No spin: Aussies to defy SCG trend

While the spotlight has been squarely aimed at their misfiring top order, Australia's lack of a second specialist spinner in their Sydney Test squad has also exposed the lack of slow bowlers making compelling cases for inclusion.

The SCG in recent years has presented spinners not named Nathan Lyon their best hope of a Test berth on home soil, with the iconic ground typically offering the most turn of any of the country's international venues.

But the selection of Marnus Labuschagne, a batsman whose part-time leg-spin admittedly exceeded all expectations in his debut series against Pakistan in the UAE, has ended a run of four consecutive years of at least two specialist spinners being picked in Australia's squad for the New Year's Test.

Reeling from their Boxing Day defeat to India at the MCG, head coach and selector Justin Langer admitted he was unsure what the SCG track would dish up with the Aussies 1-2 down in the series.

"Is it going to spin? Is it going to be a bit green? We're not sure yet," Langer told reporters in Melbourne on Monday.

If the former is true, Australia will have to bank on Lyon continuing his brilliant Test form and, if he gets the nod from selectors, hope Labuschagne can replicate his surprisingly effective bowling efforts in the Middle East where he claimed seven wickets at 22. 

The last time Lyon, who has played all seven Tests at the SCG since his debut, was the sole frontline tweaker in the squad for Sydney was the triumphant finale of the 2013-14 Ashes, in which Australia won every Test with the same XI.

Since then, left-armers Ashton Agar and Stephen O'Keefe have at least been considered for selection at the SCG. Agar has been picked in the squad but then overlooked for three of the last four Sydney Tests, while O'Keefe partnered Lyon against West Indies in 2016 and then again against Pakistan the following year.

The returns of spin bowlers from the first six rounds of the JLT Sheffield Shield have been underwhelming beyond Lyon, who claimed 20 wickets in three games before the start of Domain Tests against India.

Spinners have taken less than a fifth of all wickets taken in the Shield this season, down from 22 per cent last season and 32 per cent in 2016-17. Take Lyon's 20 wickets out of this summer's tally and that percentage drops to 15.

Jon Holland, Lyon's spin partner for the two Tests against Pakistan in October, returned from the UAE with a broken finger and has only played three Shield matches for Victoria, bagging a creditable eight wickets at 36. He's since been overlooked by his KFC Big Bash side, Melbourne Renegades.

O'Keefe (seven wickets at 44) has also only played three Shield matches this season due to injury and Lyon's availability for NSW, while Agar (one wicket at 69) missed all but one of Western Australia's first six Shield games due to his inclusion in Australia's ODI and T20 squads. 

Before the KFC Big Bash got underway, Agar had bowled just 30 overs for the summer.

Lyon excluded, only one slow bowler – Queensland's Mitchell Swepson – has reached double digits in the wicket column, but the leggie's 14 scalps have come at a significant cost - 48 runs apiece. 

Next on the list are Fawad Ahmed, who took an impressive nine wickets at 17 before being axed by Victoria when Holland returned and South Australia's Lloyd Pope (nine at 51), who claimed a stunning haul of 7-87 in his second game but then went wicketless in his next four bowling innings.

That leaves Labuschagne. Going off this season's first-class numbers, he finds himself as Australia's next best option with five wickets at 60.

At 24, Labuschagne is far from the finished product. While he admits he ultimately sees himself as a batsman first, he's been working closely with Brisbane Heat coach and former New Zealand spinner Dan Vettori on improving his bowling.

"I've learnt a lot from (Vettori) with my bowling and it's a skill that I'm continuing to learn, because it's only in the last year that I've changed my bowling and placed more of a focus on it," Labuschagne told cricket.com.au recently.

"My dream as a player was always to be good enough with both skills to win games for my team. I'm not at that stage yet.

"I'm bowling more overs in Shield cricket which is good … it's just a matter of continuing to work as hard as I can on it.

"And keeping in the forefront of my mind that batting is my first skill – if I'm not scoring runs, I'm not in the team."

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Australia won by 146 runs

Dec 26-30: India won by 137 runs

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar