Even if he doesn’t bowl the house down on debut, Australia are making the right choice by throwing uncapped off-spinner Todd Murphy into the fire of a debut against India at Nagpur.
The 22-year-old was marking his run-up on the field prior to play alongside veteran tweaker Nathan Lyon and after Ashton Agar failed to fire in the SCG Test last month, the selectors are making the right call by handing the Victorian rising star his first baggy green cap.
Too often in the past couple of years, the selectors have erred on the side of being conservative with selections in all three formats.
Murphy has come from the clouds to snare a spot in the side for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series after taking 14 wickets at 17.71 in the Sheffield Shield this summer, as well as an eye-catching 3-27 for the Prime Minister’s XI in the first innings against the West Indies.
CLICK HERE for a seven-day free trial to watch the Big Bash League on KAYO
The last time Australia took a punt on an off-spinner with such limited experience was when they gambled on another little-known offie when Lyon was handed his Test debut in Sri Lanka 12 years ago when he had just five matches on his resume. And that turned out alright.
Todd Murphy bowls during a net session in Nagpur. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Murphy has just seven first-class matches under his belt and is considered a different style of spinner to Lyon, even though they’e both offies – Australia haven’t fielded two off-spinners among their frontline bowlers since Gavin Robertson and Colin Miller teamed up for a Test on the 1998 Pakistan tour.
Skipper Pat Cummins is still yet to confirm his final XI but talked up Murphy in his final media conference on Wednesday.
“I think he’d be as prepared as he could be,” he said. “He’s been bowling beautifully in the nets over here. He’s started really well for Victoria in first-class cricket.
“He’s got Nathan Lyon down the other end that he can work with. He’s ready – everyone in the squad here has had really good preparation and whoever we pick is 100 per cent ready to go.”
All-rounder Cameron Green (finger) is all but certain to miss the game alongside veteran quicks Mitchell Starc (finger) and Josh Hazlewood (achilles).
Scott Boland is set to share the new ball with Cummins ahead of Lance Morris but it remains to be seen whether the Aussies roll with a sixth batter in Matt Renshaw or Peter Handscomb or play left-arm spinner Ashton Agar as the all-rounder with wicketkeeper Alex Carey elevated to No.6 in the batting order.
Murphy’s father, Jamie, who played first grade alongside Shane Warne at St Kilda in the 1990s, is believed to have flown from Melbourne to India on Wednesday to watch his debut.
Moody cops backlash for wanting toss thrown out
With all the hullabaloo about the Nagpur groundstaff doctoring the pitch for India’s spinners, former Australian star Tom Moody believes it’s time to get rid of the coin toss.
Moody floated the idea on Twitter that there is a “simple solution with away test matches and pitch doctoring (if that’s a concern), take the toss away and visitors have the choice to bat or bowl”.
English county cricket introduced a system for four years where the coin toss was optional – the visiting team could choose to bowl first if they thought the pitch had been prepared too bowler-friendly, although if the captain wanted to bat first, they would still have to win a coin toss.
The ECB abandoned the idea three years ago when it didn’t have much of an impact on pitch preparations.
Moody’s idea is a step further – giving the away skipper the option to bat first.
And with the lopsided ratio of home nations winning Tests worldwide, his idea definitely has merit.
However he copped many responses from India supporters who accused him and the Australians of hypocrisy.
Former Indian spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan pointedly asked Moody “Are greeeen tops doctored?????” in reference to the Gabba wicket which produced a two-day Test win over South Africa in December with a flurry of wickets as the seamers on both sides had a field day.
>Cricket News
%20(3).jpeg)
0 Comments