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Why Australia needs a leg-spinner for India

Steve O'Keefe has been dropped. (AFP/ Marwan Naamani)
Roar Guru
8th January, 2017
21

Australia’s method of taking left-arm finger spinners, and that alone, as Nathan Lyon’s spin twin for tours of the subcontinent have been tried and failed, and it is time for the Aussies to include a leg-spinner in their touring party for India this February.

You see, there was a time, not long ago, where Australian cricket was dominated by leg-break bowlers.

Greats such as Arthur Mailey, Clarrie Grimmett, Bill O’Reilly and Richie Benaud ruled the roost of the Australian spin scene for years, all icons of their time. Yes, it was quiet for a while, but then came along arguably the greatest bowler in the history of the game in Shane Warne, and suddenly, leg-spin was back.

Every man and his dog was trying to rip out leggies like the great S.K. Warne. There were an abundance of leg-spinners in junior cricket, as youngsters tried their best to become the next great leg-spinner.

Yet, leg-spin saw a great demise in the retirement of Warne, as well as the big-turning New South Welshman, Stuart MacGill, and leg-spin retreated to the shadows. In its place came the rise of the off-spinner, much like all those years in between Benaud and Warne.

Shane Warne

Off-spin bowling has always been the less attractive, less successful brother of leg-spin. Yeah, off-spin does fairly well for himself, he works hard with what he has, and hey, you can’t really choose how you look! But he will always be in the shadows of his sexier, more successful brother, leg-spin, whom people just like more, no matter how hard off-spin works.

In simpler, but less humorous terms, off-spin is not as sexy as leg-spin. It is a defensive art form at its core, in where leg-spin looks to attack and get batsmen out, off-spin looks to defend and lure the batsmen into making a mistake.

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Off-spin is the safer, more defensive option, and leg-spin is the more attacking one, and Australia has always preferred attack over defence.

Yet, somehow, Australian cricket has fallen into a trend of selecting off-spinner after off-spinner for its subcontinent tours. Safe option after safe option, where attacking and ripping spin has been set aside for hitting a spot and keeping them from scoring (with no true avail).

Nathan Lyon is an exceptional cricketer, no doubt about it. His legions of fans from Matthew Wade’s infectious drawl of “Niceeeeeeee Garryyyyyyy” has labeled him a cult hero, and his records tells us that ‘the Goat’ is the most successful off-spinner in Australian history.

Australian bowler Nathan Lyon

Stephen O’Keefe, Jon Holland, and Ashton Agar are also exceptional, as well as all the other ‘offies’ to come before them. You have to be incredibly talented at your craft to even get close to playing Test cricket. But they have all been largely ineffective on the subcontinent, with tours to India (2013), the UAE (2014) and Sri Lanka (2016) displaying their impact, of lack of, against high quality batting line-ups.

As much as Australia’s batsmen have bared the brunt of criticism for their shortcomings in Asia, it is the spinners who also need to do a job, and they simply haven’t done so.

Australia must bring a leg-spinner to India, even if he is only in the touring party. They need the option of a leg-break bowler, as the flight, the spin and the pace on the ball is completely different to a left-arm finger spinner.

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It isn’t like there aren’t options. Adam Zampa is Australia’s best limited overs spinner at the moment, and has good control for a ‘leggie’. Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting have pushed for the inclusion of Queensland’s Mitch Swepson, a fine young leg-spinner who rips the hell out of it.

Steve Waugh and Stuart MacGill have both openly backed Fawad Ahmed, who has knowledge of those conditions in India. He hasn’t played much for the Victorians this year, but he has been one of the standout bowlers for the Sydney Thunder in the BBL thus far.

There are options for leg-spin bowlers in Australia, and they need to be given a chance to thrive. They need a good captain who understands leg-spin, and who better than Steve Smith, who began his Australian career as one?

For this, Australia need to at the very least include a leg-spinner in their touring squad for India, because recent results show they will need a different option to the left-arm orthodox.

I’m not saying that in the First Test that he takes Stephen O’Keefe’s spot, because O’Keefe has earned it. But it can’t hurt to at least bring a leg-spinner, can it?

Australia needs a different option, and they need to attack, rather than defend in all facets to stand any chance of coming home from India with a series win. What better way to start than by bringing along a leg-spinner?

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