Warne's spin on Australian slow bowling

Part of the problem is that young spinners aren't as developed in their craft as young fast bowlers. And part of the reason for that is that juniors play on concrete and astroturf wickets, whereas in other areas of the world they don't. The best thing the ACB could do to develop more young spinners is get more turf wickets in parks around Australia. Ok, with the weather some of them might not have a lot of grass on them, but neither do most wickets in India. Upkeep is required, yes, but somehow English councils manage fine, even preparing wickets in parks not used by formal teams!

Warnie is bang on the money here,fully agree. Expecting the crop of spinners Australia has produced since his retirement to be anywhere near his stratospheric standards is a complete waste of time. Geniuses like him and Murali are once in a lifetime,who can turn a ball on a glass top or a marble table even. Over the years, Cricket Australia has ruined careers of spinners one after the other , Casson, Jason Krietza, Hauritz, Beer, and now Lyon is on the same path..and the list is endless. They have just not been given that length of time to settle in or gain confidence in their own ability. Why can't they bring in a specialist spin coach from the subcontinent even ? And yes, Warnie's idea of taller and wider stumps is not to be laughed at. It's time the mismatch between bat & ball is narrowed. Over the years bats' sizes, quality and stroke power has grown manifold & grounds smaller. T20 is totally a batter's game 9 times out of 10. Where does it leave the poor spinner?

Wouldn't mind seeing another team on the domestic scene - maybe not aligned to a state, but aligned to the academy or a "development XI"? Have them play out of Darwin, Cairns, Canberra, differing surfaces. Get a good, young team (maybe a "true" under 25s?) who can compete against the states, and who knows? One more team playing on a few SC-like pitches (okay, exclude Canberra from that description!) means more opportunities for not only spinners to develop their craft, but also gives first class Aussie batsmen more exposure to playing spin and playing on conditions that suit swing (another troubling trend) and spin. The trouble here in India is two-fold: our spinners aren't good enough to take 10 wickets, and out batsmen are for the most part not good enough against spin to go on with their scratchy starts and score 400+. If winning in India is a measure of a good team, then start planning for the next tour now...

Ironically, Warnie's part of the problem. There had previously been some very strong Oz sides with only average spinners until Warnie came along. The last "great" Oz spinner before Warne was Benaud who retired in 1963. Between them Oz had Mallett, May, P. Taylor, Matthews, O'Keefe, Philpott et al, none of whom were great spinners and they were not expected to be matchwinners. These days, spinners are expected to be as good as Warnie- within the first 2 or 3 matches they play- or get dropped. Even Warnie only took 2/280 in his first couple of Tests!

Someone just needs to take Steve O'Keefe, Ashton Turner, Ashton Agar, Fawad Ahmed and Adam Zampa (that gives a SLA x 2, OS and 2 x LS) and just play them.

Play them every single FC game in Aus, then fly them to County and play them there. Build them a heap of games in a variety of conditions and against a variety of opponents. Really get them a cross-section of exposure.

THEN trial them at Test Level. Our current formula is seemingly to arbitrarily identify a spinner, chuck them into a Test Match and pray for the best. Sometimes it works (Lyon's first 12 months), sometimes it doesn't (the list is enormous here post-Warne).

There is basically no development other than to play them occasionally at FC level. Even then, they are underused, not used at all, or used poorly by seemingly uncertain captains.

The players named above need to be playing every single game, year-round, and bowling hundreds of overs. In 3 years time some of them will still be in their early 20s.

Could not agree more with Warney. It is amazing that in Australia we pick a spinner for every Test venue, even Perth, hoever, State selectors do not. It is hardly a wonder therefore that there is no spinning superstar on the horizon with the possible exception being Agar. He does look special and probably should be bowling in Hyderbad now.