Aussie spin twins nail the A to Z of the art of defensive bowling

'Defensive bowling' may be a new term in cricket's thick book of jargon but it is a tactic that Australia's spin twins Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa are well on their way to mastering.

Agar and Zampa have formed a formidable partnership in Australia's T20 side, a union built on analysis, communication and selflessness.

Together they have rocketed up the ICC men's T20I bowling rankings and have been a key factor in Australia reaching the No.1 team ranking before slipping back to No.2 this summer.

Under skipper Aaron Finch they have been used at all times during an innings, including the first six overs where the defensive mindset comes in.

"Sometimes bowling defensively is your best attack," Agar told The Unplayable Podcast.

"In a Powerplay … frustrating the batter, making them move around, making them make the play.

"It's all dependent on the conditions that you get as well but it certainly brings up the opportunity (of wickets).

"If they're giving up their stumps or they're swinging across the line or trying to hit the ball over the in-field, there's a few modes of dismissal right there."

But what exactly is defensive bowling?

"It's just intelligent bowling," Agar explains. "Putting the ball where the batter doesn't want it, where they're uncomfortable hitting a boundary from.

"For lefties, that can be their hip, that can be a ball wide outside the off-stump.

"It looks very different in T20 to what that would look like in a red-ball game.

"But those balls are sometimes the most effective and often in T20 cricket that's how you build up the pressure and get the wickets.

"You frustrate the batsmen and then they do something that they don't want to do."

Bowling defensively is a strategy Agar and Zampa share.

Since the last T20 World Cup in India, Zampa has conceded 6.67 runs per over and Agar a fraction more at 6.70 as two of the most frugal bowlers in the world during that period.

While they'll have their plans heading into the game, they often make real-time decisions about who will do what depending on conditions, the batters and match situation.

"I think that's one thing Zamps and I have done quite nicely over the past 18 months, we work out really quickly what each other's roles are," Agar said.

"Generally, we work that out after we've each bowled one over. Sometimes I might get a wicket in my first over, sometimes he might get a wicket or the batsmen look more comfortable against one of us than the other.

"So we say one guy might attack and look for a few more wickets, maybe set a more attacking field, maybe bowl a touch slower and try to extract a little bit more spin.

"Then the other one might bowl a little bit more defensively, hold up an end so they're forced to attack the other one and that just brings about wickets.

"It all comes down to communication and we get along really well and communicate nicely out on the ground and we've played a lot together now.

"It's really fun. I love our spin bowling partnership, it's really cool."

Zampa bowled the second over of the Powerplay in Monday night's heavy loss to the Black Caps, going for just two runs before both he and Agar got taken down by Devon Conway and Glenn Phillips.

Zampa finished with figures of 0-20 from three overs while Agar bowled two overs for 20 in his first match since suffering a calf injury in December.

While it wasn't his night on Monday, Agar says he does not dwell on each performance and is already setting his sights on the second game in Dunedin on Thursday (midday AEDT on Fox Cricket and Kayo).

"My plans are really good with the ball,' he said. "They played a couple of good sweep shots and that's how it goes, a couple of them went to fielders.

"Next game they might go to fielders and you go for eight or 12 runs less and that's kind of what happens.

"I've reflected on that already and I'm pretty optimistic."

Qantas T20I tour of New Zealand 2021

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.

New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Hamish Bennett, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, *Martin Guptill (pending fitness test), Kyle Jamieson, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee. *Finn Allen (on stand-by for Guptill)

1st T20: New Zealand won by 53 runs

2nd T20: February 25, University of Otago Oval, Dunedin, 12noon AEDT

3rd T20: March 03, Sky Stadium, Wellington, 5pm AEDT

4th T20: March 05, Eden Park, Auckland, 5pm AEDT

5th T20: March 07, Bay Oval, Tauranga, 12noon AEDT

All matches will be shown live in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo