Green on track, Starc doubtful means Kuhnemann close to joining list of Aussie spin bolters who sink or swim

Cameron Green is firming to prove his fitness for the second Test, opening the door for Queensland left-armer Matt Kuhnemann to add his name to the long list of Australian spinners who have been thrown in at the deep end.

Green, who broke his finger in the second Test against South Africa in Melbourne at the end of December, is back bowling in the nets and has faced fast bowling throwdowns but no actual pace bowlers in the nets as yet.

If he is able to do so on Thursday, the Australians are considering rushing Kuhnemann into the side for the uncapped spinner’s first Test ahead of Mitchell Starc, who is still touch and go about whether he will be available for selection again with his finger injury not quite right.

Kuhnemann only joined the squad a couple of days ago after being flown in to replace Queensland teammate Mitch Swepson, who has returned home for the birth of his first child. The 26-year-old has leapfrogged Ashton Agar as the preferred left-arm option after the West Australian’s ineffective return to Test cricket last month in Sydney.

“There’s still a fair bit of restriction there,” Starc told reporters in Delhi on Wednesday after a net session.

Mitchell Starc. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

“Still lacking a bit of strength having been in a splint for six weeks. But it’s progressing – not as fast as I would have liked, but it’s as planned in terms of the medical stuff. There’s a few boxes to tick but it’s on track. I’d like to be a little further down the road.

“Still a good chance. It’ll come down to how it reacts by the end of the day, how the medical staff see it, how the selectors and Pat [Cummins] and Ronnie [Andrew McDonald] feel about it as well. I’ll do everything I can to be fully available for selection. Then it’s a discussion for the rest of the group involved.”

The Australians have had their first look at the wicket at Delhi and if they believe three spinners are needed, Kuhnemann could partner Nathan Lyon and seven-wicket Nagpur debutant Todd Murphy with captain Pat Cummins and Green to share the new ball.

Kuhnemann, 26, played four ODIs for Australia on the tour to Sri Lanka last year, picking up six wickets in an impressive first foray into the international arena.

Matt Kuhnemann. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

He has been in the BBL since 2019 with the Brisbane Heat but only made his first-class debut less than two years ago for Queensland, taking 35 wickets at 34.8 in 13 outings, including 25 scalps last summer.

Australia coach Andrew McDonald said he’s “a live chance” to play and Kuhnemann is coming in on the back of red-ball cricket, taking 2-55 off 21 overs and 1-67 off 23 overs at the MCG in Queensland’s 164-run loss to Victoria.

“I’ve watched every day (of the first Test), I’ve just been such a fan of these series, they’re so good to watch,” Kuhnemann said earlier this week. “Todd Murphy was exceptional, and I watched how Jadeja bowled. I’m just really excited to be to get over there and be with the boys.”

Australia have taken plenty of gambles with inexperienced spinners in Test cricket over the years – some of them proved to be spectacular successes, while others backfired.

Australian spin bolters

The hits

Shane Warne: Had only played a handful of matches for Victoria when called up in 1992 and was famously carted around the SCG with figures of 1-150 but while the gamble didn’t have immediate results, another 707 Test wickets proved he was definitely worth a trundle.

Nathan Lyon: He had made a name for himself in the Big Bash and only played five first-class matches when he was taken on the 2011 tour of Sri Lanka but he not only took a wicket with his first delivery, Kumar Sanagakkara no less, he finished with 5-34 to finally end Australia’s search for a spinner in the post-Warne era.

Todd Murphy: The 22-year-old Victorian only had seven first-class matches under his belt before his debut last week in Nagpur but he looked assured from the word go, bagging seven wickets to provide hope that he will be Australia’s next long-term spinner.

Todd Murphy celebrates taking the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja with Nathan Lyon. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Jason Krejza: A journeyman at state level with NSW and Tasmania, he got his chance at the end of the 2008 tour of India and had one of the most memorable debuts in Test history, claiming 8-215 from 44 overs, adding another four in the second innings. However, his next Test was on an unfriendly WACA wicket and he was never selected for Australia again.

Colin Miller: Another journeyman in domestic cricket, he made his debut in Pakistan in 1998, aged 34, and went on to take 69 wickets in 18 Tests, winning Australia’s player of the year award in 2001, mainly bowling off-spinners but occasionally rolling out his medium-pacers as well when needed.

Gavin Robertson: The tall off-spinner was not even a regular in the NSW side in 1998 when Australia plucked him out of obscurity for the Indian tour where he held his own alongside Warne (taking 12 wickets in the three Tests to the leg-spinner’s 10).

Peter Taylor: When it comes to little-known spinners being called up for Test duty, Taylor takes the cake. The newspaper headlines screamed “Peter Who?” when he was selected and the urban legend was that his namesake, NSW teammate Mark Taylor, was the player who was supposed to have been picked. Taylor then famously snared 6-78 against England at the SCG in the 1986-87 series finale and went on to represent his country 96 times, becoming a potent force in one-day cricket.

