Tough for spinners in Australia

Shane Warne made the art of spin bowling sexy in Australia after a long time, but in the last few years Australia hasn't been a good venue for spin bowling. There has been the odd top performance by a spinner - like Nathan Lyon's 5 for 50 in the Boxing Day Test last year, Anil Kumble's 5 for 84 in 2007, or Monty Panesar's 5 for 92 on the first day of the Perth Test in 2006 - but it's been rare enough to count as an exception, not the rule.

Since the beginning of 2006, 45 Tests have been played in Australia, in which fast bowlers have taken 1089 wickets at an average of 31.94. The average is the fourth-best among all host countries during this period (with a cut-off of 15 Tests), after South Africa (29.18), West Indies (31.76) and New Zealand (31.79). As the averages indicate, there's hardly any difference among the numbers in West Indies, New Zealand and Australia.

In the same period, however, spinners have managed only 312 wickets in Australia - a rate of 6.93 wickets per Test, compared to 24.2 per Test for the fast bowlers. It's the average, though, that's even more glaring: spinners concede 46.16 runs per wicket, which is easily the worst among all countries. In all countries where at least 15 Tests have been played during this period, the average for spinners ranges between 32 and 38: the best is West Indies' 32.75, and the worst - excluding Australia - is 37.43 in New Zealand. Australia is about 23% worse than New Zealand, which says a bit about how much tougher it is for them in Australia compared to other countries. In fact, the difference in averages between No. 1 and No. 8 (West Indies and New Zealand) is less than the difference between No. 8 and No. 9 (New Zealand and Australia). The strike rates aren't so different between Australia and New Zealand because spinners are a lot more economical in New Zealand, conceding 2.70 runs per over, compared to 3.31 in Australia, which is also the highest among all countries.

Australia is also the only country where spinners haven't taken a single ten-for during this period. They've even managed one in South Africa, with Saeed Ajmal taking 10 for 147 in Cape Town last year. Rangana Herath came close in Durban in 2011, taking 9 for 128, while Paul Harris and Graeme Swann also have nine-wicket hauls in South Africa. In Australia, though, the best by a spinner in a match is eight wickets, and even those wickets came at the cost of 200-plus runs: Panesar took 8 for 237 in Perth in 2006, and Kumble 8 for 254 in Sydney in 2008. The last spinner to take a ten-for in Australia was Sri Lanka's Upul Chandana, who took 10 for 210 in Cairns in 2004. In fact, the last nine ten-fors in Australia have all been by wristspinners; Allan Border's 11 for 96 against West Indies in 1989 was the last instance of a non-wristspinner taking ten in Australia. (Click here for the full list of ten-fors by spinners in Australia.)

Australia is also the only country where spinners don't have a single haul of more than five wickets in an innings.

While spinners have generally struggled in Australia, it's been even worse for the overseas ones, who average 51.07 runs per wicket (compared to 41 by the home spinners). Spinners have also struggled when touring to Sri Lanka, India and England, but home spinners have excellent stats in these countries. Sri Lanka and India have always been strong in the spin department, especially in home conditions, while England had Swann to fall back on over the last few years. In Bangladesh, West Indies and South Africa, overseas spinners have done better than the home ones, which is possibly a reflection on the quality of the home spinners for these teams. (In Bangladesh's case, it's also a reflection of their batting ability.)

Australia's current leading spinner, Nathan Lyon, has done much better in Australia than most other spinners, taking 55 wickets in 16 Tests at an average of 32.14. In comparison, the leader of India's spin attack, R Ashwin, had a terrible time in the 2011-12 series, taking nine wickets at 62.77. India's premier offspinner before him, Harbhajan Singh, didn't do much better either - his eight wickets cost him 61.25 each. The other high-profile offspinner in this list - Graeme Swann - didn't enjoy his time here either, taking only 22 wickets in eight Tests at an average of more than 52.

In fact, Kumble and Herath are among the few overseas spinners with decent numbers in Australia. Kumble has 20 wickets from four Tests at an average of 34.45, while Herath has 12 from three at an average of 33.91. For most of the others, it's been a struggle.

Ashwin, Harbhajan, Swann, Muttiah Muralitharan (four wickets at an average of 100 during this period), Johan Botha (two wickets at 51.50) - there's a pattern here of overseas offspinners faring much worse in Australia than other types of spinners. That's confirmed by the table below: overseas offspinners average 62.84 runs per wicket, while left-arm spinners concede 41.57 runs per wicket.

Since the beginning of 1990, four of the five leading wicket-takers in a series among overseas spinners are legspinners: Kumble, twice, Mushtaq Ahmed, and Danish Kaneria. The extra bounce in most pitches in Australia seems to help legspinners more than other spinner types. Since 1990, Swann's 15 wickets at 39.80 in the 2010-11 Ashes is the best performance - in terms of wickets in a series - by an overseas offspinner in Australia, followed by Peter Such's 11 wickets in two Tests in 1998-99. Saqlain Mushtaq took ten wickets in two Test at an average of 25.10 in 1999-2000, but in general the returns for overseas offspinners have been quite meager in Australia. Clearly, Ashwin has a tough task on his hands over the next month.