Ashes: Spin bowling is incredibly important to Test cricket, insists Vettori

Sydney, Jan 4 (IANS) Australia’s spin bowling coach, Daniel Vettori, has defended the side’s decision to field an all-seam attack in the fifth Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) but insisted that spin bowling remains very important in the longer format.

With veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon sidelined by a hamstring injury, Australia opted not to select a frontline spinner for the Test match in Sydney, the first time since 1888. It’s also the third time Australia has fielded an all-pace bowling attack in the ongoing series.

“It’s probably just a point in time. I don’t think it’s going to be something that’s going to continue for years on end. I think spin bowling is incredibly important to Test match cricket. I think people love watching it when it’s at its absolute best and when conditions can assist the spin bowler.”

“But we’re just in the stage now where that’s not the case. I wouldn’t be surprised that it changed in the future. I think at some stage it will get back to possibly how it was preceding these last couple of years,” Vettori told reporters at the end of play on Day 1.

The former left-arm spinner, who claimed 362 wickets in 113 Tests for New Zealand, also felt Australia’s recent preference for pace bowling in their Test matches does not signal the end of spin in Tests on home soil.

“Seamers have been so effective that it’s hard to go away from them. 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.

“There’s a real carrot for spin bowlers that they can be selected for series where it’s incredibly important. You bowl 90 per cent of the overs and the seam bowler is reduced, we’re down to one and maybe Cam Green is the allrounder.

“At some stage it will get back to possibly how it was preceding 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 it’s been diminishing results for spin bowlers here, which is obviously not something that we’d like, but it’s the nature of the surface.

“Both teams saw it that way, that the spin bowler hasn’t been effective in the last couple of years. So the assessment was around looking to use seamers, which have been highly successful for us during the Ashes,” Vettori concluded.

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