Who to bat at six and who is the fifth bowler?

The dilemma for Australia selectors come the first Test in India will be who to bat at six while accommodating the need for a fifth bowler.

The simple reality is Australia will need a meaningful fifth bowling option.

In the recent India and England series, England bowlers sent down a staggering 939 overs.

Australia will need a fifth bowler and that bowler should be a spinner and someone if required who can send down 20 overs an innings

I know there is some talk on these pages that Australia should not solely place their hopes on spinners winning the day. But the reality is that 70 per cent of all wickets taken in the India/England series were by the spinners.

While you can never predict how the wickets will play, India will surely play to their strengths.

They know Australia have a weakness against quality spin and in the England series Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja took 60 per cent of the wickets. In short, the wickets will turn, of course they will.

The other lesson to learn from the England series is that while the batsmen didn’t perform that well, the England averages tell a story – they tried their best. The lowest average for a batsman (aside from the failing of Ben Duckett) was Alastair Cook with a reasonably respectable 36.90.

The bigger problem for England was taking 20 wickets per Test, the reality is they only managed 64 over the series.

This all points to the need for Australia to prioritise bowling over batting and the need to pick the best two seamers and best three spinners.

The seamers are an easy choice, clearly Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Nate Lyon is and remains the first-choice spinner but the other two are less clear.

If bowling is prioritised, it means the selectors taking the risk of moving Matt Wade up the order as blind Freddie can see Glenn Maxwell is not the solution at six.

Not least on the basis that Steven Smith clearly has no faith in Maxwell’s bowling abilities.

In the recent one day series against both Pakistan and New Zealand he didn’t bowl a single over.

The last time he bowled in ODI was in June 2016, two wicketless overs against the West Indies and the last time in Tests 16 wicketless overs against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in October 2014.

It tells us he is in the squad as a batsman and if he did get a bowl he has a captain who thinks Virat Kohli and others will have a field day. He is also not 20 over an innings option and Smith knows it.

If that logic follows he will not play in the first Test, nor should he. Nor should Mitchell Marsh, if the theory of the three best spinners being picked is adopted.

What the selectors will need to do is take a big risk. They must move Wade up to six and select both Ashton Agar and Mitch Swepson.

Why no Steve O’Keefe? While O’Keefe is a safe and containing type of bowler, he has the ability to tie an end down and will no doubt play at some stage in the series. He is clearly a reliable option.

But selectors should take the bold step of getting the youngsters in as soon as possible. No point bringing them in for the last rites. Blood them early and see what comes.

Swepson is the unknown and it might all come undone but no point taking him and not playing him.

Agar is also a more attacking bowling option and might just have enough batting ability to do a job at seven. If all fails O’Keefe is the back-up, or if they do well or well enough and Lyon struggles then O’Keefe comes in again.

A big risk yes, not least with Wade at six, a tail perhaps starting at seven and blooding two young and inexperienced spinners in Indian conditions that could go horribly wrong and result in them not being seen again.

But this is a series that cannot be won – or for that matter drawn – without taking risks.