When Bill Lawry set sail for India via Ceylon in 1969 his tourists had notions of riotous crowds, adventurous train journeys, visions of the Taj Mahal, food poisoning and hepatitis. In an era when an anti-vaxxer would never have left Australian shores, the team had needles for cholera, typhoid, diphtheria, yellow fever, typhus, small pox and the alphabet of hepatitis strains.
The matches were going to be challenging, given the full tour schedule and Indian cricket’s advances in skill and discipline. Lawry took just two specialist spinners, John “CHO” (Cricket Hours Only) Gleeson of NSW – a mystery spinner whose principal weapon was the Jack Iverson middle-finger flicking offie and wrong ’un – plus Ashley “Rowdy” Mallett of South Australia, a tall, orthodox off-spinner with teasing flight and a big-breaking stock ball. Picture Nathan Lyon a foot taller. Bill also had the services of more than handy part-time leggies in Keith Stackpole and Ian Chappell.
Josh Hazlewood’s reverse swing will be crucial in India.Credit:AP
Australia won 3-1 in a five-Test series on the back of some resolute batting and the seam bowling of Alan Connolly, Graham McKenzie and Eric Freeman.
In 1979, Kim Hughes led a team, sans the Kerry Packer defectors, on a 12-week, six-Test tour. They lost 2-0 in a commendable effort, fighting illness and injury. Allan Border, Graham Yallop, Hughes and Dav Whatmore were very good players of spin. You have to get runs on the board first if the spinners are to do their job with appropriate close-catching fields.
Leftie swing man Geoff Dymock and Rodney Hogg’s rockets were quite effective, as was finger spinner Bruce Yardley and wrist spinner Jimmy Higgs.
Like the 1969 team, Australia only took two specialist slow men. The reluctant bowler Border and rarely used left-arm orthodox Yallop made contributions. Spin was used mostly, but the contrast provided by quality pace bowling was important to team balance and points of difference. The sight of Mohinder Amarnath batting in a pith helmet more akin to a maharaja on an elephant during a hunt than a middle-order batsmen waving a willow sword at Wankhede in the final Test after being crashed on the side of the head by a Hogg missile is an indelible memory of my short participation on that tour.
Bill Lawry gets a pull shot away in the third Test against India on the successful 1969 tour.Credit:UPI
Adam Gilchrist’s victorious 2004 team was a version of ’69 and ’79: excellent seam bowlers who kept the run rate in check, took important wickets and allowed the spinners to grind away. Shane Warne became the unlikely support act, India not succumbing but neither dominating him. Perhaps their focus on corralling Warne softened the attention on Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz, Nathan Hauritz and, surely, Michael Clarke, whose 6-9 was a prelude for Scott Boland. Finger spin was, once again, fruitful.
At Pune six years ago, Australia played just the two spinners, India three – that’s all that was needed on that turning surface. Steve O’Keefe was paramount with left-arm spin and non-spin sliders and loopers – a pair of 6-35s led Australia to a massive win. Lyon toiled at the other end and between them they took all the second innings wickets.
Australia will arrive in India with confidence high following big series wins over South Africa and the West Indies.Credit:AP
Matt Renshaw came in at No.5 in the second innings, Usman Khawaja comes in for Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb batted at second drop, while Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc had reverse swing going. Are the selectors trying to repeat history with the same team, or as close as they can get it?
Alex Carey replaces Matt Wade behind the stumps, and his challenge will be significant on spinning pitches of variable bounce, which examine footwork as much as glovework. Cameron Green will take Mitchell Marsh’s all-rounder spot if his finger heals. Steve Smith returns, while Marnus Labuschagne is the one true newcomer, and he is the top-rated Test batsmen in the world, so we would expect a degree of run-making from the obsessed one. The skill set of that Pune team and this selected one are almost parallel.
Which leads us to the current touring squad. History is a good teacher if you know how to use it.
Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist celebrate victory over India in 2004.Credit:AP
Ashton Agar’s rehearsal at the SCG last week was underwhelming. He bowled his white-ball stuff: mid-90 km/h mostly, the “flighted” deliveries coming in at 89km/h. Warne bowled his stock ball at 80km/h. Lyon is flexible and adaptable these days and varies his pace quite a deal.
Agar’s white-ball plans are excellent: he basically bowls wicket to wicket and doesn’t allow the batsmen to use their feet. It’s an effective limited-overs strategy, and he delivers it well, but trying to get Indian batsmen out with a singular tactic of tying them down with speed may have its limitations. If the plan is to bowl flat and tight, and wait for an error or build scoreboard pressure for his bowling partners, that is another thing.
Todd Murphy has been rewarded for excellent Sheffield Shield performances and as an educational opportunity and future investment. He has the dip and swerve of an elite spinner and an old head on young shoulders.
Rishabh Pant’s absence, along with that of Jasprit Bumrah, is a big blow for India.Credit:AP
The assumption from the selection of four spin bowlers is that the pitches will comply. India have prepared some dusty strips recently to play to their strengths, which are bowling spin and batting against it. Their quicks have become quality contributors as well, although the absence of Jasprit Bumrah – at least for the first two Tests – is useful for the visitors.
The recent absence of Ravindra Jadeja (ski-boarding accident) and Ravichandran Ashwin (poor World Cup T20 form) raises questions, but both have been named in India’s squad, while Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav are quality understudies.
The Maharashtra CA ground at Pune will not be used during this tour, but the Himalaya foothill stadium at Dharamshala returns. In 2017, it was a decent Test pitch: true early, footmarks aiding spin on the latter days. Nagpur mainly spins, while Delhi can be a batting favourite or spin.
Australia’s major concern may be their left-handed line-up battling Ashwin: David Warner, Travis Head, Carey, Khawaja and maybe Agar, Starc, Hazlewood are all lefties.
India without Rishabh Pant (car accident) will have a long right-handed batting order, so Agar keeps leaping into the frame. He will need to adapt. Keith Stackpole says he learnt more about batting during the 1969 tour than he did for the rest of his career.
Australia are playing with a winner’s confidence, they visit a modern India with diverse, healthy food
and water, plus the IPL experience and DRS negate the touring problems of Lawry, Hughes, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting. Reverse swing and sheer pace have telling influences on subcontinental Tests; spin is not the only thing any more.
Pat Cummins needs his leftie Starc and genuine all-rounder Green to get on the park sooner rather than later, or the series might be done by the time they can contribute. The winning formula is a draw supplied by determined batting at Nagpur, then the return of the injured duo at Delhi for the second Test.
Every Australian player must contribute. The batsmen must be at their best, as Stackpole, Chappell Lawry and Ian Redpath were in ’69 or Border, Yallop and Hughes were in ’79. The bowlers must spin hard and bowl cannily like Hogg, Connelly, Dymock, Gillespie and McGrath.
Teams win in India; individuals create statistics.
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