GIVE FAWAD A SPIN
Pope is exciting but let’s give Fawad a rip
HYSTERIA hit Adelaide this week when 18-year-old leg-spinner Lloyd Pope, in just his second Shield outing, took 7-87 for the Redbacks to dismantle the Queensland batting line-up.
The confident redhead possesses an excellent wrong’un and bamboozled the Bulls, who have never played spin well.
The bigger question I guess is: Who does play spin well in our country?
It’s an epidemic of huge proportions and one of many headaches Justin Langer must address.
The punters on the street are calling for the Pontiff, and if he continues in the next few Shield games in the same vein, then they may well get their wish as the first Test against India is to be played in Adelaide.
I like the romance of it all, but experience tells me not to rush the young man, who is plying the hardest craft in the game.
Let Pope do some consistent work and learn how to get wickets in all types of conditions around the country before we throw him to the wolves.
As we have witnessed, many after Shane Warne have be cast aside equally as quick. No rush — if he’s good enough, his time will come.
The forgotten man of Australian cricket who was rushed through immigration a few years back, as our saviour prior to the Ashes tour to England, is Pakistan-born Fawad Ahmed.
The 36-year-old had recently been put out to pasture based on his birth certificate.
The Victorian Bushrangers delisted Fawad in the off-season, mainly due to the recruitment of another promising young South Australian leggie, Tom O’Connell.
Fawad was soon recalled during the JLT Cup series when the Victorians realised that experience over youth could still win titles, no matter how hard Greg Chappell tries to infiltrate the system with adolescents.
It was also a clever piece of list management.
If it’s a quality leg-spinner the Aussies are looking for in the short term, then look no further than Fawad.
He is still the best leg-spinner in this country by the length of the Flemington straight.
His control and variety of skill stands head and shoulders above any of the puppies nipping at his heels.
Ask anyone who has ever bowled leg spin at first-class level and they will tell you their best years are in their mid-to-late 30s.
Fawad is right now in this window, but the obsession with youth continues to cloud decision making in our domestic system.
As long as the mind and body are still willing and strong, then age is irrelevant.
I believe Fawad can come again and still play a role as an Australian cricketer — if only others around him keep the faith.
He was the standout Australian spinner in the Big Bash last summer but is continually ignored for more youthful types like Mitch Swepson and Adam Zampa, who ply the same difficult craft.
Zampa has an excellent white-ball record but horrible Shield record.
Swepson has a decent Shield record, although still in its embryonic stages, but a horrible one-day record.
Fawad’s record in all three formats is simply outstanding. Sadly, he has been constantly overlooked too easily because he is not the prototype required in this modern era of fit athletes over match-hardened cricketers.
The statistics read well, with 196 first-class wickets at just 31 a piece, including nine five-wicket hauls.
These are serious numbers, alongside his T20 record of 57 wickets at just 22 a piece with an elite economy rate of just 6.7.
If he were 26 years of age, and not 36, we would be screaming as loud as the noise is coming from across the border for the Pontiff.
No disputing that Fawad is no Don Bradman with the willow and certainly not Glenn Maxwell in the covers, but he can seriously bowl.
If you asked any state batsmen in the land who the best spinner is, I guarantee nine out of 10 would say Fawad without hesitation.
The 10th might contemplate then still say Fawad.
The push for youth in our domestic system since Chappell became the national talent manager has been a constant frustration among the rank and file, and it will be very interesting to see what unfolds in the coming weeks in relation to this current spinning conundrum.
It takes patience and time to become a top-class leg-spinner — Fawad has done his time and is now very much in his prime.
He has all the tricks but more importantly the experience, which is such a crucial element for a legspinner.
Australian cricket is in a very dark place at present. It requires patience and sensible decisions to steer us out of these turbulent and murky waters, not knee-jerk reactions to flash in the pan performances.
He (Fawad) is still the best legspinner in this country by the length of the Flemington straight. His control and variety of skill stands head and shoulders above any of the puppies nipping at his heels.