Anyone thinks of the crowd?

Australia’s No-spinner-in-Sydney episode brings to light the importance of winning at all costs never mind if the spectator out there will be bored watching pacemen in operation all the time when England bat. They say there is no better sight than a fast bowler running in and letting the ball fly. But doesn’t the introduction of a spinner create a buzz too? And shouldn’t those who come and watch be treated to some variety? Isn’t the Australian cricket team being kind of selfish? The above questions may border on the absurd to some and that’s fine but will they also disagree that Test cricket must be a bouquet of variety? 

Spinner-turned-television commentary Kerry O’Keeffe wasn’t impressed and did not miss an opportunity to use humour to drive home his point. 

“If they don’t [include a spinner], I’m taking the selection panel to the Hague,” O’Keeffe said on Fox Sports News’ Ashes Daily before the Sunday start. “I’m going to the highest court in the world. I’ve seen both Sheffield Shield games on this strip this year. It spun, it’s been bouncing for the spinners. Murphy [Todd] is a quality bowler, he deserves to play at the SCG [Sydney Cricket Ground]. I will be bereft if Australia go in without a specialist spinner into this match.”

Apart from being a leg-spinner who played 24 Tests for Australia between 1971 and 1977 (he was part of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket as well), O’Keeffe once headed the spin department for juniors at the Australian Cricket Academy and has spent several years in the commentary box. And yes, he is a New South Welshman for whom the SCG is home. 

O’Keeffe and I met on India’s 2003-04 tour of Australia and I remember how emphatic he was about the need for India to play two spinners for the fourth and final Test of that series — Anil Kumble and Murali Kartik. The series was on the line with both teams having a win each and India had a great chance to win their first series in Australia.

Sourav Ganguly had Anil Kumble and Kartik as his spin duo and Kerry had a smile on his face on January 2, 2004. The game ended in a draw. Kumble got 12 in the Test including 8-141. Kartik had to wait for the start of Day Five for his one and only wicket (Justin Langer) of the Test but it’s unlikely Ganguly would have regretted his decision to play two spinners at Sydney.

Australia had Stuart MacGill as their spin weapon with Shane Warne serving his drug ban sentence. But local boy MacGill had only one wicket (Virender Sehwag) to show, dismissed on the penultimate day of the Test. MacGill came into the game with 31 scalps in four Tests at the SCG.

The other day, Australia’s interim skipper Steve Smith didn’t exactly relish the task of leaving out a spinner. He exclaimed: “[I] hate doing it. But we keep producing wickets that we don’t think are going to spin and seam’s going to play a big part. You kind of get pushed into a corner.”  Australia didn’t have a specialist spinner in the Brisbane and Melbourne Tests while all-time great offie Nathan Lyon went wicketless in the first innings of the opening Test at Perth and was not needed to bowl in the second innings.

The pitch conditions forced Smith and his think-tank take such an unusual SCG call and it reminded me of Ian Chappell’s decision to leave out off-spinner Ashley Mallett for the 1975 World Cup semi-final against England at Leeds, where the conditions favoured swing bowling and Gary Gilmour claimed 6-14 as Dennis Lillee’s opening partner. Many years later, Chappell, while doing a pre-1996 World Cup interview, told Harsha Bhogle that he made that call with a heavy heart because not only was Mallett a top-class spin bowler but also a good gully fieldsman.

There used to be a time when Sydney proved to be an ideal ground to beat the all-conquering West Indies with spin never mind if it was too late to win series honours. Allan Border’s teams did that in 1984-85 and 1988-89. England’s 1986-87 side under Mike Gatting too succumbed at Sydney after the Ashes were regained by them in the previous Test in Melbourne where Australia were destroyed inside three days. 

A seething Border went into the fifth and final Test at Sydney, where Dean Jones’s unbeaten 184 and the combined efforts of spinners Peter Taylor (on Test debut) and Peter Sleep provided Border a solace win.

Jones reveals in the documentary Rookies, Rebels, and Renaissance how he and fast bowler Bruce Reid went up to their captain to acknowledge and thank him for being “through hell” in the series which Australia lost 1-2. And Border surprised them by saying, “What are you so happy about? Just because you got 184, Deano? You lost the Test series, champ. You lost the Ashes. You know what that means?” Border was as hard-nosed you could get. In the fourth Test of the 1988-89 series against the West Indies, he spun Australia to victory with 11 wickets in the Sydney Test. For an ex-captain who watched spinners rule at the SCG, Smith’s no-spinner-for-me-please call would have been surprising if not hard to digest. The 2025-26 would be remembered for a lot of things — two of the five Tests ending in two days, an “unsatisfactory” pitch at Melbourne, Travis Head’s brilliance etc. But it was also a series, where the hosts broke tradition that they have been historically proud of.

mid-day’s Deputy Editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello

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