Australian spinners since 1970

[coach]

Shane Warne if not the greatest spinner of all time certainly in the top three. Anyone who takes over 700 wickets has to be an all-time great.

But I think Warnes success has given cricketing fans a false impression on the quality of spinners Australia has put out in the past 40 years.

Going back to the late 50's and early 60's we had the great Richie Benaud. But after him and up till Warne we had no spinner that you could even go close to calling a great.

Since 1970, other then Warne we have had just 3 spinners top 100 test wickets. Those being MacGill 208, Mallett 132 and Yardley 126. Not much to write about is it?

Other spinners used in this period include O'Keefe (53 wickets), Matthews (61), Higgs (66) and May (75). None of these would ever be considered to great test players. At best we could call them average. But at one time or another they were Australia front line spinner.

What it shows is that Australia can come up with a whole bunch of great fast bowlers. But at the same time we do struggle with developing spinners. And right now it appears we are struggling once again.

 

[JJ]

Mallett and Yardley were quality offies... but not great. I'm not convinced Benaud was a great spinner as such - great all-round cricketer yes... Probably have to go back to O'Reilly and Grimmett (who of course was a Kiwi anyway)

 

[willvillain]

Two things:

It's not just Australia that comes up with more fast bowlers than spinners, that's consistent across world cricket. It's just the nature of cricket and the way spinners are used - quicks are more common, and really, top notch spinners are fairly rare across the board.

Secondly, I'd settle for an average spinner like Skull or Mo at the moment!!

 

[TheParraboy]

Tom Hogan picked up 15 test wickets, best of 5/66

 

[hineyrulz]

I think it just shows what a tough art spin bowling is, especally being a finger spinner in Australia. Murali averaged 75 in Aus.

 

[coach]

Two things:

It's not just Australia that comes up with more fast bowlers than spinners, that's consistent across world cricket. It's just the nature of cricket and the way spinners are used - quicks are more common, and really, top notch spinners are fairly rare across the board.

What you say is true, because thats my point. I think some thought if we could find Warne then how difficult would another spinner.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

in 130 years of test cricket we've had three world class spinners and about 3 or 4 top notch/really really good spinners

producing spinners isn't what we do

we don't have the pitches and conditions to entice someone to take up spin bowling and spin bowling needs ALOT of confidence from the captain to set attacking fields and not be bogged down if the ball is tossed up and heaved over the rope and state captains just aren't affording this confidence and our spinners have turned into one end blockers to cease runs and give the quicks a rotation

I'm not convinced Benaud was a great spinner as such - great all-round cricketer yes... Probably have to go back to O'Reilly and Grimmett (who of course was a Kiwi anyway)

without having seeing him but going by what alot of people who have seen him, he wasn't great but he was in the tier just below great ... just about every team would have him

 

[Twizzle]

dont forget Mo

 

[hineyrulz]

Mo was treated poorly by the selectors, if they played him as a batting all rounder his bowling may have flourished. He did average over 40 with the bat. Better than a lot of the gumbies of the 80's.

 

[Twizzle]

he's still playing grade cricket in Sydney

 

[TheParraboy]

Didnt Mo score 3-4 test centuries, was no mug with the bat thats for sure.

Very passionate cricketer, no wonder he is still playing, loves the blues and their history

 

[hineyrulz]

Still probably a better bowler than Haurie.

 

[NK Arsenal]

Colin Miller is god :crazy:

 

[roopy]

Bob Holland won us tests against the west indies when Lillee and Thompson couldn't.
Terry Jenner was a flawed genius who could have been as good as Warne if not for his personal problems.

Personally i think that captains were to blame.
The spinner only got the ball when everything else had been tried and the ball was a piece of sponge rubber till Warne proved he was a match winner and got the ball when he wanted it.
Mo Mathews would have been as effective as Daniel Vettori if he had been used as a frontline bowler rather than a guy to tie up an end when the ball got old.

 

[Red Bear]

Mallett and Yardley were quality offies... but not great. I'm not convinced Benaud was a great spinner as such - great all-round cricketer yes... Probably have to go back to O'Reilly and Grimmett (who of course was a Kiwi anyway)

From all reports Benaud was pretty bloody good, averaged about 27 didnt he? Probly 5th but behind the like of O'Reily and warne (who are no doubt 1 and 2 in whatever order) and Macgill and Grimmet that is pretty respectable,

Its just that with those 5 and the two offies mentioned in our 130 year test history we arent awesome producers of spin (producer of great spinners, not great producers of spin you could say).

Especially when you consider it was about 30 years between benaud and warne, and 50 or so between o reilly/grimmet and warne, the australian public are being overly optermistic in the finding a spinner and the luxury that is havng a top class spinner. Unfortunately the warne/macgill era is over and we perhaps were not as greatful as we should have been for them (not just the genius that was warne but the luxury of macgill as a backup).


Finger spinners are also near useless in Australia, we simply dont have the low slow decks they require bar maybe Sydney.

 

[herbert henry1908]

From all reports Benaud was pretty bloody good, averaged about 27 didnt he? Probly 5th but behind the like of O'Reily and warne (who are no doubt 1 and 2 in whatever order) and Macgill and Grimmet that is pretty respectable,

Going off the stats Grimmet was as good if not better than Tiger O'Rielly. And i could be wrong but i think ive heard benaud say as much before.

Grimmet:

37 matches
214 wickets
24.21 average
2.16 econ
67 strike rate
21 5 wickets
7 10 wickets

what stands out for me here is 21 , 5 wicket hauls in only 37 matches. Te other interesting thing is the strike rate isnt that great , but i think thats more of a reflection of the times.

Orielly:

27 matches
144 wickets
22.59 average
1.94 economy
69 strike rate
11 , 5 wickets
3 , 10 wickets


Warne , O'Rielly & Grimmet. The 3 greatest leg spinners of all time.

 

[hineyrulz]

But have a look at the Economy rates, just amazing for Leg spinners.

 

[Red Bear]

I'd always heard that even when Grimmet took more wickets O'Reilly was the better bowler (perhaps the greatest bowler of all time).

 

[roopy]

O'rielly wasn't really a slow bowler.
He bowled like Anil Kumble - medium leg breaks.
As much a swing bowler as a spin bowler.