Disappointment can be found in all corners of this Ashes series. England’s victory came too late. Australia may have secured the urn again but Glenn McGrath’s usual prediction didn’t hold. It has been a serious letdown for the neutral, never mind that a 3-2 scoreline is still in the offing. This was meant to be the one where England had a shot, where the Sydney finale would actually have something on the line beyond World Test Championship points.
Instead we’ve had 13 days of play out of 20, star quicks from both sides missing hefty chunks or all of it and stern-faced discussions about how much grass was left on the “G”. It’s fallen well short as a spectacle. Part of that lies in the absence of the slow stuff, a lack of high-quality spin ruining the show.
For all the thrill of the quicks, a world-class, thoroughly watchable spinner has held up each chapter of Ashes cricket this century. There was Shane Warne’s alpha-greatness until he tipped his hat to the SCG in 2007. Graeme Swann was introduced two years later and while his record against Australia, 62 wickets at a touch under 40, is hardly exceptional, his fizz was central to England’s three consecutive series victories. And then, on the same tour that Swann called time, Nathan Lyon took his first Test five-fer in Australia, firming up a spot he’s kept for most of the past 12 years, a period in which his side have been dominant.
Lyon’s 55 overs in this series are the only ones bowled by a specialist spinner so far. Left out of the pink-ball match, a decision that left him in a “filthy” mood, he took two top-order wickets in England’s first innings at Adelaide, followed by a gallery piece of bowling in the chase: a yo-yoing off-break that took back Ben Stokes’s off-stump. It was a welcome sight, a mix-up from the churn of seam. Sadly for Australia’s highest Test wicket-taker after Warne – Lyon overtook McGrath in the same match – he had to celebrate the victory on crutches after injuring his hamstring on the final day.
Even if fit and included, Lyon would have been a bystander at Melbourne, just as he was at Perth, just as he was for parts of Australia’s series against India a year ago, bowling seven overs across two Tests in Adelaide and Sydney. He has encountered a harsh reality of late; the 38-year-old is facing conditions at home that have become much friendlier to pace. His colleagues, far too good, are running through teams without his help.
“Spin is the easiest thing to face on some of these wickets that are offering a lot of seam,” said Steve Smith after Australia’s defeat at the MCG, where not a single over of spin was bowled. “It’s almost the point of why would you bowl it when you could leak 30 or 40 runs quickly if they decide to play positively, and the game shifts immediately. I love seeing spinners play a part in the game, but right now why would you?” Now on the way back from surgery, Lyon’s own future is under focus, as is the nature of spin bowling more generally in Australia, its relevance at Test level under question.
Uncertainty lingers for English spin, too. Shoaib Bashir has been called the No 1 spinner by his higher-ups yet this has been uttered while discussing his absence, the offie left out when the flat one in Adelaide was screaming for some tweak. Displaced by Will Jacks, a batter who can bowl, Bashir’s returns on this tour have been limited to expensive outings in the Lilac Hill warm-up and against Australia A.
It was a more than reasonable call for England to invest in Bashir last year. A solid start in India was backed up by further success against West Indies at Trent Bridge, the ball ripped down an inviting, attacking line as he celebrated his third Test five-fer in his fifth game. But he was still learning on the job, a 20-year-old who had been a professional cricketer for less than two years, and his threat and control waned when he toured Pakistan and New Zealand.
There’s a case that Jack Leach, the safer bet, could have returned as England’s No 1 at the start of 2025, opening up a spot for Bashir at Somerset and allowing the off-spinner to learn his craft away from all the noise. But county cricket is no protective bubble either, with no guarantees of game time for a developing spinner, even one with Test credentials.
In Sydney this weekend the hopes for a gripping off-break may rest on Jacks, giving it his all while going at close to five an over in the series, and Todd Murphy, who has shown promise in his brief Test career but is yet to play a game at home. A three-day finish against India last January at the SCG, with only one wicket falling to spin, is not an encouraging precedent. But here’s hoping there is at least a sliver of assistance for the tweaker, a role to play, something a little more receptive to an art gone astray.
