At Oval,spin it to win it

On Saturday,Lyon downplayed his chances of selection for the Adelaide Test. Theres a fair amount of grass still, he said. Who knows,we might still go with four quicks.

But recent history suggests that this is highly unlikely. The wicket here,in general,is less daunting to bat on,and that usually means that the third innings is still young at the start of Day Four.

And its here that things have gotten interesting. In the five Tests staged here from Indias visit in 2003-04 to their last Test here in 2007-08,four saw third innings collapses after big first-innings scores from both teams. The smallest first innings total in any of those four Tests was 405,by the West Indies in 2005-06,and the largest first-innings lead was 38,achieved by England in 2006-07. In short,on each of those occasions,the Test returned to square one at the start of the third innings.

In three of those four Tests,the side batting third collapsed dramatically and lost the game. In 2003-04,Australia were bowled out for 196. Two years later,the West Indies folded for 204. The year after that,most dramatic of all,England imploded to 129 all out. In 2007-08,Virender Sehwags 151 prevented a similar collapse for India.

Part-time success

The difference for Australia might well have been the lack of Shane Warne,who had taken four wickets against England the year before and six wickets against the West Indies the year before that. Ajit Agarkar did the most damage for India in 2003-04,but amidst his six wickets,Sachin Tendulkar came on,bowled leg spin and dismissed Damien Martyn and Steve Waugh,after the duo had put on 65 for the fourth wicket.

In short,spin always comes into play at the Adelaide Oval.

The above instances suggest once again that its wrist spinners who are likeliest to do any damage on days four and five,but in the absence of any such options,Michael Clarke and Virender Sehwag will turn once again,in all likelihood,to Lyon and Ashwin.

The insider

Lyon knows the Adelaide wicket very well,having tended to it as part of the groundstaff as recently as last years Ashes Test.

Im pretty positive this one is going to go five days and its going to be a pretty hard tussle for us, he said. The pitch is only going to get slower and lower,so hopefully itll have a little bit more turn out there for me.

So far,the Indians have handled Lyon with ease. The spinner gushed about what a challenge it was,being a young spinner and bowling against the best batters against spin. Their hands are unbelievable and theyre really confident against spin, he said.

Given a wearing wicket and the pressure of a third or fourth innings,India can be as susceptible as any other side to accurate spin bowling. Lyon,who possesses no obvious variation like the doosra or the carrom ball,can come across as someone who cant easily beat batsmen of high class. But he wasnt too worried about the lack of mystery surrounding his bowling.

The soduku puzzle

My ability is to hang the ball in the air and get some drop and drift on it,so Im not worried about the doosra or soduku ball or anything like that, he said. Ill just stick with my offies.

Both Lyon and Ashwin will do well to remember the best delivery bowled by a spinner in this series. It was bowled by Ashwin at Melbourne,and it was a conventional off break.

There was no mystery to it,except for how well it concealed where it was going to land. Floated above Mike Husseys eyeline,it drew the left-hander out of his crease and dipped on him. Trying to defend it,Hussey got nowhere near the pitch and the ball gripped and turned and took his outside edge. Rahul Dravid dropped the catch at slip.

Since that moment,Ashwin has reverted to flat,defensive off spin,targeting middle stump even against the right handers and employing his carrom or soduku ball a little too often for it to retain any mystique. Had Dravid taken that catch,Ashwin might have bowled very differently at Sydney.

Clarke aiming for one thing only: whitewash

Australia captain Michael Clarke on Saturday stated that his team wouldnt be satisfied with anything less than a 4-0 whitewash against India. Australia have already pocketed the series 3-0,and the two teams will now play the final Test match at the Adelaide Oval starting January 24.

We are thinking one thing heading into the last Test against India whitewash. Anything less than a 4-0 defeat of this powerful Indian team will be a disappointment to all of us, Clarke wrote in his column for The Telegraph.

The Aussie skipper admitted that it was really satisfying to clinch the series in Perth especially against a side that was ranked No 2 in the world before the series started,and No 1 not too long ago.

There was great satisfaction with clinching the series in Perth. It was a fine achievement to beat a side ranked second in the world when the series started, he wrote in the newspaper.