3 wrist-spinners Australia must invest in for Test cricket

The Australian men's Test team felt the value of Nathan Lyon more than ever during their recent Ashes series in England.

In what was his 100th consecutive Test appearance, he sustained a calf injury that ruled him out of the remainder of the series. Todd Murphy took his spot in the side for the third and fifth Tests.

It must be mentioned that Murphy has emerged as an incredible talent to watch out for. All of seven first-class matches old when he was handed a Test cap in India earlier this year, he made an instant impact with a seven-wicket haul on debut.

But Lyon's absence coincided with Australia's failure to win a game after taking a 2-0 lead in the series.

Nathan Lyon's absence left a massive void for Australia to fill during the second half of the Ashes.

In a post-mortem of the Ashes series, former Australian captain Ian Chappell lashed out at the current skippers in the country for being too defensive and hampering the rise of wrist-spinners in the process. He opined that wrist-spinners can be lethal weapons owing to the variety they possess - even part-timers like Marnus Labuschagne.

It raises the question - should Australia should play a wrist-spinner in their starting XI in Tests going forward? While Murphy could well be Lyon's heir, there certainly is no harm in investing in a few wrist-spinners in red-ball cricket.

With this in mind, let's look at three such wrist-spinners Australia must develop for Tests:

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#1 Mitchell Swepson

For long, Mitchell Swepson has been Nathan Lyon's understudy in Australia's Test setup. Despite receiving his maiden call-up during the tour of India in 2017, he had to wait for five years post that to wear the baggy green during the tour of Pakistan.

Swepson has played four Tests till date - all of them in the subcontinent - and has bagged 10 wickets. However, he has slid down the pecking order, with Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann pipping him to the playing XI during the India tour earlier this year.

It's fair to say that among wrist-spinners in Australia today, Swepson boasts arguably the best first-class credentials. With 199 wickets from 66 matches in the format at 35.97 apiece and a strike rate of 63.6, the experienced spinner has skills Australia can tap into.

Swepson is 29 years of age already. But if the reigning World Test champions are to field a genuine wrist-spinner who can assume responsibility, they must continue to back him and give him a consistent spell of games.

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#2 Tanveer Sangha

Tanveer Sangha - an incredibly bright leg-spin prospect!

Ever since he made his bow during the U19 World Cup in 2020, Tanveer Sangha has been touted for great things. The wrist-spinner has made waves for the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League and also earned a callup to Australia's T20 squad for the tour of New Zealand in 2021.

He is yet to receive his national cap, and it has been close to a year since he last played a competitive game owing to injury. But for a 21-year-old, Sangha's ceiling is incredibly high due to the control he possesses, apart from a potent googly and a sharp-turning leg-break.

Sangha has made a promising start to his first-class career, having snared 24 wickets from eight matches at an average of 30.16. A full season of successful cricket under his belt - and a bucketful of wickets - ought to thrust him up the ladder for higher honors.

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#3 Lloyd Pope

Comparisons with a young Shane Warne were inevitable when Lloyd Pope burst onto the scene with an eight-wicket haul against England in the U19 World Cup 2018.

Pope was always watched with a close eye given the potential that he came with - a sharp-turning googly, in particular, stood out. As with many raw wrist-spinners, though, he hasn't shown the requisite control during the nascent stages of his career, falling down the pecking order as a result.

Pope has played just 13 first-class matches for 29 wickets, averaging 63.37 and picking up a wicket every 86 deliveries. Those numbers aren't attractive by any stretch of the imagination and don't justify his talent. The youngster hasn't been a regular starter for the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League either.

Yet, cast your mind back to when Warne made his bow in international cricket. His backing was clearly down to potential over numbers, and the result was an unimaginably successful bowler.

Pope is all of 23 and has an entire career in front of him. Australia must keep an eye on his development and ensure he takes the right strides. If that happens, he could turn into a special player for them in the future.

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Should Australia throw a wrist-spinner into their starting XI in Tests? Have your say in the comments section below!

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