First time since 1888: Australia's SCG spin lockout spells worry for future

With Nathan Lyon ruled out of the fourth and fifth Tests, having suffered a hamstring injury in the third, at Adelaide, Australia had to look elsewhere for spin options. For the final Test, they included Todd Murphy in the squad, who had last played in the Galle Test just under a year ago.

However he did not feature in the playing XI, making it the first time since 1888 that Australia did not play a specialist spinner in Sydney.

It was also the third Test in the five-match Ashes where Australia did not include one.

Gillespie on Murphy snub: 'This is a Steve Smith decision'

The decision came as a bit of a surprise because head coach Andrew McDonald had suggested Australia would be including one for the final Test. It’s something former quick Jason Gillespie pointed out to ABC Sport, calling it stand-in captain Steve Smith’s call: "Andrew McDonald said the other day basically that Todd Murphy would play. Make no mistake, this is a Steve Smith decision."

Days ahead of the Test, McDonald had offered optimism in picking Murphy, saying the off-spinner – who has overcome shoulder issues – was “back to his best” and that they would “love to pick him”.

"I'd love to pick Todd, I'd love to see what he's got to offer," McDonald said last week. "I think he's seven Test matches into his career and he's well placed on the back of the last two years as well. We think (Murphy) is back to his best and what we've seen from him when he's come back to the camp has been excellent, so yeah, we'd love to pick him."

However, they ended up preferring a three-man pace attack in Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland and Michael Neser, with Cam Green and Beau Webster adding to those options.

Webster can bowl spin too, and Travis Head has sent down 17.2 overs this Ashes, with Marnus Labuschagne also an option if needed.

It isn’t just Australia though: England, too, haven’t relied on spin either, shunning Shoaib Bashir all through, and using Will Jacks where needed. Overall, only 130.3 overs have been allocated to spin by the two sides.

In the rain-affected opening day where only 45 overs were possible, Australia stuck to their quicks and Webster bowled medium pace.

There’s reason to suggest that these are worrying signs for Australia’s spin bowling’s future. For the last decade and a half, Lyon has been their overwhelming favourite whenever spin has been needed on largely pace friendly pitches at home.

Since his debut in August 2011, Lyon has played 74 Tests at home, picking up 273 wickets. The only other specialist spinners ever tried are Steve O’Keefe (two Tests) and Ashton Agar (one Test). Among part-timers, Travis Head has the most wickets (seven).

Kerry O'Keeffe on spin future: 'The writing is on the wall'

Former Australia leg-spinner Kerry O’Keeffe sounded alarm bells for spin’s future in Australia, comparing it to the West Indies of the Seventies, who home-grew a lineup of fast-bowling superstars, but lagged behind in the spin quota.

"I worry big-time about it," O'Keeffe told Fox Cricket. "There are thousands of ambitious young spinners out there that want to wear a baggy green and affect a Test match for Australia on the fourth and fifth day, and the selection ethos at the moment is, 'We don't need a spinner'.

"I know the West Indies, in the 1970s, made that decision and it didn't hurt them, but they haven't produced a spinner since.

"The writing's on the wall; if you shut down the opportunity for spinners, it has a flow-on effect.”

Daniel Vettori, their assistant coach and one of New Zealand’s finest spinners, assures it’s only a passing phase.

"It's probably just a point in time," Vettori said after the first day. "I don't think it's going to be something that's going to continue on for years on end.

"I think spin bowling is incredibly important to Test match cricket. I think people love watching it when it's at its absolute best and when conditions can assist the spin bowler. But we're just in the stage now where that's not the case. I wouldn't be surprised that it changed in the future.

"I think at some stage it will get back to possibly how it was preceding these last couple of years."

He also pointed out that spinners have been less effective in Sydney in recent times, with the spin average at the ground up to 49.18 across the last five years. While it was consistent with the spin averages in Australia in the 2000s, it has only gone up since.

Spin bowling at the SCG across each of the last three decades:

Australia’s spin future could be linked to Murphy’s progression, but there are other options too. Matthew Kuhnemann, 29, has played five Tests (in India and Sri Lanka). Corey Rocchiccioli has risen over the last four years for Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield, and has also played A games alongside Murphy.

Lyon turns 39 this year, but has shown desire to play the 2027 India and England tours. At that age, recovering from injury can be a trickier process. They don’t have any Tests scheduled until August, which gives him plenty of time to recover.

But it’s also a long period until a Murphy or a Rocchiccioli can be tested and groomed, leaving a big question mark on Australia’s spin future.

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