Patience, partnerships difference in SA, Aus approach to spin

Sunday Times - February 2, 2014

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

“Was that alright,” Nathan Lyon asked the Australian team’s media officer after he had answered a stream of questions at a press conference in Adelaide during SA’s tour last season.

Lyon’s street urchin’s face, framed by a scraggly beard ripped from a hobo’s chin and focused by eyes like a pair of backlit frisbees, was turned up to meet the gaze of the media man standing next to him. Oliver Twist himself would have struggled to look more innocent.

Silence sucked the moment dry of an appropriate response. Eventually, a thin smile and the briefest of nods sealed the white lie. Lyon had said nothing wrong. He had also said almost nothing worth putting in a newspaper.

Similarly, his bowling did not fall into an easily discernible category. He had kept it tightish, but he had not threatened. He took five wickets in that match - 3/49 from 50 overs in the second innings - but he did not shine.

Fourteen months on, Lyon’s statistics suggest he has regressed. Before Adelaide, the 15th of his 30 tests, he had taken 46 wickets at 29.26. Since then, he has claimed 53 at 35.79. His economy and strike rates have also suffered. However, 4/244 worth of the damage was inflicted in one test on the tour to India last year.

Lyon has played in 10 of Australia’s 12 tests since Adelaide, including all five in their triumphant reclamation of the Ashes at home this summer. There wasn’t much of England’s batting order left once Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle had had their fill, but Lyon took every opportunity that came his way - and with them 19 wickets at 29.36.

Former SA left-arm spinner Nicky Boje considered Lyon’s performance a cautionary tale. “He did fantastically well against England,” Boje said. “He gets nice drift and bounce, and our conditions might suit him.”

Australia produce emphatic players, none more so than Shane Warne, whose shadow will engulf any spinner the Aussies care to pick for decades yet. But Lyon seems satisfied to be the hyena scavenging leftovers from the predatory quicks.

“Full credit goes to our fast bowlers,” Lyon said, with reference to Australia’s Ashes domination, after arriving in SA this week. “They were fantastic the whole time.”

So, how had he managed to share the glory?

“We’re good at bowling in partnerships. We do that the best in the world, I believe. Bowling in partnerships is the biggest key.”

Did Imran Tahir feel as if he was a trusted ally while he was being mauled for 260 runs in Adelaide? Will Robin Peterson consider himself part of plan A or plan B when he marks out his run-up against Australia in the next few weeks?

To borrow from Steve Biko, SA spin bowler, you are on your own.

Another difference between the Australian and the SA approach to spin is patience. The Aussies have, for the most part, stuck with Lyon. That said, there was no sticking with Tahir after his Adelaide annihilation, and, at 34, Peterson is less a step towards the future than a concession to the convention that test XIs must include a specialist spinner. Or, considering SA have become the best team in the game on the strong backs of their pace attack, must they?

“You always need a spinner,” Boje snorted, and backed it up. “You can’t say our spinners aren’t good enough. Imran Tahir was the main man in the Emirates and Robin Peterson has taken important wickets.”

Patience, partnerships, or pace? Tough question, fellow South Africans. But take your time; it’s alright.