Four spinners set to battle to team up with Nathan Lyon on Australia’s tour of India

Echuca has been toughing it out with the recent floods, but now a home-grown off-spinning cricketer could put the town back on the map in a positive way with the biggest gig of his life.

Secret discussions are underway over the possibility of Adam Zampa becoming a shock candidate for Australia’s bumper Test tour of India.

Zampa has not bowled with a red ball since November 2019, but sources say the World Cup-winning leg-spinner is expected to play in NSW’s Sheffield Shield match against Victoria on December 1 in Melbourne.

While taking Zampa to India as a bolter for the four-Test series starting in February is a long way from a formality – with one Shield game in three years hardly an ideal sample size – the white ball king’s name has been discussed by selectors who like his accuracy and big match gravitas.

It puts enormous pressure on incumbent leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson, who had some promising moments in his four Tests in Pakistan and Sri Lanka this year, but didn’t quite slam dunk his opportunity, leaving the door ajar for a potential challenge from Zampa.

Despite the potential battle of the leggies, the reality is Ashton Agar is perhaps the favourite to partner Nathan Lyon against India given all reports out of Sri Lanka earlier this year were the left-arm orthodox star would have played ahead of Swepson if not for injury.

Selectors swear by statistics from all touring Test nations which suggest left-armers perform better in sub-continental conditions than leggies.

Adam Zampa celebrates a wicket in Australia’s ODI win over England. Picture: Getty Images

However, forgetting India for a moment, News Corp understands if injury was to befell Lyon at any point during this summer, it’s 22-year-old Victorian off-spinner Todd Murphy who is standing out as the next cab off the rank to play a Test for Australia.

Murphy has played just five first-class matches, but impressed selectors playing for Australia A in Sri Lanka and will take on the West Indies alongside Agar next week in the Prime Minister’s XI game in Canberra.

Lyon hasn’t publicly anointed the bespectacled Murphy as his heir apparent, but behind the scenes the GOAT has given the young right-arm off-spinner from Echuca the thumbs up to selectors as the real deal.

The difficulty for Murphy when it comes to selection for a Test debut in India will be whether it’s possible to pick him alongside Lyon as a second off-spinner in the same attack – with the temptation to go for the variation of a left-armer or a leggie.

TODD MURPHY

The blossoming relationship between Lyon and Murphy could help guarantee a smooth transition for Australia when the time ultimately comes for The GOAT to hang up his boots (there is no sign of this happening any time soon but Lyon is 35 next week).

Murphy was in Adelaide with the Victorian side during last summer’s Covid season when every team was in a bubble in South Australia.

Victorian teammate Nic Maddinson asked Murphy if he’d like Lyon to pop into training and watch him bowl, and the youngster jumped at the opportunity, despite the unusual circumstances of a player from a rival team arriving at the nets.

Lyon has been a fan ever since and his mentorship of Murphy – from off-spinner to off-spinner – could be vital.

Experts say Murphy is still a work in progress with just a handful of first-class matches under his belt, but good judges believe he is the pick of Australia’s spinners not in the Test team and has a huge future.

Players like his personable and humble nature.

Todd Murphy is a name to watch ahead of the Indian tour. Picture: Getty Images

ADAM ZAMPA

As Glenn Maxwell has discovered, when you’re a fully-fledged international white ball star it’s almost impossible to play any consistent Sheffield Shield cricket.

Zampa has been one of the first chosen in Australia’s white ball teams for some time now, and as a result has not played a single Shield game for NSW since he made the switch from South Australia.

That is set to change for NSW’s final Shield game before the Big Bash break against Victoria at Junction Oval in Melbourne starting on December 1.

Lyon will be on Test duty and young leggie Tanveer Sangha is injured, leaving Zampa as the only recognised spinner on NSW’s books.

The timing is good because Zampa’s name has been mentioned quietly around the traps as a genuine consideration for the Test tour of India.

Most appealing is Zampa’s ability to land five out of six balls in as shoebox.

He is supremely accurate and on Indian pitches where it could go through the top from the first session, Zampa’s fast leg-spin could create problems for Indian batsmen on raging turners.

Zampa might not be technically the best spinning option, and his first-class average of 48.26 is not flattering.

But he is pragmatic and is a bowler who has proven more than any other spinner in Australia outside of Lyon that he can find a way under pressure.

Can Adam Zampa transition to Test cricket? Picture: AFP Images

MITCHELL SWEPSON

There is a watch on Swepson and question marks over whether he has the penetration necessary to be a frontline weapon in India.

This is a season of reckoning for the Queenslander.

The Indian tour is the ultimate and in many ways Swepson deserves the chance to tour given the long apprenticeship he has done over the years and his solid performances in Asia this year.

But Swepson’s accuracy wasn’t necessarily what Australia had hoped and the pressure is on.

Like Zampa though, Swepson bowls fast leg-spin which could be difficult to handle on a raging turner.

ASHTON AGAR

Incredibly, Agar has still only played four Test matches for Australia and his most recent was way back in 2017.

That said, the versatile left-armer is likely to play a key role in India next year.

Agar would have almost certainly played the two Tests in Sri Lanka earlier this year if not for a side strain and the fact he will play in next week’s Prime Minister’s XI four-day game against the West Indies in Canberra is an indication of his place in Australia’s plans.

It’s a shame Australia has its third ODI against England next week, because what would be most ideal for selectors would be for Agar and Zampa to lock horns in the WA v NSW Shield match at the SCG.

Originally published as Four spinners set to battle to team up with Nathan Lyon on Australia’s tour of India