05/07/2009 6:16 PM
In the post Shane Warne-Stuart MacGill era, it seems the only thing that is turning in Australia is its revolving-door policy to spinners.
And it appears set to continue when selectors name the XI to play in the first Ashes Test in Cardiff.
Since MacGill retired abruptly in the Caribbean last year, Australia has played five spinners in 12 Tests.
The smart money is suggesting Australia will name Stuart Clark in its final bowling slot, leaving Nathan Hauritz waiting for the next gap to appear before he gets his next turn.
He may have to wait a while. For if he does not get a game on a wicket which it seems everyone in England, including the Queen's corgis, thinks will offer plenty of turn, he'll be so idol you'd think he was training to become a Buckingham Palace guard.
Just like Shakira's hips, Hauritz's numbers don't lie. Figures of 2-260 aren't exactly the sort of numbers that will knock the door down. Hell, the alarm bell which was supposed to wake up Andrew Flintoff last week had more chance of being heard.
But at the risk of being sent by my editor on the first flight from Heathrow to whichever event Chris Guccione is qualifying for next week, I'm going to stick my head out and say pick Hauri now.
Sure, every subeditor on Fleet Street will be dying to use the 'Rocky Hauri Picture Show' headline but if Cardiff turns out to be the wicket they think it is selectors would be silly not to pick him.
Yes, we know door knobs have turned more than Hauritz's offies but come days four and five in Cardiff when Australia needs someone to hit those footmarks created by Mitchell Johnson, who will Ricky Ponting turn to?
Marcus North sure ain't the man. Nor is another part-timer in Simon Katich or Michael Clarke however golden his arm has been in the past.
That's no disrespect to their abilities but their main job is to bat. Hauritz's job is to bowl. It'd be like asking a sparky to fix your computer.
On paper, Hauritz is not one of Australia's best four bowlers but he is if the wicket's a turner.
It's not as if Hauritz has been woeful in the four Tests that he's played. Fourteen wickets at 32 apiece and an economy rate of 2.69 runs an over is acceptable.
It's just that we're judging him by the standards set by Warne.
England's second-string batsmen attacked Hauritz this week and it's likely their senior men will do so again next week.
But having the audacity to hit over the top in a tour match as opposed to Test cricket are two different things.
Holing out in the deep in a Test never looks good, particularly against someone as maligned as Hauritz.
Kevin Pietersen aside, with the exception of Flintoff when he's on song, there are few natural strokemakers in the England side. They'd be in foreign territory and not just because they're in Wales.
Andrew Hilditch and his selectors were brave in South Africa and were rewarded handsomely but chose not to roll the dice in the ICC World Twenty20 and paid the price.
Hauritz will be hoping if they roll a pair of sixes this time they won't add it up and make him 12th man.