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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Geoff Lemon at Sydney Cricket Ground

Australia ignoring spin forgets that good bowlers are good bowlers

Cameron Green celebrates with Beau Webster (left) after taking the catch to dismiss Will Jacks of England during day two of the fifth Test.
Seam-bowling all-rounders Beau Webster (left) and Cameron Green were picked by Australia instead of a specialist spinner at the SCG. Webster did try some off-spin in his five overs. Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

When Shane Warne called his biography No Spin, it wasn’t a recommendation. Speaking for the dead is unacceptably presumptuous, but his record in life was loud and clear in backing his guild. Teams should always give themselves the option of spin bowling was his common contention.

Nor is allegiance of style the only factor. His old teammate Jason Gillespie, as pure a paceman as they come, had the same view watching the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney. “You need that variety,” he said on radio, shaking his head.

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