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For decades Australia have been taking untried spinners to the subcontinent and throwing them to the fire.
It hardly ever works.
Nathan Lyon was initially known for his feats in the Twenty20 arena before he made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2011. He subsequently took a wicket with his first ball – Kumar Sangakkara no less – and has gone on to become Australia’s most prolific Test off-spinner with 411 victims and counting.
But he is the exception to the rule – there have been several others who have been tried on the subcontinent with limited success and it’s burned their careers before they’ve been able to establish a foothold.
Which is why Australia should give serious consideration to giving Mitchell Swepson a run in the Sydney Test or the Ashes finale in Hobart on January 14.
The Queensland leg-spinner, like Lyon, first rose to prominence in the BBL but has backed that up with the red ball at Sheffield Shield level.
Despite calling the seamer’s paradise known as the Gabba his home ground, Swepson has steadily accumulated a strong first-class record in recent summers and has been in and around the Australian Test squad for the past couple of years without getting a baggy green cap.
Australia have a subcontinent-heavy schedule in 2022 which kicks off with their first tour of Pakistan in a quarter of a century in March.
They are also due to go to Sri Lanka, play a Test against Afghanistan in the neutral Indian city of Dehradun before taking on India to complete an Asian-centric calendar over the off-season.
There are going to be more bunsen burners than your high school science lab and Australia will likely need two spinners for the majority of these matches.
The emergence of Cameron Green as a fast-bowling all-rounder, coupled with Alex Carey’s assured rise to the Test keeper’s role, means Australia can play a balanced team with five bowlers.
Rather than throwing Swepson in at the deep end on the subcontinent against the world’s best batters of spin bowling, why not give him a Test debut at home against this bruised and bartered English side in a dead rubber?
Australian selector George Bailey on Thursday said he would love to give Swepson a try in the SCG Test, but it would depend on the pitch conditions.
“We’d love nothing more than for him to get an opportunity but it will be conditions dependent,” Bailey said.
“One of the things that’s really hard, I think Michael Neser has been the biggest example of this over the last couple of years, is that being on the periphery of some teams … can make it really hard, because you’re so close but you’re not necessarily playing as much for your state or Big Bash franchise as you’d like.
“We’ve got no doubt that whether it’s at the SCG, or some time in the future, that ‘Sweppo’ is ready. We love having him around the group, love everything he is bringing.
“His cricket gets better and better.”
Meanwhile, Test captain Pat Cummins said the idea of blooding Swepson had merit, but stopped short of saying he would get a run in the remaining Ashes clashes.
“If Swepson debuted and then suddenly he’s off to a subcontinent tour, you’d think that experience would be a good thing for just about everyone,” he said after the MCG mauling.
“Once you play one your next one’s probably going to be a little bit better.
“But it’s an Ashes series, we’re going to pick the best 11 that we think is going to win that Test match in Sydney.”
Brad Hogg. (AP)
In 1996 for a one-off Test in Delhi, left-arm wrist-spinner Brad Hogg was handed his debut when Shane Warne was out injured. He returned figures of 1-67 – dismissing Sourav Ganguly – as Mark Waugh was given more overs with his part-time offies.
Australia were thumped and poor old George Bradley Hogg didn’t play another Test for seven years, only restoring the selectors’ faith after shining in the limited-overs arena.
The Australian Test roll of honour is littered with spinning roadkill who didn’t recover like Hogg.
Dan Cullen played one Test in Bangladesh in 2006 and was never heard from again.
Cameron White was tried as a frontline spinner on the 2008 India tour even by then he had progressed to more of a batter for Victoria. He never wore the baggy green again after that tour which also marked the memorable debut of Jason Krejza.
The NSW off-spinner famously took 8-215 in his first international outing but after just one more Test, at the pace bowler’s paradise in Perth, he was dropped and never got another look-in.
In more recent times, left-arm orthodox tweakers Steve O’Keefe and Jon Holland have also been given limited opportunities in subcontinental tours but not much more.
Their brief stints in baggy green have in large part been due to Lyon being the king of the jungle – he hasn’t been overlooked since the 2013 Ashes tour when Ashton Agar was given a couple of chances to establish himself before he was ready for the challenge.
Resting Lyon in Sydney or Hobart purely to give Swepson a run would be a bold move but the new-look selection panel headed by George Bailey has not been afraid to go against conventional thinking, as evidenced by the decision to draft in Scott Boland for the MCG Test hoping to cash in on his home-ground expertise.
And boy did that investment pay off big time.
The other option would be to play Lyon and Swepson alongside captain Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc or Boland if the veteran left-armer is in need of a rest.
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting said the selectors should resist the temptation to hand Swepson his debut at the SCG, traditionally a turning wicket but less so in recent summers.
“I don’t they need to. Let’s wait and see what the wicket is but from what we’ve seen I don’t think they’re gonna dish up a real flat one in Sydney just because how bad England’s batting has been in seaming conditions,” he said on The Unplayable podcast.
“If you’re talking about trying to keep the foot on the throat and if we have any influence over how the way wickets are prepared at all then I’d be saying leave a little bit more [grass] on it up there as well and if they do that the chances of playing two spinners are pretty minimal.
“It’d be a nice story to play two spinners and gives Swepson a go in a game in Australia but it might not be the right time.”
Former Australian opener Ed Cowan believes Swepson could soon be leapfrogged in the spinning pecking order Tanveer Sangha, describing the young NSW leggie as a potential 100-Test player on the ABC Grandstand cricket podcast earlier this week.
Spinners are fragile creatures, often eccentric types with easily dented egos.
If Australia follow past policy and wait until an Asian tour to introduce Swepson to international cricket he could end up another spinner chewed up and spat out on the hardest wickets in the planet to establish a foothold in the Test arena.