On recent tours, there has been a steady parade of Australian spinners who have "died" quicker than a dull comedian
On recent tours, there has been a steady parade of Australian spinners who have "died" quicker than a dull comedian
When his Australian team was enjoying unprecedented success, Steve Waugh described the Indian tour as "the last frontier".
It's time to scrap that title and adopt a new one; India, the place where Australian spinners go to die. On recent tours there has been a steady parade of Australian spinners who have "died" quicker than a dull comedian.
Even the best of them, Shane Warne, whilst he didn't expire also didn't prosper. The most successful of the recent Australian spinners was Jason Krejza and even though he took a bundle of wickets in one match, he paid a heavy price for each ambush. And since that tour Krejza's been banished to the back blocks of Tasmania.
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There's no doubt Indian batsmen are superior to their counterparts in other teams when it comes to playing spinners. I asked Warne how he thought he performed following the 2000-01 tour. "I didn't think I bowled that badly," was his response.
Not bad
"You didn't," I replied, "it was just that batsmen like VVS Laxman played you so well." As good as he was, Warne couldn't combat a player who could dance three metres out of his crease and caress the delivery past mid-on and then sashay back to the stumps and pull the next one to the mid-wicket boundary. I haven't seen a batsman with better footwork than Laxman during that superlative 281 at Kolkata.
However, there's no doubt the Australian spinners offered up in 2008-09 were a bunch of sacrificial lambs. The idea of using Cameron White, himself a part-timer, with a series of batsmen who bowled slow, was a flawed plan right from the outset. It received it's just desserts; a two-nil flogging.
By the time Australia played a frontline spinner the series was all over bar the shouting and Krejza's wicket-taking spree was wasted. On that tour, Australia planned to rely on their pacemen to take the bulk of the wickets, hoping that batsmen who bowled slow would then pick off a few of the rabbits.
Australia is not the first team to try this ruse. The difference is the quality of the West Indies quickies who achieved success in India during the 1980s. For President Bill Clinton it may have been the economy but for cricket selectors; "It's the quality of the bowlers, stupid."
I'm not surprised Indian batsmen play spinners without fear. I thought I knew a thing or two about playing spin before the Australian tour of India in 1969-70. However, I learned lessons about playing spin on that tour, which stood me in good stead for the rest of my career. I never feared spinners or pitches that assisted them ever again.
Watch the ball out of the bowlers hand and then follow it even more closely off the pitch was lesson No 1. Finding a way to survive the first 20 minutes was next on the list. These were important lessons and I would have hated to enter the contest with the Indian spinners aware that I wasn't going to leave my crease.
This is a huge failing in modern coaching and the sooner young batsmen are taught the correct footwork, the better equipped they'll be to tackle all conditions.
Mallett's heroics
On that 1969-70 tour, Australian off-spinner Ashley Mallett bowled brilliantly in taking 28 wickets at under 20. Certainly the quality of the Indian batting line-up didn't match the present team but they were still good enough to combat John Gleeson. The Indian batsmen forced the Australian selectors to omit the man dubbed "the mystery bowler" from the last two Tests.
Prior to Mallett, Richie Benaud took 52 wickets at better than 20, in eight Tests in India. However, it's worth noting that left-arm quickie Alan Davidson in Benaud's time and right-arm fast bowler Graham McKenzie on Mallett's tour both had good success, taking their wickets at below 20.
The moral of the story: If you want to experience success in India, pick a variety of quality bowlers - both fast and spin. There's only been one team - the West Indies of the eightiesu00a0-- that could survive on quality fast bowling alone.
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