Bob Holland: A couple of years before Taylor, a 38-year-old leg-spinner was thrown into the fray against the might of Clive Lloyd’s all-conquering West Indies side and “Dutchy” helped Allan Border’s beleagured side save face in the fifth Test in Sydney with 6-54 and 4-90 as the Aussies upset the tourists by an innings.

Jack Iverson: He was 35 when he made his debut in the 1950-51 Ashes series at the Gabba after forging a reputation as a mystery spinner who held the ball between his thumb and middle finger in order to turn the ball both ways. He bamboozled the batters to take 21 wickets for the series. Alas, that was to be the extent of his Test career as an ankle injury sidelined him soon after and he retired a couple of years later.

Clarrie Grimmett: Another spinner who was a veteran by the time selectors gave him a chance – the 33-year-old played first class cricket 14 years before his Test debut against England in 1925 when he took 5-45 and 6-37 in one of the best maiden outings of all time. He racked up wickets like they were going out of fashion, racing to 216 in 37 matches before he fell out of favour with captain Don Bradman, who inexplicably preferred Victoria’s Frank Ward for the 1936 and ’38 Ashes sides.

Bill O’Reilly: It looked like he may never play Test cricket after the schoolteacher’s state career was interrupted by postings in the bush but when he returned to Sydney in 1931, he played four games for NSW before being drafted into the Test team. The tall leg-spinner with the quick action was initially overshadowed by Grimmett but he went on to become an all-time great with 144 wickets in 27 Tests (both numbers would have been higher if not for World War II) before retiring in 1946.

The misses

Michael Beer: Warne was confident Beer had what it took and after a concerted campaign by the spin king, the Melbourne-born West Australian left-armer was pitched in for the 2010-111 Ashes series finale but only cobbled together three wickets from two Tests and quickly faded from the spotlight.

Ashton Agar: It may seem premature to call it but Agar looks like he will be a white-ball specialists for the rest of his career. He was fast-tracked into the Test team ahead of Lyon in the 2013 Ashes for modest returns and after a lacklustre display last month in Sydney, he looks unlikely to get a game on the India tour.

Jon Holland: The Victorian left-arm orthodox spinner was given a chance on Sri Lanka’s turning wickets in 2016 and against Pakistan in the UAE a couple of years later but managed just nine wickets in four Tests and has since been overtaken by Todd Murphy in his state’s pecking order.

Jon Holland. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Dan Cullen: The South Australian off-spinner was used as a third spinner behind Warne and Stuart MacGill at Bangladesh in 2006 but after taking just one wicket, was never selected again.

Beau Casson: The left-arm wrist-spinner played his solitary Test in Barbados in 2008, claiming three wickets, but experienced a form slump afterwards and was then forced to retire prematurely due to a heart condition, aged 28.

Xavier Doherty: The Aussies were searching everywhere for a spinner for the 2010-11 Ashes and Doherty, a limited-overs specialist, was no match for England’s in-form batters and finished his four-Test career with seven wickets at nearly 80 runs per dismissal.

Bryce McGain: This was another late-bloomer who finally got a baggy green cap, a few days shy of his 37th birthday, on the tour of South Africa in 2012 but the Proteas batters savaged the Victorian leggie as they trounced Australia by an innings with McGain walloped for 149 runs in his 18 wicketless overs.

Brad Hogg: His Test debut was a massive risk – he was sent over to India with Peter McIntyre when Warne was injured in 1996 and they were both pummeled. At least the West Australian left-arm wrist-spinner eventually got another chance seven years later and ended up with 17 wickets (at 54.88) from his seven matches but made his name at international level in ODIs with 156 scalps in 123 matches.

John Watkins: The NSW leg-spinner had only played a handful of first-class matches when chosen to face Pakistan in Sydney in 1972-73 but he sent down six wayward overs without success and the headlines the next day said “Johnny Watkins froze” because of his poor spell. Four decades later he admitted in a Sydney Morning Herald interview that the day still haunted him. “That bad bowling on that Sunday, that’s the only regret I have in cricket, and I’m sorry I can’t have it over again, because knowing what I could do, in my opinion, that’s what hurts most of all.”

Frank Ward: As mentioned above, Bradman’s former grade teammate was preferred to Grimmett in the 1936-7 Ashes and managed 11 wickets in three Tests at 39.27. It nearly cost Australia the Ashes – they were thumped in his first two matches, barely bowled when they won the third and was omitted for the last two Tests when Australia staged a famour 3-2 comeback. He was still taken on the 1938 Ashes tour, ending with 0-142 in the last of his four career Tests.

Dr Albert Ernst Victor Hartkopf: Aged 35, he was selected to make his Test debut against England in 1925 at the MCG and the Victorian leg-spinner made 80 and a duck with the bat but did little with his chosen task, taking one wicket at a cost of 134 runs and was never selected again.