Spin trio foreshadows India tour selections

While Steve Smith and his charges remain focused on clean sweeping Pakistan with victory at the SCG, the national selectors have made it clear they have one eye on the upcoming Test tour to India.

The selection quartet of chairman Trevor Hohns, Mark Waugh, Greg Chappell and coach Darren Lehmann picked three spinners in the third Test squad for Sydney, with Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe chosen in the starting XI and Ashton Agar missing out.

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Playing three spinners in the Test summer’s finale was always unlikely, despite the SCG pitch favouring spin this season, but it did indicate which way the selectors are thinking as the four-Test tour of India looms on the horizon.

“In regards to having the three spinners around (it was) to work with one another and try and improve,” Smith said on Monday.

“There were little thoughts of that and I guess playing the two spinners out here.

“Traditionally it does take some spin.

“The selectors probably have an eye on India and the guys that are possible to be there.

“I think it was a good opportunity to for those three to come together and do a little bit of work together.

“I think that was the thinking behind it.”

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The balance of the bowling attack in the subcontinent will be one of the challenges the selectors will face in India.

In last winter’s tour to Sri Lanka, Australia employed two specialist fast bowlers (Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood), two specialist spinners (Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe/Jon Holland) and a seam-bowling allrounder (Mitchell Marsh) in the heavy 3-0 loss in spinning conditions.

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Hilton Cartwright, who will make his Test debut tomorrow, has leapfrogged Marsh as Australia’s premier allrounder, but Agar could be an option as a spin-bowling allrounder in the subcontinent to give Smith three genuine spinners to employ.

Ashes rival England were thrashed 4-0 in India in late 2016, undone by the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, the two top-ranked Test bowlers in the world.

On that tour England had six genuine bowling options in each Test, balancing the attack with allrounders Moeen Ali (spin) and Ben Stokes (seam) for all five matches, while fast-bowling allrounder Chris Woakes played on three occasions.

Only once did England not play three spin bowlers (excluding the part-time off-spin of vice-captain Joe Root) and that Test ended with Ali and leg-spinner Adil Rashid each bowling 53 overs as India racked up 631 and an innings-and-36-run win in Mumbai.

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England’s seamers (Stokes, Woakes, Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Jake Ball) combined for 24 wickets at 50.13 during that series, claiming a wicket every 98.1 deliveries.

While England’s seamers struggled in India, Australia spearhead Mitchell Starc was devastating in Sri Lanka last year, capturing 24 wickets in three Tests as one of the few highlights on a bleak tour.

Starc used extreme pace, awkward bounce and unwavering accuracy in Sri Lanka, but Smith says it will be another weapon in a fast bowler’s arsenal that will be significant factor in the subcontinent.

“Reverse swing is a big player in India,” Smith said. “A lot of the wickets are pretty dry and take a lot of spin, so I think you need a bit of a mixture of both (spin and seam) to be successful in those conditions.”