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NEW DELHI: Australia created an unwanted slice of history by naming a Test XI without a specialist spinner for a match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, with skipper Steve Smith admitting he had been backed into a corner. Not since 1888 have the hosts gone into a Sydney Test without a frontline slow bowler at a venue once considered Australia’s spin haven.The 138-year run was broken for the fifth and final Ashes Test against England, with all-rounder Beau Webster included and off-spinner Todd Murphy overlooked.
“Hate doing it,” said Smith.“But if we keep producing wickets that we don’t think are going to spin and seam is going to play a big part and cracks are going to play a big part, you kind of get pushed into a corner.”The decision reflects a growing trend in Australian cricket. The hosts had earlier left out veteran Nathan Lyon for the pink-ball second Test in Brisbane, before Murphy — brought in as Lyon’s injury replacement — was also omitted in Melbourne and Sydney.England, too, continued without their frontline spinner Shoaib Bashir for a fifth straight Test in Sydney, meaning he will return home without bowling a single ball in a Test match in Australia.Across the first four Tests of the series, spinners claimed just nine wickets, accounting for only a fraction of the total overs bowled.Speaking in Melbourne after the seam-friendly fourth Test ended inside two days, Smith elaborated on the thinking behind the absence of spinners.“With a lot of the wickets we’re playing on now, I think spin … is the easiest thing to face,” he said.“On some of these wickets that are offering a lot of seam, it’s almost got to the point where (you ask): ‘Why would you bowl it when you know 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?”
