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The coach Mickey Arthur
has conceded that in hindsight Australia might have made a mistake by
not picking two spinners on a Chennai pitch that crumbled as the Test
wore on. However, Arthur said that even after the match, it was
difficult to assess what difference a twin spin attack would really have
made, given that most of Australia's wickets came from pace and Nathan Lyon ended up with match figures of 4 for 244.
The question of whether to include Xavier Doherty
as a second spin option for the Hyderabad Test will be one of the major
discussion points for Australia's selectors over the next three days.
Another will surround the workload of James Pattinson,
the most dangerous of the fast bowlers in Chennai, where he finished
with six wickets for the match, the first time an Australian fast man
had claimed so many in a Test in India since 2004.
The team management are conscious of Pattinson's propensity to break
down and having bowled 33 overs in hot conditions in Chennai in his
return to international cricket after suffering a rib injury, they will
consider the best way to handle him over the four-Test series.
Regardless of whether Pattinson plays in Hyderabad, there will be debate
over the makeup of the attack, and Arthur said the spin question would
not be easy to answer.
"That's going to be the million dollar question," Arthur said. "It's
easy in hindsight having a look at how the wicket ended up, you probably
would have liked two spinners on there, however, our quicks took most
wickets. We didn't get a massive return from spin in this game. I
thought James Pattinson was outstanding, so it's a difficult dilemma.
"I think going to Hyderabad we'll have to look at conditions before we
make a proper decision. Looking at the way it ended up probably two
spinners [would have been good] but our quicks were the most likely out
there, so I am not sure which way really."
One thing Doherty would provide if selected is the ability to turn the
ball away from the six right-handers that make up India's top and middle
order. Monty Panesar was effective in that regard during the Test
series in India late last year, although with 596 first-class wickets at
30.22, Panesar has a vastly superior record in the long form to
Doherty, who has 122 victims at 44.56 and is not renowned as a big
spinner of the ball.
But the vast majority of Lyon's Test wickets have been right-handers -
47 as compared to 18 left-handers - and Arthur said that on difficult
pitches turning the ball in to the batsman and making him play was not a
bad thing. It remains to be seen whether the Australians decide they
need spinners turning the ball both ways.
"I think on wickets like this balls turning into you are just as
effective, because you've actually got to play," Arthur said. "You can't
leave balls alone. Balls coming into the bat on wickets that have
crumbled are almost as tough to play. Ideally you want both, and I did a
lot of looking at the England series and they used Panesar a lot.
"You use the left-armer a lot more in the first innings here because you
get a lot more control from your left-armer. But when the wickets start
breaking up, your off-spinner to the right handers becomes dangerous
because you've got to keep playing him all the time. Ideally, it would
be nice to have the pigeon pair."
Lyon, Doherty, Arthur and the captain Michael Clarke were all part of a
conference on the field after the loss in Chennai where Shane Warne, who
is commentating on the series, discussed spin with the group. Some
words of advice from Warne would have been especially useful for Lyon,
given that Warne also struggled in India during his career. Arthur said
the first Test had been a steep learning experience for Lyon.
"I think he has learnt from this game that you have got to be really
consistent in conditions like this in order to put the batsmen under any
sort of pressure, but I think he will grow and he will learn from this
game," Arthur said. "It will be interesting to see how he pulls up after
this Test match and in terms of information and preparation and
everything he worked extremely hard coming into this Test match. Only he
knows how he will approach things if he plays in the next Test match
and how that is going to go."
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
Feeds: Brydon Coverdale
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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