Australia coach Langer could fit as many as three slow bowlers in his XI for his team's opening tri-series match in Guyana
Lyon, Zampa both spin into equation
Australia could field up to three spinners during the early stages of their one-day international tri-series in the Caribbean, meaning the battle to be the frontline slow bowler in the 50-over side – at least in the short term – could be decided with a bowl-off at Guyana's Providence Stadium over the next week.
Rookie Adam Zampa is Australia's incumbent spinner in one-day cricket having impressed in his debut series against New Zealand in February and his form in the recent Indian Premier League, which included a haul of 6-19 against eventual champions Sunrisers Hyderabad, will make him hard to displace when the tourists take on the West Indies in their opening match of the series on Sunday.
Test spinner Nathan Lyon, who made a brief comeback in the coloured clothing during last summer's limited-overs series against India, returns to the Caribbean and will use the tour to further his push to be the No.1 spinner in all formats of the game, an ambition he's declared publically on more than one occasion.
And off-spinning allrounder Glenn Maxwell, the sole tweaker for most of Australia's triumphant World Cup campaign last year and who has established himself as a match-winner in the middle order, is also an option to shoulder the spin-bowling workload alone to allow for a pace-heavy attack, which will be led on this tour by the return from injury of star left-armer Mitchell Starc.
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But the brief history of Providence Stadium, which replaced the 19th century Bourda ground as Guyana's main cricket venue in 2007, has coach Justin Langer and selector-on-duty Trevor Hohns mulling the possibility of playing all three spinners for the matches against the Windies on Sunday and South Africa two days later before the series moves some 1200km north-east to the tiny island of St Kitts.
Guyana hasn't hosted an international match in almost three years, but it's noteworthy that spin bowlers were named man of the match in the past two ODIs at Providence.
Pakistan's Shahid Afridi claimed career-best figures of 7-12 against the Windies here in July 2013 before the home side's Sunil Narine bagged 4-26 just two days later.
And Pakistan offie Saeed Ajmal finished with an 11-wicket haul in the most recent Test match here, more than five years ago.
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Langer, speaking on arrival at the Cheddi Jagan Airport on Tuesday before the Australian team weaved their way through early morning traffic to the capital city of Georgetown on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, added the expected presence of at least two left-handers in the top orders of both the Windies (Darren Bravo and Jonathan Carter) and Proteas (Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy and Rilee Rossouw) could bring Lyon into contention.
"If you look at the stats here – I played here a few times before – (playing Zampa and Lyon in the same XI) might be an option in Guyana," said Langer, who has fond memories of the South American nation having scored 146 and 78no to be named man of the match in Australia's Test victory at the old Bourda ground in 2003.
"I think with the left-handers of South Africa, and the West Indies have got a few as well, Nathan Lyon might come into it.
"Whether you can play both, time will tell.
"Nathan has come back and he's desperately keen to do well in one-day cricket after having such an impact in Test cricket. Zampa bowls leg-spin ... and Glenn Maxwell does a good job bowling off-spin as well.
"We need to get the balance of the team right, but we've got plenty of options which is good."
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Competition for spots amongst the spinners is just one of the conundrums Langer and Hohns will face as they look to reduce the 16-man squad into a team of 11 for Sunday's opening match.
The majority of Australia's touring party landed in Guyana on Tuesday and the final two members of the group – Indian Premier League winning captain David Warner and allrounder James Faulkner – will arrive on Wednesday.
Langer knows top-order batsmen Warner, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, George Bailey and Travis Head as well as allrounders Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh will likely need to be whittled down to a batting order of just six, ahead of wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, while pacemen Faulkner, Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Scott Boland will also be battling each other for places in the side.
And with some members of the group having come straight from the IPL, and others coming off a long absence from playing due to injury or selection, Langer says his first selections as Australia's head coach will be a delicate balancing act.
"I hate the word 'rotation' but we have to manage it really well," he said.
"We have Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood coming back after not much cricket, Mitchell Marsh has been out for a little bit, Maxwell has been out for a while (both with side injuries) and Steve Smith has had a sore wrist.
"And it's the start of a long campaign as well, so we'll have the best XI we can out on the park every time."
Australia's squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, George Bailey, Scott Boland, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa