Aussies hope spin will win on seaming SCG

Not even the sight of a green-tinged SCG pitch or the forecast of regular rain throughout the final Test against the West Indies that begins tomorrow could convince Australia’s selectors to risk pace bowler Peter Siddle and his sore ankle.

Instead, Australia’s push to reclaim the world’s number one Test ranking will depend heavily on the dual spin attack of Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe – playing his first Test in Australia – despite the likelihood that heavy cloud cover and surface moisture suggest the seamers might benefit most.

Quick Single: O'Keefe in, Siddle out for SCG Test

Siddle bowled with good pace at the SCG nets this morning and was then involved in a lengthy discussion with coach Darren Lehmann and fellow selector Trevor Hohns, skipper Steve Smith and Bupa Support Team physiotherapist David Beakley before Australia’s playing XI was finalised.

Image Id: ~/media/88E45BE5307E4B4DAEF1160DCF5F06C9

Left to right: Beakley, Siddle, Lehmann, Smith and Hohns // Getty Images

Smith later revealed that while Siddle was keen to play despite struggling through the final day of last week’s Test in Melbourne, the 31-year-old ultimately declared his ankle less than 100 per cent fit and it would be unwise and unfair on his team if he was to make himself available.

"The wicket looks quite dry, so I think it'll take some spin - that was our original thinking," Smith said today, confirming recent speculation that Australia had planned to play two spinners all along.

"Peter Siddle is still a little bit sore, he’s going to have a rest for a couple of weeks I think and hopefully get himself right for (next month’s tour of) New Zealand.

"It was thought about (the forecast for damp conditions throughout the Test) but i think the wicket is quite hard and dry underneath .. and when we rock up tomorrow the grass colour is going to change a little bit.

"I think it's going to look a little bit whiter.

"This (SCG) wicket recently has been spinning off the thatch sort of grass, and it looks like that sort of wicket so hopefully the guys can get some purchase out of it." 

Image Id: ~/media/EC1D2AEC8146415A93C9B41729334A83

The SCG wicket on match eve // Getty Images

While the Australians are tipping that spin will be the decisive factor in the final Test of the three-match series they already lead 2-0, the West Indies are expected to maintain their seamer-based attack with the only possible change being replacement quick Miguel Cummins coming in for Kemar Roach.

Not because they hold a substantially different view of how the SCG pitch might behave, but because they simply don’t have a second specialist spinner to include in their XI.

Leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo, who was believed to be close to winning a recall for the Melbourne Test before he sprained his left shoulder at training on match eve, has not recovered sufficiently so any additional spinner’s duties seem set to be picked up by part-timer Kraigg Brathwaite.

"I’ve seen they (Australia) are going with two spinners, we’ve been accustomed to a lot of spin in the Caribbean so hopefully our batsmen can get into that a lot better than we have in this series," West Indies captain Jason Holder said today.

"But we’re basically down to one spinner with Bishoo being unavailable for this Test match so we just have to work with what we have."

While the series has been decided and the Frank Worrell Trophy already retained by Australia, the lure of seizing the world number-one Test ranking is ensuring Smith and his team aren’t about to embrace a ‘dead-rubber mentality’ over coming days.

That’s because if they make a clean-sweep of the West Indies and are able to do likewise in their two-Test series in NZ next month - and provided England maintains their winning ways in South Africa – Australia could be crowned Test champions come April 1.

"It’s huge motivation, that what we want to do," Smith said today.

"We want to be number one in all three formats (Test, ODI and T20) so it would be nice to win this week and wrap the series up three-nil."

Image Id: ~/media/91C9FDE3C8F1411F8EB8A9EE3EE4D1AB

O'Keefe will play his second Test tomorrow // Getty Images

Smith, who used to share a house with O’Keefe when they were both charting a path to international cricket through New South Wales state teams, believes the left-arm orthodox spinner can push his claims for a berth in the Test touring party to Sri Lanka later this year.

And, longer term, perhaps as the established number two spin choice behind Lyon even though Fawad Ahmed filled that bill on last year’s Ashes tour and budding leg spinners Adam Zampa, Cameron Boyce and James Muirhead have pushed their cases for higher honours in recent years.

"Nathan Lyon has done a terrific job for Australia since he's been playing, he’s an experienced player now and he's our number one spinner," Smith said.

"I think everyone around the country knows that, including Steven (O’Keefe).

"He (O’Keefe) has got an opportunity now to become the second spinner, he’s going to have a chance to bowl with Nathan this week and they've done well together.

"Hopefully they can do that this week, and he can press claims for the Sri Lankan tour."

SCG curator Tom Parker said today his pitch, while still sporting a notable tinge of green as preparation continued this afternoon, said the strip would be a traditional Sydney Test track that was "very, very hard and very, very flat".

But Parker agreed with Smith’s assessment that the pitch had been providing encouragement to spinners in the Sheffield Shield and KFC Big Bash League matches played at the ground so far this summer, although the forecast weather might help to counter balance that.

"The nature of the beast at the SCG is when it's overcast skies, the ball seems to move around a bit in the air so it could zip around a bit day two, day three if we've got those types of conditions," the veteran curator said.

"I think day one we're going to see some showers come in late in the afternoon, so hopefully we'll get a majority of play in on day one, but day two and day three they're predicting 40mm (of rainfall) each day, so that's a lot of rain.

"We'll wait and see, hopefully that'll change and we'll have some clear skies, but it's not looking good at the moment.

"The weather's going to play a big part in this, so if the forecast is correct you're probably looking at a five-day Test match."