'Need to be careful': Aussies warned about spin stocks

Usman Khawaja has added his voice to those calling for a re-think to the way pitches are prepared at domestic level, warning that a lack of spin-bowling options behind Nathan Lyon could leave Australia exposed like it was when Shane Warne retired from the game almost 15 years ago.

Khawaja rates his Queensland teammate Mitchell Swepson as the best spinner in Australia apart from Lyon, but says he's reluctant to bowl him at domestic level because conditions often don't suit spinners.

A month after former Test tweaker Steve O'Keefe said the lack of exposure to spin bowling at domestic level was "a matter of urgency", Khawaja has joined calls for more spin-friendly pitches to be produced in the Marsh Sheffield Shield.

"It's really hard, even for me as a captain, to get (Swepson) into the game when the ball is hooping around corners and you're playing on really green decks," Khawaja told Fox Sports News.

"He's always been a part of our team and he's always there no matter what the wicket is because he's such a good bowler. But it's really hard to get him in the game sometimes because the wickets weren't really favouring spin.

"I feel for spinners in Australia and we need to be careful here because we have an absolute genius in Nathan Lyon … but who’s coming after him?"

O'Keefe, who announced his retirement last month, finished the truncated 2019-20 Shield summer as the most successful spin bowler with 16 wickets at an average of 22.25, with the top 20 places among the leading wicket-takers filled by swing and seam bowlers.

Both O'Keefe and Khawaja say the effectiveness of spinners is reduced even further in the second half of the Shield season when Dukes brand balls are used, a move introduced to help Australian players become better accustomed to the type of seam bowling they encounter in England.

But with Australia not due to play Tests in England until 2023, and with away series against India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan scheduled in the interim as well as a rescheduled tour of Bangladesh, O'Keefe says time is running out to promote spin bowling at Shield level.

And he has even suggested radical measures, such as scarifying pitches to make them more spin-friendly, should be considered.

"If we want to get good at beating teams on the subcontinent and the final frontier (India), we need to keep improving on that," O’Keefe said last month.

"It's become really stagnant.

"You could also experiment with not sweeping the foot holes and not sweeping the creases, to keep a bit more of that damaged soil and (loose) dirt out there because it helps spinners and it helps batters become better at playing spin.

"If you want to win overseas and in those conditions, spinners are the ones who have got to win you games.

"It is a matter of urgency, it needs to be done.

"My issue is not so much with the talent we've got, because it's there - it's with the conditions."

Lyon is just 32 years old and is expected to lead Australia's spin attack for many years to come, but Khawaja is concerned about the Warne-sized gulf forming behind the off-spinner.

Australia tried 14 different spinners in the decade following Warne's retirement before they finally settled on Lyon, and Khawaja says the seam-friendly pitches that were a feature at domestic level immediately after Warne farewelled the game are being replicated now.

"Tasmania was a green monster (last season) ... the Gabba was tough work especially in the back end of the season when the Dukes balls came into it," he said.

"Spinners just went out of the game.

"Unless we have spinners playing day in and day out, getting involved in those match scenarios across the country, we’re going to suffer.

"Just like we suffered when Warnie left. I think we had a similar situation where Tassie was really green, they were trying to make really green wickets.

"These guys need to bowl so hopefully this year we've got wickets that are favourable for everyone."