Australia’s assistant coach Daniel Vettori acknowledged that pitches in Australia have become more seam-friendly, which has diminished the role of spinners in red-ball cricket.
Vettori’s remarks came on the heels of Australia’s decision to field an all-seam attack for the fifth Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It marked the first time since 1888 that Australia did not select a frontline spinner for a Test match at the SCG. In the Brisbane Test as well, the hosts went with the same four-pronged seam attack.
“Seamers have been so effective that it’s hard to move away from them,” Vettori explained to reporters at the end of play on Day 1. “It just feels like they’re the ones who are going to be in the game most of the time, and spinners haven’t been able to get into games on these types of surfaces.”
The hosts made one change to their starting XI, with all-rounder Beau Webster replacing seamer Jhye Richardson. Nathan Lyon, Australia’s most successful finger spinner, was unavailable for the match, while young off-spinner Todd Murphy was overlooked by the selectors.
Going by the numbers, spinners have averaged 49.18 in Tests at the SCG since the start of 2021, compared to 27.72 for seamers. Once considered the most spin-friendly surface Down Under, the nature of the pitches at the SCG has changed dramatically in recent years.
Are spinners’ roles under threat? Vettori remains optimistic about the future of the tweakers.
“At some stage it will possibly get back to how it was before these last couple of years, but at this point in time it’s about the fast bowlers. You’ve seen over the last three years that results for spin bowlers here have been diminishing, which is obviously not something we’d like, but it’s the nature of the surface,” he added.
Like Australia, England also adopted a similar strategy and opted to play an all-pace attack for the Sydney Test, once again leaving Shoaib Bashir out of the series.
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