Agar turns to Scorchers spin twin Fawad

Spin-bowling allrounder Ashton Agar has been soaking up a series of lessons from veteran counterpart Fawad Ahmed as he looks to hone his short-format skills ahead of October's T20 World Cup. 

Agar has been rooming with Scorchers new-boy Fawad through this KFC BBL campaign and the two have relished their partnership as spin twins at a side traditionally recognised for its fast-bowling stocks. 

Their quality was on full display against the Heat on Wednesday night, when they claimed the combined figures of 5-32 from eight overs (Fawad 3-16, Agar 2-16). 

"There were a number of match-ups where we fancied Fawad and myself, so we knew our role was going to be big out there tonight," Agar said post-match. 

"On the training wickets last night there was a little bit of spin there and the wicket tonight gave us a little bit of grip and played similarly to them, so were well prepared."

Agar explained the experience of the 37-year-old leg-spinner, who last night became the 13th bowler to take 50 BBL wickets, had exposed him to new ways of thinking about short-format bowling. 

"He's played in so many different conditions in all the competitions around the world and he just has a different way of seeing the game," he added. 

"Some ideas like bowling lines I probably wouldn't have thought of before, different angles to bowl at different batsmen, and he's had more experience bowling at a lot of these batsmen than I have, so that's been really handy – he's just expanded my breadth of knowledge."

Agar played in all six of Australia's home T20Is against Sri Lanka and Pakistan at the beginning of the summer, capturing seven wickets and conceding just 5.86 runs per over. While he was pleased with those performances he insists he isn't "getting comfortable" as he looks to deepen his understanding of his craft and with it his impact through those vital middle overs. 

"I'm really trying to work on spinning over the top of the ball, and that's something that Fawad does really nicely," the 26-year-old said. 

"I feel like I'm going quite well at the moment but there's areas I can improve on, and some of those are the ones that he's helping me with. 

"I'm certainly not getting comfortable in (the Australian team). I know that it can change really quickly. 

"What I've tried really hard to focus on is my attitude; just rocking up to every training session, every game with the same attitude – really positive, trying to make a difference around the team and play my best. 

"That's working really well for me. So I'm enjoying that and I'm enjoying playing cricket at the moment."

The Scorchers next face Hobart Hurricanes in Perth on January 5.