In the calm before the Ashes storm, or in between off-field storms, there have been two very good Test matches taking place. New Zealand held on for a draw while it looks like Pakistan will get the win against Bangladesh.
What’s been interesting is the huge involvement left-arm finger spinners have had in both matches. In Pakistan’s first innings of 286, Taijul Islam bowled nearly 45 overs and took 7 for 116.
In the Black Caps’ first innings in the other Test, Axar Patel bowled 34 overs and returned figures of 5 for 62, while Ravindra Jadeja took another four wickets in the second New Zealand innings and they combined for a total of 11 victims for the match.
This latest effort from Patel is only a follow-on from his outstanding series against England, where he claimed 27 wickets in three Tests at a ridiculous 10.59.
Given the Australian team will be touring Asian countries next year, it stands to reason we should be looking for guys who can take wickets in their conditions and Ashton Agar has to be our first-choice left-arm spinner.
(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
He’s clearly improved his bowling, certainly in the shorter formats, but now needs to focus on bowling well in Shield games. He needs to work on his accuracy, his stamina to bowl long spells and his ability to bowl both sides of the wicket.
The strength of the spinners mentioned above is their patience and ability to put the ball where they want and allow the pitch to help them get wickets.
From what I’ve seen in recent series, the pitches on the sub-continent and in Sri Lanka have offered slow turn and little or no bounce. Wrist spinners want bounce and want the ball to turn sharply, so these conditions would hardly help Mitchell Swepson or Adam Zampa.
On the other hand, both Lyon and Agar are not big spinners of the ball but should be suited these pitches.
I’d suggest if Agar doesn’t play these Tests next year, Australia has no chance of winning. We must have a quality left-arm finger spinner in the starting XI.
Selection for Asian 2022 will place added pressure on Cameron Green to show what he can do with the ball in the upcoming Ashes series.
Australia will need to choose two finger spinners and that will leave only two fast bowling spots, with Pat Cummins a lock for one and the other most likely going to Josh Hazlewood, with Jhye Richardson a handy rotation.
Jhye Richardson (Photo by Will Russell/Getty Images)
Cummins will want to have another pace option and Green will need to step up. Obviously there are other spin options in Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, but having that first change quick will add depth to the attack.
It might also be a good reason to pick Travis Head, both for the Ashes and for Asia.
Granted, he’s a right-arm finger spinner, but he’s still a handy bowler who comes at batsmen from a different trajectory than Nathan Lyon. On the sorts of pitches and match conditions Australia are likely to encounter, the more bowling options the team has, the greater the chance of knocking opposition teams over.
Speaking of knocking teams over, India’s best failed to do that in the first Test and given the advantages they had, they’ll be furious they’re not one up in this series.
The Black Caps, on the other hand, will be delighted at how well they scrapped for the full five days. Indian conditions least suit their attack, yet they rolled India once (Tim Southee was terrific) and delayed India long enough in the second dig, to give themselves a decent chance of salvaging the game, which they duly did.
The World Test Championship winners will take a lot of positives from this match. They would have also learned a lot about how India’s attack functions in home conditions.
I think if I were Kane Williamson, I‘d be quietly confident of doing well in Mumbai. He knows he needs to win the toss but if he does that, he has the batsmen capable of blunting the Indian spinners, especially now they’ve had a taste of what to expect.
This Test also totally confused me. Wriddhiman Saha was the nominated wicketkeeper for India, managed to bat twice, including a knock of 65 not out, off 126 deliveries in the second innings, but was replaced behind the stumps by KS Bharat – apparently because Saha had neck stiffness.
Presumably, he didn’t have neck stiffness on days 1 and 4, only on days 2, 3 and 5. I’m sure this is within the laws of the game, but I question whether it’s within the spirit?
Saha did not have to keep wicket for 142 overs in New Zealand’s first innings, so would have been well-rested before batting a second time. His innings took the game away from the Black Caps, who I’m sure won’t have been overly impressed.
The LBW decision against Will Young in the second innings makes me think there needs to be a change to Test-playing conditions.
Here’s a guy who’s been fielding all day, then late in the afternoon, when batting is the toughest and he’s no doubt tired, he has to come out and not only try and survive, but has to be able to guess correctly whether the umpire has made the right or wrong decision.
First of all, why is it his job to know if he’s out or not? He’s hardly in a position to know whether a delivery has barely pitched outside leg stump, whether he’s been struck outside off-stump playing a shot, etc.
Second, why does his stay at the crease depend entirely on him getting a guess right? That match completely changed when Young guessed wrong.
