Spinners may not have it their way at Sydney

Tweakers haven't made the ball talk

 Ever since it became clear that India will be meeting Australia to decide one of the World Cup finalists, there have been constant speculations about the nature of the pitch. Is it going to turn (pun intended) India’s way or will it swing Australia’s way?

Former England captain Michael Vaughan even went to the extent of saying that if India had an option of choosing a venue against Australia in Australia, it would have been Sydney.

The Sydeny Cricket Ground has generally been considered as having one of the friendlier pitches for spinners and Imran Tahir’s exploits here – nine wickets in two matches – in this World Cup have gone a long way in cementing that perception. “It will take some spin,” said Vaughan. “(R) Ashwin is getting the ball to shape through the air, which is very important to his style of bowling. They are looking at what Tahir did in the quarterfinals.”

A look at the statistics, however, tells you that Tahir’s performances are more an exception rather than the norm at the SCG. Barring Shane Warne, who is at second spot with 43 sticks from 25 matches, there isn’t single spinner in the top 10 wicket-takers. Come to think of it, there are no more than three spinners among the top-20 wicket-takers at this supposedly spin-friendly surface. Among the visiting spinners, Mushtaq Ahmed, with 12 scalps in eight games, is the best performer at 36th place.

“The disappointing thing was that we gave seven wickets to spin when they were a pace dominant attack,” said Kumar Sangakkara after their quarterfinal loss to South Africa here, citing lack of application from the Lankan batsmen. “I think they bowled well. The wicket probably helped because it was a bit two paced at the start, but we should be disappointed with ourselves the way we played because we just weren't good enough to get the 250, 260-run score that would have really been difficult to chase on that track.”

In the group match earlier, Lanka had scored 312 against Australia while pursuing a target in excess of 360 at the same ground. While three Lankan spinners combined had gone for 169 runs in 24 overs, Xavier Doherty and Glenn Maxwell together had leaked 95 runs in 13 overs in the same match where the tweakers were totally marginalised.

The record by Indian spinners isn’t worth shouting home about mainly because they haven’t played much at the ‘spiritual home of cricket’ as the Australians like to refer to it as. Anil Kumble has gone wicketless in the only match he has played here while Harbhajan Singh has a couple from as many games. Ashwin didn’t take any in the only match he played during the 2011-12 tour while Ravindra Jadeja has one from the same match.     

On Monday, the ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson monitored the preparation of the pitch which was repeatedly rolled over by the heavy roller that would have done nothing but render the square harder. On Tuesday, the pitch remained under covers for most part of the day as heavy rains lashed the city. With 30 per cent chance of showers predicted for Wednesday, the pitch is likely to remain covered which isn’t such a good news for the spinners who would have liked some sunshine to dry up the surface to aid some turn.            

“I haven't really had too much of a look at it,” said Aussie opener Aaron Finch when asked about the wicket for the semifinal. “Last time I played here it looked like the wicket would spin quite a bit, but it didn't and it played really true. Still two days out and it's hard to tell. The wicket can change quite a bit in two days, especially here in Sydney,” he pointed out.

Ashwin has bowled well through the tournament, combining his aggression with no little guile while Jadeja is slowly coming into his own. The duo will definitely not mind some purchase from the wicket but on the evidence available so far, it’s a bit too early to suggest that spinners will have a big say in the proceedings.


Cup ties at SCG

February 27, Pool B: South Africa: 408/5 in 50 overs (Amla 65, Du Plessis 62, Rossouw 61, De Villers 162; Russell 2-74, Gayle 2-21) bt West Indies: 151 all out in 33.1 overs (Holder 56; Imran 5-45, Abbott 2-37, Morkel 2-23).

March 8, Pool A: Australia: 376/9 in 50 overs (Smith 72, Clarke 68, Maxwell 102, Watson 67; Malinga 2-59) bt Sri Lanka: 312 all out in 46.2 overs (Dilshan 62, Sangakkara 104, Mathews 35, Chandimal 52 retired hurt; Faulkner 3-48, Starc 2-29).

March 13, Pool A: Afghanistan: 111/7 in 36.2 overs (Shafiqullah 30; Jordan 2-13, Bopara 2-31) lost to England: 101/1 in 18.1 overs (Bell 52 n.o.) via D/L method.

March 18, Quarterfinal: Sri Lanka: 133 all out in 37.2 overs (Sangakkara 45, Thirimanne 41; Imran Tahir 4-26, Duminy 3-29) lost to South Africa: 134/1 in 18 overs (De Kock 78).