India have Australia by the googlies
Kerry O'Keeffe knows a thing or two about slow bowling and in his column in the Sunday Telegraph he lets fly at Australia's selectors for their spin decisions
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
Kerry O'Keeffe knows a thing or two about slow bowling and in his column in the Sunday Telegraph he lets fly at Australia's selectors for their spin decisions. He says India's batsmen have Australia by the googlies.
Last Wednesday, Australia began a crucial Test in Delhi needing to take 20 wickets to level the series. Our panel came up with the slow bowling trio of Cameron White, Michael Clarke and Simon Katich. This grouping is unlikely to take 20 first-class wickets in a calendar year on doctored decks in the Gobi Desert.
Is Jason Krejza sleeping inside the Taj Mahal with Stuart MacGill's alarm clock? And why is baby-faced chinaman Beau Casson considered fruit out of season? Casson's situation demands a public explanation from selection chairman Andrew Hilditch, who the media feel is harder to catch than the multiple top edges he provided fine leg during his hooking days.
O'Keeffe knows that Casson might not be the answer but he believes the bowler at least deserved a chance after making his Test debut in Barbados.
Casson has to develop his momentum on slow pitches where batsmen tend to play him a little too comfortably off the back foot. These are challenges he has been denied by selection panel perceptions. Perhaps Casson's googlies will return against New Zealand this month in Australia. The Kiwis would have trouble picking Bill Lawry's nose.
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here