Ashes 2023: A miserable day for Pat Cummins has McDonald defend lack of spin option

It was a dirty day in the field for Australia’s Pat Cummins but the Aussie skipper was captaining with one hand tied behind his back, writes Daniel Cherny.

Australian coach Andrew McDonald has defended the Aussie selection panel’s call not to pick a spinner for the first time in more than 11 years after England took control of the fourth Test on day two.

The tourists dropped off-spinner Todd Murphy to squeeze in an extra all-rounder but the call has been criticised, including by Australian legend Steve Waugh, who labelled the call a “mistake” on SEN.

Part-timer Travis Head was whacked for 48 runs from six overs on day two as England advanced to 4-384 after bowling the Aussies out for 317.

Marnus Labuschagne was beaten by the turn of Moeen Ali on day one, however McDonald backed the decision not to select a specialist tweaker for the first time in 118 Tests and more than 11 years.

Head coach of Australia Andrew McDonald has defended the decision to go into the MAnchester Test without a specialist spinner. Picture: Getty Images

“We felt like on this surface against this opponent that spin wouldn’t play a huge part and we’re yet to see that – I know Moeen took a wicket in the first innings,” McDonald said on BBC Sport.

“We’ll never know what it would’ve looked like with a spinner today, we went with a different attack and we’ve got to focus on the bowlers we’ve got.”

But McDonald said the wicket was likely to deteriorate, with variable bounce already playing a role.

“I think the pitch will start to play up. We’re a little bit behind at the moment to consider that and what it may look like to bowl on last,” McDonald said.

McDonald said the Aussies had not picked a team with a view to drawing this Test, a result that would ensure the Ashes are retained, even with much rain forecast for the weekend.

“Draws don’t factor in at the speed these Tests are being played at so that was never discussed coming in,” McDonald said.

“I know there’s been a lot of talk about the weather but we thought we were going to get washed out in our preparations and we got two cracking days to prepare. The weather is unpredictable so the draw and the weather wasn’t a factor in our thinking.”

ANALYSIS: A DIRTY DAY FOR CUMMINS

Travis Head averages 61 in first-class cricket.

With the ball, that is.

Twenty-two overs into England’s first innings on Thursday, with the hosts 1-97 and quickly bridging the gap on Australia, Pat Cummins tossed the ball to his main spin option.

Yes, Travis Head.

With his first ball, Head was duly reverse swept for four by Zak Crawley, bringing up the England opener’s 50.

With Head’s second ball, Crawley slog-swept him for six.

What did Australia expect?

Cummins had his dirtiest day as a Test captain. He was out from the first ball of the day, went at around a run a ball, bowled four no-balls, dropped a catch and lost another one in the air.

Australia captain Pat Cummins leaves the field after a tough day at Old Trafford. Getty Images

He had ring fields, attacking fields, spread fields, stacked fields, had three men behind square on the off-side boundary at one point, and pretty much nothing worked.

This was a nasty one for the skipper, but while plenty of the blame will reasonably be apportioned his way, he was captaining with one hand tied behind his back.

The Aussies took a hell of a gamble by not picking a frontline tweaker for this match and it looks to have backfired spectacularly.

That the two players whose spots appeared most vulnerable had Australia stuck to its longstanding policy of selecting a spinner – Cameron Green and David Warner – scored 16 and 32 respectively on day one, already placed the merits of the call not to include Todd Murphy in question.

After Crawley blasted his way to 189 at better than a run a ball, England building a commanding first innings lead as he did so, the decision looked about as well thought out as Victoria’s Commonwealth Games plans.

Test 50 #15 😎

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When Nathan Lyon’s calf blew up in the field on the second afternoon at Lord’s, pundits quite reasonably questioned whether it would be a moment looked upon like Glenn McGrath treading on a ball pursuing an errant rugby pass from Brad Haddin in the warm-up before the start of the Edgbaston Test in 2005.

Increasingly those fears look prescient. Not just because Australia has missed Lyon’s consistency, accuracy, guile and experience. But because without Lyon, the entire side has looked off-kilter.

His absence has forced the Aussies into dramatic changes of plan, like relying on two seaming all-rounders and a part-time spinner to fill the role of a primary bowler.

But Test cricket doesn’t work like that. A few bits and pieces do not make a whole, and with Head, Green – who did eventually remove Crawley – and Mitch Marsh all offering fractions, Cummins was quickly short of compelling options once he, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc tired.

For his part, Head bowled six overs for 48. That was as many as he made on Wednesday. All well and good to bolster your batting on paper, but at what cost?

Australia has to call on Marnus Labuschagne to bowl some overs. Picture: AFP

Head took 4-10 in Galle last year, but in his own words “let the wicket do the work” on that occasion. It was wishful thinking to believe he could be the No. 1 man in a live Ashes rubber.

That Starc was clutching his hamstring at several junctures during the day added to a concerning picture for the tourists. That he left the field later with a shoulder issue was a further worry with potentially far-reaching implications.

The pitch was also offering precious little laterally, underscoring the waste of Australia’s inability to convert starts on the opening day.

And yet by day’s end, the deck was playing up to the extent that Hazlewood got a back of a length ball to shoot through shin high and end Joe Root’s innings on 84.

Though it was frustrating for England, it would have sent shudders through the Australian camp given the Aussies would have to bat on this deck again, facing a sizeable deficit.

The match situation was best summed up by the fact that after day one, Marnus Labuschgane said that ideally, he wouldn’t have to bowl and that by the end of day two, he was rolling the arm over.

In all likelihood, Australia is going to need rain, and lots of it.

The Aussies may yet retain the Ashes in Manchester, but on the first two days’ evidence that will be despite selection, not because of it.