I’d like to see all LBW decisions that are given out by the umpire reviewed before the batsman leaves the ground. The fielding team can still review not out decisions and the batting side can still review other decisions, for example, catches to the keeper.
Finally, yet again Test cricket has shown up the white-ball formats. Here are two matches in the past few days that have lasted the distance and have provided lots of tough and tense cricket.
Granted, neither game was played at a frenetic pace, but there’s still been plenty of enjoyable cricket because there’s been a true contest between bat and ball.
We’ve also had something only Test match cricket can produce – a fantastic last eight or nine overs while one team hangs on grimly for a draw. Hopefully we see a few similar tight finishes in the Ashes.
Brasstax
Guest
If England and especially NZ can prepare seaming wickets and spingy green pitches for must-win games, what is wrong in India preparing rank turners? South Africa prepared a ridiculously juicy pitch in 2018 to avenge their previous Indian tour. India did not complain. They won the match. Australia in the 1990s and upto the mid-2000s were preparing bouncy pitches in Perth and Brisbane. Nobody complained. I personally am against a totally green, totally bouncy or rank turning pitches. ICC needs to set some basic standards and criteria across the globe for test wickets.
JamesH
Roar Guru
We don't have anyone else proven, other than perhaps Kane Richardson. But he's also getting on, and he doesn't contribute much in the powerplay. Hopefully someone like Jhye Richardson or Riley Meredith can develop that part of his game.
Paul
Roar Guru
you're right, Starcs numbers are nearly always hammered because he bowls at the death. It's an interesting point moving forward; who will take over that role when Starc gives away this format?
JamesH
Roar Guru
I agree to a point. But Agar often bowls in the powerplay and he and Zampa have bowled as late as the 18th over when they have played together, if I recall correctly. And death bowling isn't Cummins strength (and definitely not Hoff's). Death bowling has been a big issue for us in limited overs games for a while now. Starc is the only one who has done it regularly with some success. We really need to be able to develop Marsh or Stoinis in that capacity.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Yeah but Starc is also our only recognised death bowler (even though he went the journey a couple of times). He bowls two of the last several overs in every game. I'm not sure Cummins or Hoff has the T20 skillset to do that in his place.
Peter Farrar
Roar Pro
Thanks Paul, a lot going on in this article. India is such a fortress in their own country digging out a draw can feel like a win. All I'm going to add is a light humour story about one of my daughters going to school with Ash Agar. One day in class he was signing his name on slips of paper, handing them out and telling other students they'd be worth something one day. Probaby after his 98 against England years later people were trying to find those bits of paper!
whymuds
Roar Rookie
Appreciate the clarification, Tempo. However, I prefer not to extrapolate the actions of one or two individuals and draw conclusions to the manner in which entire nations (or cultures) conduct themselves with regards to the spirit of the game - good or bad. On Ashwin's mankad, a lot of Indian commentators and former players didn't support it, and some did. Not a scientific study, just me reading articles and trawling through tweets. So my view is that his actions do not define India's approach to playing the game. If it were, wouldn't Sir Ravi, Yadav and Axar have attempted a few by now? Nor do I think Kohli's plea to supporters to stop booing Smith reflects on the entire nation. Individuals and teams are so diverse, let alone entire cricketing nations. Players and teams don't abide by some consistent spirit of the game standard which then establishes a culture. Conduct is variable, inconsistent and evolves over time. Agree with Nics that perhaps rules need to be updated if teams are pushing boundaries and we want more consistency. Like India resting keepers so they are fresh for a stint at the crease. Back to the game, there is already some anticipation that the pitch for the 2nd test will be a rank turner. Whatever it is, if India can score 500+ runs on it, it's only fair the opposition can do the same (or thereabouts). If they can't, then it's down to ability and application, not pitch doctoring. And it's ability and application that NZ brought in spades in the 1st test.
nics
Roar Rookie
Fair enough I may have missed that subtlety. I don't really mind the mankad tbh. To be honest my issue with norms is that they tend to be set and interpreted in favour of the dominant entity. Eg sledging re sexualising preference was ok when we were dominant but referring to McGrath's missus was not ok (see the incident with Sarwan). Perhaps best stick with the rules as they are and amend as appropriate?
