Ashley Mallett: Nathan Lyon is a better spinner than Adam Zampa, so make the change for Australia’s ODI side
STATS never tell the full story, and that is true of the debate over Australia’s best spinner, writes Ashley Mallett.
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Bring back Nathan Lyon.
Imagine if the brilliant off-spinner Graeme Swann at his peak was being left out of the England ODI squad for someone like Moeen Ali, the slow bowler of the insipid offerings brigade. There would be a national revolt.
Lyon’s recall to Steve Smith’s ODI team for at least the final couple of ODIs should be a sure thing in a game where horses for courses often dictates the selectors’ mood.
But this particular horse suits any course. Lyon bowls well on any surface. He doesn’t need the spin and bounce in Adelaide or the big turning SCG, these days Lyon can adapt to any surface.
At the peak of his powers right now, Lyon bemused and befuddled the England batsmen in the Ashes series and would be the ideal foil to the fast bowlers again in the short form of the game. He has played 13 ODIs for a modest return of 17 wickets at 34.82 and a strike rate of 42.3 — hardly numbers to rattle the selectors’ cage.
However, he is bowling brilliantly; good enough to earn the title as the world’s best spinner and he should replace Adam Zampa, who leaks too many runs on the flint-hard Australian pitches and doesn’t turn his leg break. Zampa is a terrific competitor. He can make runs at a frenetic rate down the order and is a good fieldsman. However, his bowling arm is too high for him to get his wrist in the right position to bowl leg-break. Watch closely and you will note the only time he gets breadth of turn for his leggie is when he bowls well out side the line of off-stump.
In 1989, when coaching the 18-year-old Stuart McGill in Perth, I noticed that he bowled an excellent wrong’un and fizzing top-spinner, but couldn’t turn his leggie because his arm was too high.
“It’s high on purpose,” he said, “I want to angle in and spin away.”
“Well, you are certainly angling the ball in, but there is no turn from the leg,” I replied. “There are two things you could try. One, you might ask the batsman to stand at backward point because then you are able to get your wrist in the perfect position to bowl a leg break. Or, you could…”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “Bowl with a lower arm.”
From then on McGill bowled with a low arm and, boy, could he achieve a hugely turning leg-break. Zampa could achieve the same thing, but he’s now in his 26th year and it may be too late to change. He may not think he needs to change. After all, he is in the first-choice ODI Australian squad.
In 34 first-class matches Zampa has taken just 97 wickets at the tall average of 45.92 — a compelling case for his need to develop a decent leggie. In the ODIs he has done well on the subcontinent wickets and can bowl a good wrong’un and slider, but it is a consistently turning stock leg-break which he lacks. Statistically, he has the wood on Lyon for an ODI spot. In 28 games he has taken 40 wickets at 32.90, with a strike rate of 34.6. Lyon played his most recent ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo, but his bowling has soared in the past 12 months, to such an extent that the Australian selectors must rethink his future in the short form of the game.
A brilliant fieldsman near the bat or in the outfield, Lyon would add tremendous zest in the field and great experience as a spinner who can now adapt to any situation in the game.
McGill played just three ODIs, taking six wickets at 17.50 with a stunning strike-rate of 30. The great Shane Warne played 194 ODIs, taking 293 wickets at 25.73 and a strike rate of 36.3, and Swann, in 79 ODIs claimed 104 wickets at 27.76 at a strike rate of 36.6.
Statistically McGill’s bowling should have won him many more games in limited overs cricket at the internationally level.
However, stats aren’t everything and they should not mitigate against Nathan Lyon’s imminent recall to the big stage wearing the gold and green.
Originally published as Ashley Mallett: Nathan Lyon is a better spinner than Adam Zampa, so make the change for Australia’s ODI side
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