O'Keefe pinpoints Aussie spin issues

While Australian cricket continues to explore innovative ways to replicate and conquer the spin-friendly conditions that challenge touring teams to the subcontinent, spinner Steve O’Keefe believes as much or more can be gleaned by studying the locals.

O’Keefe has returned from his maiden Test tour and debut in the Baggy Green with some clear ideas on why it was Pakistan’s equally inexperienced spin bowlers proved so effective in the UAE, and observations as to why their batsmen were able to dominate.

He cited the unconventional bowling action employed by Pakistan’s fellow left-arm orthodox spinner Zulfiqar Babar, the leading wicket-taker in the two Test series with 14 at 26.35, whose lethal ‘slider’ (delivery that went on with his arm) baffled many of the Australian batsmen.

O’Keefe noted that subtle differences in the way Babar bowled compared to the technique young Australian spinners are taught made a significant difference on pitches that – while dry and slow – did not offer substantial turn apart from when the ball landed in bowlers’ footmarks.

“You take someone like Babar who does things that we're traditionally taught not to," O'Keefe told reporters in Sydney ahead of the upcoming round of Bupa Sheffield Shield matches in which he will return to the New South Wales line-up for their match against South Australia in Adelaide.

"He doesn't finish off with his front bowling arm past his hip, he does it to the other (left) side and he bowls a lot of ‘square’ spin.

"In Australia, we're taught to try to get over the top of the ball and bounce it, however (he) was more effective sliding it on, and we saw how many guys that we had getting out lbw or bowled missing balls that were going straight and not spinning, with the odd one turning.

"So that's about adjusting to the conditions and you can really learn a lot from someone like him who's played a lot of first-class cricket, and I thought he bowled exceptionally well in tandem with their other spinners (Yasir Shai and Mohammad Hafeez).

“As a bowler I'm going to take a lot out of that and I'm sure the batters who didn't have as much success as they'd have liked will also learn from it."

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Pakistan's Zulfiqar Babar terrorised the Australians throughout the two-Test series in the UAE // Getty Images

Another glaring difference O’Keefe noted as the Australian bowlers sent down around 225 overs for a return of 12 wickets (“you get a lot of time for reflection”) in his debut Test in Dubai was the method employed by Pakistan’s batsmen to keep the runs flowing.

In particular, the 28-year-old Australian spinner was struck by the regularity with which the Pakistani batsmen would implement the sweep shot against anything that was pitched full and in line with the stumps.

It was a shot that former Test opener Matthew Hayden trained relentlessly to perfect in the lead-up to Australia’s 2001 tour to India, and enabled him to dominate the home team’s spin attacks and become regarded as one of the best players of spin Australia has produced.

O’Keefe noted that even though changes to the way that pitches are prepared for Shield matches in Australia have led to more overs being bowled by spinners, it’s rare to see a batsman in the first-class competition playing a sweep shot with any regularity or conviction.

Not only does it provide a release for batsmen to rotate the strike when the spinners are building pressure, it often tempts spinners to flight the ball slightly shorter in length which in turn creates an opportunity for batsmen to use their feet and loft the ball down the ground.

O’Keefe said that was a dual ploy that worked consistently and productively for the Pakistanis who scored more than 1,600 runs for the loss of 21 wickets across four Test innings in the UAE.

“One thing I took out of it is they sweep so well,” said O’Keefe, who was left out of the starting XI for the second Test in Abu Dhabi despite being Australia’s most successful spinner in the first with match figures of 4-219.

"Very rarely did they miss a sweep shot, and in Australian conditions you very rarely come up against guys who sweep at all.

“They (the Pakistan batsmen) would sweep two or three times an over – they can run down the wicket and hit over your head, block and sweep.

“So that took some adjusting to – we could have adjusted a bit quicker I think, myself and Nathan (Lyon), but they took the game to us.”

O’Keefe said the steps being taken by Cricket Australia to better prepare players for spinning conditions – the implementation of specialist training facilities at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, training and tour opportunities to the subcontinent for development teams and international representatives – are having a positive effect.

But he also advocated that players take a leaf from the playbook of Hayden, who spent hours on specially-prepared dry, dusty wickets in Brisbane prior to heading to India in 2001 to hone his game against the sort of bowling he knew he would face.

“I think we can certainly do a lot more, and I think a lot of it is up to the individual to do their homework as well,” O’Keefe said when asked if enough was being done to prepare Australian players for unfamiliar conditions and opponents.

“It’s quite hard, it’s not like you can move the pitches from there (the subcontinent) over here.

“And getting more overs (from spinners) against good batters in Shield cricket will certainly help.

“But for some reason we haven’t been successful on the subcontinent so we’ve got to improve.

“If we keep doing the same thing then we’re going to keep getting hammered over there.”

Where he doesn’t see any need for change is in the leadership of Australia’s Test team, despite captain Michael Clarke being asked on his return from the UAE whether he still felt he was the best person to captain the Test team after their two-nil loss to Pakistan.

O’Keefe added his voice to former Australian captains Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting who roundly dismissed any suggestion that the whitewash in the UAE was a sign that change was needed at the top.

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 “Yes we’ve got to improve in the subcontinent but in terms of leadership, from management all the way through to the captain of the team, I’ve never felt that I’ve played in a better team in regards to those aspects,” O’Keefe said.

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Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Allan Border and Steve Waugh pose with the ICC World Cup trophy // Getty Images

For his part, Clarke claimed he took no issue with the criticism and the questioning that came his way when the team arrived back from the Emirates on Wednesday morning.

But he pointed to last summer’s five-nil Ashes sweep against England and the subsequent away series win over South Africa (then and now the world’s top-ranked Test team) as an indication that there was much to be positive about despite the loss to Pakistan.

And he foreshadowed that those positives would be obvious during the upcoming four-Test Commonwealth Bank Series against India that begins in Brisbane next month.

“As a leader and as a captain you’ve got to deal with that (criticism), and I’ve always said I should be accountable for the times that we don’t have success,” Clarke told Triple M’s Hot Breakfast radio show in Melbourne this morning.

“I’m the captain of the team and I take full responsibility, (but) I’m also really proud of what we’ve achieved over the past 12 months and from the team’s perspective I certainly don’t think that losing two Test matches is as great a deal as has been made out.

“In saying that, we didn’t play good cricket and we want to win.

“So I’m fine with the criticism that has come from our most recent tour and I know we can turn things around this summer.”