Kim Hughes 1980
Roar Rookie
Sure, they can always choose both over Agar. I reckon they are more likely to get wickets in Asia than is Agar – he does not turn it enough and I reckon the Asian batters will not be worried about facing him on their own pitches.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
I think you're missing my point. I'm absolutely not saying the Australian or Western way is better. In fact, it's very hard as an Australian to deny that some of the worst behaviour in international cricket has come from Australian players. However, I do see a different perspective around "Spirit of the Law" vs "Letter of the Law" in different countries. Take Mankading for instance. In England and Australia most players traditionally viewed a mankad without a runout as unsporting or against the "Spirit of Cricket". Hence, there was a huge uproar in England when Jos Buttler got mankaded by Ashwin. Indian fans and players seem almost united in their view that a mankad is ok. As I said in my previous comment, I am not saying that one cricketing culture is better than any other. Just that there are differences in cultures and norms, and that until very recently we basically ignored Indian cricketing culture and deferred to England as the arbiters of the "Spirit of Cricket". With India's rise, we are starting to see debate about issues such as whether mankads without warning are acceptable, or if you should run when the ball deflects off the bat. Growing up, there was no debate over these issues, it was just accepted as 'proper' etiquette that you gave a warning to the non-striker or stayed put when the fielders throw hit your bat.
Tony
Roar Guru
You could be right
Ruairidh MacDonald
Roar Rookie
On your last point, I wonder if it's because they release the ball from a wider angle, so you feel it's coming in at you more directly? I always felt more comfy against them if I took a leg-stump or even outside leg stance - that way I'm basically playing either only a cover drive or it's on my pads and I'm safe
nics
Roar Rookie
Wait, weren't we (Australia) the arbiters of where the mythical 'line' was? I'm confused - are we irritated because India are pushing the letter of the law as we were? To be clear, I don't think there is any difference between 'Indian' cricketing values and those from other countries (whatever 'cricketing values' means) - everyone pushes the line when they can get away with it (see eg Murray mints, sandpaper, sledging, underarm).
Kailash
Roar Rookie
Rachin Rqvindra did well to hold on to a draw.But I think Indian spinners were excellent on a pitch that had low bounce,slow turn and only had two mode of dismissal lbw and bowled ,no outside edge were carrying to fielder's.It may have been a dull draw if not superb bowling from Indian spinners.As for India batting late on day 4 they wanted to see some sharp turn and wicket deteriorating (not just some footmarks of bowlers followthrough) before declaring .But I don't think Indian players will be upset because of draw ,yes they will be a tad dissapointed for sure.If you listen to Indian players,they were not upset.As for nz missing boult and Conway ,India missed bumeah,shami,Rohit,Kohli,pant,shardul thakur.As some pointing a dust bowl on Mumbai next test see what dravid did for groundsman(he donted 35k RS to pitch curator and said kanpur was very sporting wicket).As for best test side, that is condition dependant.If you play in India, Australia ,India will most likelywin.If you play in nz ,eng ,then nz most likely win.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
The issue with playing only 2 pace bowlers is how you deal with death bowling. Agar and Zampa don't bowl at the death - it's asking a lot of them to pick up that skill during a World Cup. The death bowling was shared between Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood during the tournament. It's often forgotten when comparing spinner and pace bowling economy rates that spinners rarely bowl at the death.
Parky Claret
Roar Rookie
DRS, to me, remains the thorn in the paw of the tiger that is international cricket. I have long argued for its total abolition, but I'm afraid that ship has long since sailed. I am, however, claiming the Will Young decision as evidence in favour of my argument, which has been all along that the standard of on-field decision making would decline (and I believe that it has). So, now that I reluctantly accept that the video umpire is here to stay, I submit that the power to refer decisions to it should never rest with the players. As you so rightly have noted, referrals are often little more than applied guesswork anyway, and are too readily used for purposes of kite-flying, or the halting of the momentum of the opposition. The power to refer should be solely in the hands of the umpires. In the instance of an lbw appeal, the umpire makes an on-field decision and the umpire's decision should be respected. It served us for 130 years before the video umpire became a thing after all. If this happens then we might get back to a situation where on-field decision making improves once more. I, for one, don't think it was that bad before DRS and I don't believe that DRS has fixed the issues that it was designed to fix. Loved the article Paul. Onwards to the Ashes!!!
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Once again NZ have shown why they are the best test side in the world. Not many teams are even able to draw game in India, yet on a pitch that was falling apart at the end there they knuckled down and batted long. Even without any real quality spinner they are still finding a way to grind out results.
Paul
Roar Guru
Pakistan has certainly produced some good leggies. As you've said, it would pay to take Swepson or Zampa over there and see what the conditions are like.
Paul
Roar Guru
no argument Magilla had a good series in Pakistan. I was referring to this comment "Don’t disregard leg spinners, they have a fantastic record in Pakistan". Both he and Warne did well over there, but brilliant? Not exactly the adjective I'd choose.
Paul
Roar Guru
Completely agree about Wildermuth. I'd love to see him come good and put some pressure on for a tour spot, at least.