Shane Warne wants Australian state teams to give spinners more exposure in Sheffield Shield 

Depth of spin talent beyond Nathan Lyon should be a genuine worry for Australia.

In order to arrest the decline of spin bowling in Australia, Shane Warne reckons it should be made necessary by Cricket Australia (CA) for state teams to field one spinner in their line-up during the Sheffield Shield, country's premier domestic first-class tournament. 

Warne thinks this will encourage spinners, who have long been marginalised by the rise in drop-in surfaces and green tracks down under.

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"A spinner should play every single game, no matter what the conditions are like, so that particular spinners can learn how to bowl on day one or day four. At the moment, they (states) only pick them when the conditions suit," Warne was quoted as saying by 'The West Australian'.

"How are they going to learn if you don't allow them to play state cricket? There has to be a responsibility on the states to pick one specialist spinner in every game. And if they don't, well maybe Cricket Australia has to step in. Otherwise, spin bowling will go downhill, and is going downhill fast."

Thankfully for Australia, someone like Nathan Lyon is still going strong. But beyond him, the spin cupboard looks bare, as has been evident on country's tours to the subcontinent since Warne hung up his boots. 

"Nathan Lyon is one of the best spinners in the world, and we're so lucky to have a great spinner in Lyon. If something happened to him, we've got a spinner with very little first class experience that could be up against some of the best players in the world of spin," said Warne, who retired in 2007 with 708 Test wickets. 

"We have some good spinners in Australia, but they're not getting the opportunities. Cricket Australia should maybe put some pressure on the states and say, 'You have to pick one specialist spinner in your team every time.'"

How would young spinners such as Mitchell Swepson, Cameron Boyce, Adam Zampa, Ashton Agar & others develop and progress swiftly to the Test match game when they aren't even bowling enough overs at the domestic level?

"Once upon a time, every state had completely different conditions. Now, there's a lot of drop-in pitches Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth is now a drop-in pitch in the new stadium. We've got to be careful it's not too much the same," said Warne. 

"The states want to win so badly, that sometimes they leave out a spinner, rather than thinking long-term."

(Inputs from PTI)