The Australia left-arm spinning dilemma

On the evening of the 4th of August, a strange yet motivational tweet ran across the social media platform. It was from Fawad Ahmed, one of the forgotten stars of Australian cricket. Although he had only a brief moment on top of the cream of Australian cricket, the name will never be forgotten.

Ahmed’s tweet was directed at Jon ‘Ducky’ Holland. His message, whether it reached Holland or not, was motivating, to say the least.

Stay patient Ducky Boy..
U r bowling nicely.. Beautiful shape.
Wickets will come.. Just hangin there..#AusvSL #testcricket

— Fawad Ahmed (@bachaji23) August 4, 2016

His tweet requested and even perhaps borderline begged Holland to stay patient. However, while Holland was prepared to stay patient, there was the figure of Rodney Marsh sitting in the enclosure available for Australians. He was not a part of the coaching staff. He was the chief selector. Although it is a bit of a long shot, that was an indication that he was certainly doing his job as chief selector.

Spinners in Australia are like finding rare birds. They are seldom found. Of course, Australia boasts of some terrific spinners like Terry Jenner and Shane Warne. However, since they have moved away from the field activities, the Aussies have failed to find another spinner who can terrorize the batsmen as much as Warnie or even Terry Jenner did.

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Similar to most spinners from Australia in the recent past, Fawad Ahmed’s story somewhat fits the narrative. Now at the age of 34 and with little or no chance of donning the Australian shirt again, he is now reduced to calling for patience for those who are still playing. Jon Holland’s call to arms in Sri Lanka had its fair share of drama. A misplaced passport coupled with a hurried net session saw the Australian management deem the 29-year old southpaw fit for action.

The first couple of days saw wickets falling like nine pins. It was clear that spin was winning the game. It was also clear that quality spin would clinch the encounter as well. The Aussies did have a great spinner in Nathan Lyon, someone who had claimed over 200 wickets in what had been somewhat of a short and subdued career. Rangana Herath’s hat-trick ensured that it seemed almost too easy for the Lankans.

However, the impact the Lankans were making was far more supreme compared to the Australian spinners. While Sandakan, Herath, and Dilruwan Perera were shaking up the Australian batting unit, Mitchell Starc was perhaps the only bowler making an impact for the Aussies. 11 wickets in the match for Starc, in what eventually turned out to be a losing cause eventually was perhaps the one good sign the Aussies showed in the match.

The major talking point of this article, however, is the fact that left-arm spinners from Australia haven’t had any success. Period. While some have stated that the Aussies have not had the best of left-arm spinners in past, the fact remains that they have not been able to make much of an impact. The latest casualty – Steve O’Keefe.

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If the history of left-arm spinners is viewed from an objective perspective, only a few can be singled out as success stories. New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori, England’s Derrick Underwood, India’s Bishan Bedi, and the recently crowned king – Rangana Herath. The fact of the matter points to an interesting stat. All the left-arm spinners combined have taken lesser wickets than Rangana Herath himself.

Brad Hogg, Jon Holland, and Steve O’Keefe are the only left-arm spinners who have been produced by Australia till date. The others have been part-timers like Simon Katich, Allan Border, and Michael Clarke.

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Here is the list of Australian left-arm spinners with most Test wickets:

Here is the list of left-arm spinners with most Test wickets: