Hilditch still spinning his wheels

Five years ago, Andrew Hilditch began his tenure as chairman of selectors by throwing an unready South Australian offspinner into Test cricket. If the Argus report into Australia's performance recommends Hilditch's removal, he'll have ended his career the same way.

Nathan Lyon is unquestionably a talented bowler, and it is encouraging that he flights the ball and searches for wickets. But sending him to Sri Lanka next month risks doing him more harm than good. Asking Lyon to bowl to Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and company in their home conditions, in Test cricket, is unfair on him.

Lyon is no doubt thrilled by the prospect, and good luck to him. But he has only four first-class matches for the Redbacks to his name, and wasn't considered good enough to play in Australia A's recent first-class matches in Zimbabwe, where Michael Beer and Jason Krejza were preferred.

How can things have changed so quickly? Less than two months ago, Beer and Lyon failed to win Cricket Australia contracts. Krejza, Nathan Hauritz, Xavier Doherty and Steven Smith were on the list.

Hauritz is injured, although he should be the Test spinner when fit again; Doherty and Smith are now viewed as one-day specialists; and Krejza, according to Hilditch, was poor in Zimbabwe. But what Krejza does have, besides a contract, is experience. He has taken 12 wickets in a Test in India, and he was the most logical candidate for the Sri Lanka Tests. It was also odd that Steve O'Keefe, after a solid Sheffield Shield season, was not considered.

Hilditch was full of praise for Lyon, whom he noted "bowled beautifully during the one-day component of the A squad's recent tour where he was named player of the series". Choosing a player for Test cricket based on one-day form is not new for Hilditch and friends.

But after the way their selection of Doherty, who impressed them in a one-day match against Sri Lanka, backfired during the Ashes, you'd think they would have learnt their lesson. It's hard to avoid a sense of foreboding on Lyon's behalf, given the number of spinners who have become collateral damage under Hilditch's reign.

It all started with South Australia's Dan Cullen, who has hardly been sighted since making his Test debut in Bangladesh in April 2006, barely a fortnight after Hilditch replaced Trevor Hohns as the head of the selection panel. With 19 first-class games to his name, he was much more ready than Lyon, and his promotion was still premature. Cullen is now only 27, but has fallen so far he doesn't even hold a state contract.

Cricket fans have heard plenty from Hilditch during the same period. He pops up whenever a squad is announced, usually with a line about how much promise the spinner du jour has shown.

"We look forward to watching his development during the course of the tour," Hilditch said of Beau Casson's call-up for the Caribbean tour of 2008. Casson played a Test, performed adequately, and was dropped for the next series, shattering his confidence and ruining him for the next few years.

"We feel that Cameron's right-arm leg spin and experience in Indian conditions ... will provide a good balance to our slow bowling attack," Hilditch said of choosing Cameron White to tour India in 2008. In 17 matches since that trip, White has taken six first-class wickets at 74.16. He barely bowls now.

"The national selection panel believes the left-arm orthodox variety Xavier Doherty provides against a predominantly right-handed English middle order is the better option," Hilditch said of axing Nathan Hauritz for the Ashes. Doherty did not prove to be a Test wicket-taker.

"Michael Beer replaces Xavier Doherty ... and we expect he will bowl very well against the English on his home ground," Hilditch said ahead of the third Ashes Test in Perth, where Melbourne-born-and-bred Beer had hardly played. Beer didn't get to play until the Sydney Test, and took one wicket.

And so it goes. Now, Beer and Lyon have been chosen for the Sri Lankan series. Between them, they have 43 first-class wickets. Neither has managed a five-wicket haul.

Fortunately, there was more talent to choose from in the pace department. Trent Copeland deserved his call-up, after being unlucky to miss out on a Cricket Australia contract, while the likes of Patrick Cummins did earn deals. Copeland, 25, has put together two excellent seasons of Sheffield Shield cricket and has four five-wicket hauls from his 17 first-class games.

Importantly, he's been match-hardened at club level, and hasn't been steered through the now traditional youth pathways. The axing of Ben Hilfenhaus shows the established fast men that they must perform to keep their places, and Copeland would be a ready-made replacement.

James Pattinson was fortunate to be picked, although the trip is likely to be intended as a learning experience for him. Last month when Pattinson won a CA contract, his state team-mate David Hussey said he felt Pattinson, who has played only six first-class games, had "a little bit of a way to go to play Test cricket".

In the batting department, Shaun Marsh is in serious Test contention for the first time, which is reward for several good seasons. Although Marsh has made only six first-class centuries in a ten-year career, he has a first-class average of 52.15 over the past four seasons. He deserves to be the back-up batsman.

But the real worry in the squad surrounds the slow bowlers, as has been the case since Stuart MacGill unexpectedly retired in 2008 and forced a rethink of the selectors' plans. Perhaps Lyon and Beer will grab their chances, but after all these years it seems Hilditch and his panel are still spinning their spinning wheels, and getting nowhere.