Usman Khawaja has on Saturday (May 9) expressed his concerns over the spin stock in Australia, warning the national management to be ready to face a similar condition it was in when Shane Warne retired from the game almost 13 years ago.
Joining the forces, the veteran batman has called for spin-friendly pitches in the Sheffield Shield, saying if they will continue to produce seam friendly pitches, the lack of quality tweakers at the Australia cricket will leave the side struggling to find Nathan Lyon’s rightful successor.
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A similar thing happened in Australia when spin legend Warne retired in 2007 and Khawaja believes that the side needs to seriously re-think the way pitches are prepared at the domestic level.
He further rated his Queensland teammate Mitchell Swepson as the best spinner in Australia after Lyon, but he's reluctant to use him at the domestic level because conditions often don't suit spinners.
Khawaja told Fox Sports News, “It's really hard, even for me as a captain, to get (Swepson) into the game when the ball is hooping around corners and you're playing on really green decks. He's always been a part of our team and he's always there no matter what the wicket is because he's such a good bowler.”
He further added, “But it's really hard to get him in the game sometimes because the wickets weren't really favoring spin. I feel for spinners in Australia and we need to be careful here because we have an absolute genius in Nathan Lyon … but who’s coming after him?”
Usman signed off by saying, “Spinners just went out of the game. Unless we have spinners playing day in and day out, getting involved in those match scenarios across the country, we’re going to suffer. Just like we suffered when Warnie left. I think we had a similar situation where Tassie was really green, they were trying to make really green wickets. These guys need to bowl so hopefully this year we’ve got wickets that are favorable for everyone.”
(With Fox Sports News Inputs)
