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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
peeeko
Roar Guru
i think his point was Australias greatest leg spinner was ineffective in India, so why take Adam Zampa?
deccas
Guest
why would leggies suddenly become more difficult to face in India than offies? Only Kumble has been an effective leggie there in my lifetime, and he was hardly a conventional leggie, he bowled faster straighter and with few variations from a much higher action than most leggies. They are all traits of typical off spin rather than leg spin bowling. The most effective bowlers both from home and away teams have been offies. Occasionaly touring pacemen have matched the offspinners, and its been rightly viewed as a stunning achievement.
deccas
Guest
Swepson has less than 2 seasons, he will get hammered by the experienced and excellent Indian batsmen, it will do more harm than good. He averages over 30, so he isn't yet good enough for test cricket. Zampa avareges over 45, and cannot keep it tight. He consistnetly gives away over 4 an over. As does swepson, the difference is swepson takes more wickets. But neither is yet good enough for test cricket, let alone in India. Ahmed is a maybe, but given he can't get a game for his state I think it ridiculous to select him for the country. I agree with the gist of the article, Australia has a proud history of legspinners, but it has tended to come in gluts and droughts. This is one of the droughts. Being a legspinner is less valuable than being good.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
I'm not sure why there is such a mystery about off-spinners not being able to bowl leg-spinners as a variant. I'm the worst off-spinner in the lowest level of cricket, and have not played for decades. But if I can roll my fingers to spin from left to right (off-break) AND I can roll them to spin from right to left (leg-break), and if I don't throw -- why can't the world's best? As for taking a leg-spinner to India, we already have one -- Steve Smith. He needs to get in plenty of practice now. The pacemen will go for long periods without taking wickets, but are all capable of winning a match. Nathan Lyon, much as I admire him, is not a match-winning bowler on current form. Every batsman in the side should start working on his bowling, and watch a few clips of Viv Richards bowling to see how it's done. A chat with Allan Border wouldn't hurt, either. They should all be prepared to put in 5-10 over stints in most innings -- but there will be occasions where the pacemen run through the Indian batting lineup, and the batsmen won't have to bowl anyway. if a paceman breaks down, they will have to do it anyway.
Craig Swanson
Guest
David a Pom. Lyon was going for that on our decks last day with footmarks against Paks. Indians are better players of spin so I can see him going for a minimum 5 an over. A leggie with his variations will at least challenge the Indians more than Lyon's tame offies and likely left arm sidies of SOK or Agar.
Craig Swanson
Guest
Imo a leggie would provide more of a challenge with his variations than the conventional offie like Lyon. SOK or Agar with their left arm side spin fare and a leg spinner such as the experienced, cunning Fawad Ahmed would be my spin bowlers for India.
Craig Swanson
Guest
Gotta chuck it to bowl the doosra. Did Lyon not boast of developing one that went the other way. Gave it a name as well. Where is it. Why does he never bowl it? Would be a change from his one dimensional fare that will go the distance in India. Indians just love bouncy finger spinners. The only offie I know of with one that turns the other way.. the carrom ball.. is the baby of NSW cricket with huge wraps on him...Arjun Nair.
jameswm
Roar Guru
I think you need to be really accurate in India and rely on subtle differences - like the ball landing on the seam/smooth part and skidding/bouncing. I watched Herath scratching my head, as he looked ordinary. Still kept picking up wickets though, so there is obviously more to it. And he did it without a doosra/carom ball. This is where I think SOK has a better chance of success, but Lyon has done ok over there. Pick both, simple. There is reason to believe Starc can do well over there, including what he did in SL. I think if Hazlewood does well and we win a few tosses, we are in with a shout. We obviously need some top order guys to dig in and score runs.
Mike Dugg
Guest
Okeefe took 4 wickets in one UAE test to Lyons 3 wickets in 2 games on that tour and in Sri Lanka he was the most dangerous spinner there before injury took him down. Sri Lankans themselves said Okeefe was the most dangerous bowler against them I'd take Swepson on the Indian tour as a learning curve but not to likely play
Dylan Carmody
Roar Guru
So you wouldn't include a leg-spinner in your touring party at all? Not even as an option to have ?
Dylan Carmody
Roar Guru
Don't remember mentioning Warne as an option to take to India? Would you rather we take another left arm orthodox to bowl defensively and not take wickets? Something isn't working, why keep trying the same formula?
Barto
Guest
I remember a long time ago Dan Cullen boasting of learning the doorsa. Never saw him bowl one. When they changed the laws regarding the bend in elbow, we should have been straight on developing someone who uses the laws to their limit. Un-Australian, but if we want to win in India, thats what it takes. Finger spinners have been much more prolific in India than any other type of bowler. The leggies who have worked aren't traditional leggies, like Kumble. We can't pick a leggie anyway as we don't have a wrist spinner of Test quality anywhere.
David a Pom
Guest
The author of this article clearly hasn't done his research. If Australia take a leg spinner he'll average 40+ and go at 4 an over.
Matthew H
Guest
As an off-spinner in a former life lol, the quicker leg cutter can be very effective, but often catches the fielders out as much as the batsman.
jameswm
Roar Guru
We don't have them. You can't bowl a proper doosra without chucking it. The carom type ball is more of a leg cutter and easy enough to read.
Barto
Guest
An off spinner who has a doorsa will do much better than a leggie in India. Why we haven't been looking for one of these type off spinners is a mystery to me.
Basil
Guest
It seems as Aussies we are obsessed with our quicks to be lightning fast and our spinners to rip it a mile. It suits our attacking, aggressive approach to cricket. It is also pleasant to the eye. The thing is, it's just not effective in all conditions. In India, a slow leg break bowler will get carted around. For all the over the top praise Lyon got from his bowling in Sydney, if he bowls the same way in India he will go for plenty. There is simply not as much bounce on offer. Watch the way Jadeja bowls because that works over there. That's why I think SOK will do ok also.
Matthew H
Guest
Kumble is an excellent example of a good bowler in Indian conditions, however so is Kapil Dev. Remember that home team advantage used to play a part as well and Warne didn't get as many LBW decisions away from home (and possibly one or two too many at home). It is the skiddy low type bowlers who seem to do best on the really slow tracks. That sort of bowler just doesn't get picked in Australian conditions making it really difficult to know who the best ones are.
Rob JM
Guest
Did Warne's spin win us a test series in india? No it was our fast bowlers. England on the other hand won off the back of two finger spinners in the form of Swan and Panasar!
qwetzen
Guest
And don't stop at Warne. India just doesn't suit leggies. There's no bounce off the pitch and the turn is so slow that batsmen can adjust their shot even if they didn't pick the delivery. The only leggies who have ever done consistently well in India were Anil Kumble & Chandrasekhar. Both of whom had as much loop as a throw from cover point and their spin did its best work in the vertical plane, not the traditional horizontal one.