ago in Sri Lanka only took one wicket and hasn't played since. I'm not saying he's a great bowler but certainly the best of the rest by some way when looking at his stats. 92 First class matches 244 wickets at 33.25 strike rate of 58. Also scored a century and fifteen 50's at 23.81. His last match he took 11 wickets
Fox
Guest
Go and check Saqlain Dossra in ODI against Australia..he whips it through like slow medium pacer..His arm is TOTALLY legal Fantastic bowler of the highest caliber https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOvf0EEnq7A
Fox
Guest
Funny but I think that is rubbish ..It seems just par for the course to acuse sub-continent off spinners as immediately have suspect action which is crap - Saqlain is the one off spinner that many people - not just me - argue could bowl the Doosra without bending his arm to an illegal point. And you can bend your arm 15 degrees now which I think is fair enough...and it really doesn't matter a damn if you don't like rule - it is the rules of the game now like it or lump it. Just becuse you play test cricket does not make you world class - he is very good - but sorry he is not world class Saqlian was what i call world class not Lyon but some people are easily pleased i guess In fact he claimed that the Doosra could be bowled legally after several European commentators said it couldn't so he went down the nets with all the stuff to show the arm extension and proved a whole bunch of them wrong..Of course it was after that the these same people changed tac and said okay Saqlain is the only guy who could do it legally...Like I say he was what I call world class
footy
Guest
The Brisbane and WACA curators should be thrown out of those grounds and should all be sued for damages to the game, by bringing the game into diripute! Infact the WACA curator should be arrested and possibly let out on bail. I suspect he was given instruction to produce a flat deck, as the white-collars want the public to accept Birswood ahead of the WACA ground. Thus, producing a road-Hume Hwy.
Phil
Guest
Thats why Lyon averages less than half of Craig for this series.
danno
Guest
Craig has a first class average of 40, I would say he has bowled to his potential. Lyon has been disappointing so far, the kiwi batsman have hardly seemed troubled by off spin.
Nudge
Guest
That'd be great mate. My shout for 4 pints. Let me know if you stay. You should stay. Reckon I will be going Friday and Saturday for sure
Pom in Oz
Roar Guru
Seriously thinking about it. Would love to catch up with you...
Eski
Guest
U have said Lyon was utter rubbish early doors , Lyon had very little fa cricket to his name when selected but even he managed to have a good series early in his career taking 10 wickets at 13 against NZ from memory he had played under 10 tests at that point in comparison Craig's best series against S.L 6wickets at 32 If u have a look a lot of players their test and fc averages r very similar and apart from his batting mark Craig's is the same averaging mid 40s in both test and fc cricket with the ball and the chances of him continuing to average 40 with the bat in test is very slim considering his fc average of 27 Comparing him with Mitch marsh doesn't make much sense marsh is struggling to hold is spot
Nick
Guest
Averages 40.50 with the bat with 3 50's That's the real reason he's there, NZ need shoring up in the batting department since there aren't any better spinning options in NZ. They're making the best of a bad situation. You'd assume they know about the spinning graveyard that is Australia, even aussie spinners have been relatively ineffective since Warne retired, but they expected more from the pace bowlers they've got and thought a batting allrounder as a spinner would be more use than an inexperienced spinner with more potential but no batting chops.
SpongeBob
Guest
Makes you wonder, must be harder to adapt then it seems. The last 2 AFL grand finals were against Hawthorn on a big ground, both opposition tried strategies that didn't work at all, yet stuck to them for the entire game. Surely you would realise at some point it's clearly not working. Both teams were destroyed. Seemingly any research would have seen strategies that don't work in big grounds especially against good teams. Similarly with cricket, when they've played a bunch of 5 day games and got creamed, you wonder at what point they think "hmm, maybe I need to change my angle". It's not like a 5 minute boxing match where you have little time to adjust your plan.
Nudge
Guest
Great work PIO. Haven't a good weekend mate. You should stay for the test next week, so we can knock down a couple of those pints
JWALSO
Guest
I was also going to say there is a narrative being built that none of his wickets really count because the batsmen were after quick runs. There are no stars beside wickets at the end of a bowlers career where some count for more than others. The same fact he has gone for plenty is attacking batsmen on the roadiest of road like pitches combined with his control issues. No-one else got the batsmen out while they were slogging in both tests. If anything he deserves a little bit of credit for being prepared to keep bowling for wickets after being pounded for long periods on massively flat pitches. Collecting the wickets of both centurions in the first test and running through the tail in the second test. His wickets actually slowed the Australians to a halt at the end of the first innings of the second test. The GABBA was every bit as bad as the WACA - just with a completely under prepared side not ready for test cricket. Where Mark Craig should be rightly slated is the inability to bowl to his field or anything approaching consistency of a stock ball. When every third ball is a potential 4 runs it is impossible to either create pressure or bowl to a plan set out by the captain. Hence why I would drop him , for Adelaide there should have been improvement in that area in the second test and there wasn't enough.
Pom in Oz
Roar Guru
Hi Nudge, mate. I'm in your neck of the woods for the AC/DC concert tomorrow. Just about to neck my 4th pint too. ;)
Nudge
Guest
Lyon's world class Fox if we are talking about off spinners that bowl legally. Saqlin was very good no doubt, but he bent his arm more than I just did knocking back my fourth pint after work
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Although this story was specifically addressing what it takes to be successful as a spinner in Australia. So it's reasonable to talk about such things. The fact that Craig's figures, bad as they've been, have been flattering because Australia, in every innings they've played so far, has got to the point of absolutely going the slog at the end and he's taken a few wickets during those times. On the other hand, we are also talking about the toughest pitch for spinners in the country in the most recent test. (Hey it was impossible for any bowler!) And the next test is on a pitch where spinners traditionally do a bit better to the point where Australia's even drafted another spinner into the squad to pretend like they are considering playing 2 spinners!
JWALSO
Guest
My point is they are taking a similar number of wickets at similar runs per over if you look over a longer period than his australia tour. 4 wkt's per test is not terrible. 40 runs per wkt is not good but he has only played 12 tests. Give him a chance to learn his craft. Lyon was utter rubbish early doors...so was Smith and Williamson from a statistical perspective. The article makes out he shouldn't be playing test cricket as a spinner. I call bollocks. That is without even considering his value as a lower order batsman averaging around 40. Would you accept the same article about Mitchell Marsh averaging 35 with the ball and 24 with the bat? On those stats Mark Craig is the better all rounder!