TEST SPOTS BECOME LOTTERY
AUSTRALIA’S settled team for India has suddenly become a selection lottery, with Cameron Green unable to bowl in the first Test starting in 10 days.
Green may still make the side as a specialist batsman, but losing his all-round prowess as a strike seam bowler completely changes Australia’s thinking and effectively stops them from being able to potentially pick three spinners in Nagpur on what is anticipated to be a turning minefield to open the series.
As a result, the stakes have now risen in the race to partner Nathan Lyon as Australia’s second spinner, with Ashton Agar, Mitchell Swepson and Todd Murphy all starting their audition early on Sunday, as the Aussies brought Nagpur to North Sydney with scarified decks and steamy 31C heat.
The profound impact of not having Green available as the key linkman in the side has been exacerbated by the fact India’s superstar spinning all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is now roaring towards the first Test after taking seven wickets in his return to firstclass cricket from injury.
Peter Handscomb and Matthew Renshaw may now be in first Test contention for Australia as well, although Green is valued so highly as a batsman he would likely still play as a batsman if fit.
Green is hoping for clearance from a specialist on Monday to return to full duties from the finger he fractured during the Boxing Day Test, but his workloads aren’t expected to be up enough to bowl in a first Test team, which will already be missing Mitchell Starc.
Nagpur was the venue where spinner Jason Krejza took 12 wickets on Test debut back in 2008 and was the most likely venue for Australia to consider playing three spinners. But no longer.
“It probably (would have been) more likely if Cameron Green was fit and available fully with the bowling side of things. That’s not realistic, so I think it’s probably further away than it would have been had Cameron been fit,” Australian coach Andrew McDonald said. “Where he’s positioned at the moment, his biggest challenge is bowling. There is a lack of loading there, and it’s one of the key reasons around us getting into this camp and this mode early is to make sure that we’re ready to go for the rigours of what the bowling unit is going (to face).
“His bowling will be his greatest challenge. He’s got to consult with the surgeon again tomorrow and that’s about the four-week mark – where he should be given a tick of approval that that bone has healed.
“After that it should be just building him up and see how he goes each session. Building confidence is the main thing.”
On the positive side, leftarm weapon Starc is progressing better than expected and was bowling at close to full pelt on Sunday, albeit with a splint still guarding the middle finger of his bowling hand.
Starc has already been ruled out of the first Test, but he may fly over during that match now to increase his chances of being picked to return for the second Test in Delhi – in what would be a major boost.
McDonald was full of praise for North Sydney Oval curator Kieran Meurant for being able to successfully replicate turning Indian conditions for Australia’s spinners to practice on. It was a deliberate decision to pull Swepson and Murphy out of the Big Bash and have them prioritise the ‘spin camp’ at North Sydney. The sapping heat in Sydney on Sunday was a bonus for acclimatisation, as McDonald defended Australia’s decision to not play a practice game when they get to India.
“We haven’t played a tour game for three years. It’s not new to us, put it that way,” he said. “We value freshness at the back end of the tour. Something we’ve seen (is) teams go there and expend a lot of energy at the front end … you never get guarantees over those practice game surfaces you get. Often there’s no real connection between that practice game into the first Test.”