Australia breaks a 138-year tradition by not selecting a frontline spinner for the Sydney Test, citing pitch conditions that favour seam bowling.
SYDNEY: Australia made history by omitting a frontline spinner from their team for a Sydney Cricket Ground Test for the first time in 138 years.
Skipper Steve Smith said the decision for the fifth Ashes Test was forced by the nature of modern pitches.
“Hate doing it,” said Smith.
He explained that if pitches are produced that do not spin and seam movement is dominant, selectors get pushed into a corner.
All-rounder Beau Webster was selected, with specialist spinner Todd Murphy overlooked.
The last time Australia did not play a spinner at the SCG was in 1888.
The trend continued with England also omitting their top spinner, Shoaib Bashir, for a fifth consecutive Test.
Just nine wickets have been taken by spinners in the first four Tests of this Ashes series.
Smith elaborated that on current pitches, spin is the easiest style of bowling for batters to face.
He questioned why a captain would bowl spin when it could leak 30 or 40 runs quickly, shifting the game.
Australia assistant coach Dan Vettori, a former spinner, said he did not believe this trend would continue indefinitely.
“I think spin bowling is incredibly important to Test matches,” Vettori said.
He added that people love watching spin bowling at its best when conditions assist, predicting a change in the future.
