So much for the notion that Australia’s advantage in spin bowling would prove consequential in Perth. Instead, Nathan Lyon – with 562 wickets, the seventh-highest wicket-taker in history – bowled a mere two overs in the entire match. In response, England delivered just a token over of spin themselves, which came from Joe Root, with Australia on the brink of victory.
Spin was not only redundant because of England’s batting incompetence. Slow bowling has become gradually more marginalised Down Under. The need to select at least one spinner in Australia – to provide a different challenge for batsmen, and rotate the seamers – was once an article of faith.
Advertisement
No longer. Since the new Kookaburra balls were introduced before the 2021-22 Australian summer, touring spinners average 65.3, taking just 35 wickets in 21 Tests. The image of placid Australian pitches is badly outdated: modern wickets Down Under offer spice and bountiful seam movement to complement bounce.
England’s selection of Shoaib Bashir over the past two years was partly based on the notion that his attributes – drift, overspin and bounce – were similar to Lyon. Yet even he has been marginalised on Australian pitches in recent years.
Shoaib Bashir was initially picked by England with Australia in mind, but he has so far been on the periphery – PA/Robbie Stephenson
Since the start of last summer, Lyon has taken just nine wickets in six home Tests, averaging 38. Across the five Tests against India last year, Lyon only bowled 122.4 overs, the fewest that he has ever bowled in a series comprising at least three Tests. Now, Australia are reportedly considering omitting Lyon for the day-night Test in Brisbane; he was dropped from their previous pink-ball Test, against the West Indies, in July.
Advertisement
While spin is marginalised Down Under, the opposite trend is occurring in much of Asia. Since the start of 2021, spinners have taken 68 per cent of all wickets in Tests played in South Asia. At many venues, teams scarcely even bother to bowl some perfunctory seam. In India’s Tests against New Zealand in Pune and Mumbai last year, only five out of 80 wickets were taken by seamers. Last week, South Africa’s off-spinner Simon Harmer took eight for 51 in the Test in Kolkata, and bowled his team to a series victory in Guwahati with second-innings figures of six for 37.
Test cricket’s new age of extremes reflects how teams are becoming more ruthless about trying to maximise home advantage. Of course, tailoring wickets to suit a home team is nothing new: England’s series-clinching Ashes victories at the Oval in 1953 and 2009 both came on pitches that offered unusual turn. But teams have become more systematic about demanding that pitches play in a particular way: in part, a response to the introduction of the World Test Championship.
Advertisement
As New Zealand showed en route to winning the inaugural Test Championship in 2021, the most reliable template for reaching the final is to dominate at home. With a perfect home record, a team will already be guaranteed 50 per cent of all possible points. A couple of away victories should then suffice to reach the final.
Teams once vehemently denied any accusations of pitch-doctoring. Now, preparing wickets in such a way is no longer taboo.
“This is exactly the pitch we were looking for – this is exactly the pitch,” Gautam Gambhir, the India head coach, said after 40 wickets fell for just 594 runs in Kolkata. “You should be able to know how to play turn. And this is what we asked for, and this is what we got. I thought the curator was very supportive.”
Advertisement
The irony, of course, is that India lost – just as they did on equally spin-friendly pitches against New Zealand last year. Paradoxically, pitches designed to suit a home team can often prove an equalising factor. More extreme turn, for instance, means that away spinners can prove venomous.
Batsmen are contributing to the extreme nature of modern Tests
Overall standards of bowling have improved. With less drop-off in standards within a bowling attack, there is less respite for batsmen in unfriendly batting conditions, as both England and Australia found out at the Perth Stadium. Average bowling speeds of first and second-change pace bowlers around the world have never been as quick as today. And, as India have learnt to their cost against New Zealand and South Africa over the past 15 months, even teams without rich traditions of spin bowling can still exploit turning tracks in a way they struggled to in the recent past.
Advertisement
Batsmen are contributing to the extreme nature of modern Tests, too. While the general tempo of England’s batting remains unmatched, general scoring rates are increasing. In the 148-year history of Test cricket, the three fastest-scoring years are 2023, 2024 and 2025. Batsmen are ultimately responding to changing financial incentives and the surge in short-format cricket.
Even Kevin Pietersen, such a buccaneering batsman during his own career, believes that today’s players lack range.
“It can only be put down to batters’ modern-day techniques,” Pietersen posted on social media after the Kolkata Test earlier this month. “Batters grow up now to hit sixes and play switch-hits. They don’t grow up to build an innings and learn the art of survival. This is fact, as I know what’s being taught, and I’m a part of many player discussions.”
Advertisement
Unless pitches are as benign as they were for England’s series against India last summer, the rate of Test matches will continue to accelerate. Test cricket will retain a balance between seam and spin – but, increasingly, this balance will come across the format as a whole, rather than in individual matches.
Article courtesy of
Source link
