Rookie spinners in line for Australia call up
Aug 18, 2016 at 9:52 PM
It is an obvious statement, that if a pitch assists spinners to a great extent, then it is the duty of the slower bowlers to do the damage and dent the opposition batting lineup. However, what happened in the recent test series between Sri Lanka and Australia was completely opposite for the Kangaroos. Rather than their spinners chipping in with most of the wickets, it was pacer Mitchell Starc, who did the bulk of the damage after bowling his heart out.
After the third test and more significantly, a whitewash, coach Darren Lehmann was a disappointed individual. Lehmann, in his interaction with the press, stated that for Australia’s tour of India early next year, some rookie spinners would be in the fray. Despite achieving quite a bit, Nathan Lyon’s numbers in Asia have been dismal. In order to find some more spinners, Australia could well call up leg-spinner Adam Zampa.
“Adam has been fantastic for us since he has come in,” Lehmann said about the young leggie. “You always have those issues when you’re an older player. He’s got to make every post a winner. We just have to wait and see what happens over the next couple of months. We’ll just pick the best side we think is going to win in Perth against a quality side like South Africa, whatever that may be and whatever the pitch delivers. We’ll pick it appropriately like we normally do.”
Lehmann mentioned that Australia hasn’t been spot on with their team selections in Asia. “The difference is we’ve got to change in the subcontinent. Results will say that with India, UAE and now Sri Lanka,” Lehmann said. “We’ve got to change the way we pick and shape up the squad for a subcontinent tour. We have to look at all different angles I suppose.” “The shape-up of the side, whether you need one quick, two quicks, three quicks, allrounders, and see how we play.”
“It certainly hasn’t worked the way we’ve played. We think we’ve had the right balance but our batters haven’t made enough runs. It’s pretty simple. When you look at Sheffield Shield cricket, it’s very hard to determine who’s going to be a good player of spin and not on Australian wickets. So for us somehow we’ve got to find a way,” Lehmann concluded.