Former cricketer Bryce McGain says Australia’s spin bowling attack may be an indication of what’s to come in the Super Eights stage of the T20 World Cup. 

In Sunday’s nail-biting win over Scotland, Australia opted for a spin-heavy bowling attack with Adam Zampa, Ashton Agar and Glen Maxwell leading the charge. 

The trio were supplemented with fast bowlers Mitchell Starc and Nathan Ellis and held the Scotsmen to 5/180  with the spinners taking four of the five wickets.

McGain told SportFM it was an indication that a spin-heavy bowling lineup may be something we see from Australia heading into the Super Eights stage. 

“They had an opportunity to see if the wickets require it,” he said. 

“They wanted to see what was happening and get overs into our spinners. It’s been our quicks that have done the job to this point. 

“They’re expecting these grounds to wear out. There’ll be six games at Daren Sammy Oval in nine days, so it’s a lot of traffic over the square and they can’t get a lot of water in it to bind things together. 

“A lot of them will get worn out, so they had to have a look they had to give the option to the spinners and it probably ensured Scotland got more runs than they would have otherwise with Cummins and Hazelwood in the lineup but they had to find out and tune up all their players.”

Zampa is Australia’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament with nine wickets and third in the overall count. 

Pace bowling has performed better this tournament, with pace bowlers taking 62% of the tournament’s 247 wickets. This is reflected in Australia’s statistics. 

Additionally, all three spin bowlers bowled out their full allotment of four overs against Scotland, while Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood were benched for the match. 

McGain says the inclusion of Cummins and Hazlewood moving ahead is subject to playing conditions. 

“If Agar stays, he’s the second choice, but the fact they gave Maxwell a full allotment of overs, is saying that we’ve got the leg spin, we’ve got an off-spinner who is part-time,” he said. 

“But it’s going to be difficult to leave out the big game experience of Cummins, and the leadership that he brings…but he can most definitely play an important role there.

“Hazelwood reinvented himself a couple of IPLs ago, and he’s one of the best fast bowlers in T20 cricket. 

“The key to winning is winning the power play and it’s been the fast bowlers that have been dominant in power play. 

“Having three unbelievably fast bowlers who can move the white ball early is going to be hard to overlook from an Australian perspective, but if it’s dry and dusty, maybe they do need to play spin.” 

Australia has a five-day break before they take the runner-up of Group D – either Bangladesh or the Netherlands at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on June 21st.

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