O’Keefe urges Australia to prioritise red-ball prep for Sri Lanka-bound spinners

With Todd Murphy and Corey Rocchiccioli about to audition with Australia A for a berth on the Sri Lanka Test tour in January, former Test spinner Steve O’Keefe is urging Cricket Australia to pull spin candidates out of the BBL as early as possible to prepare for the series while the window for the Test players’ involvement in the league could narrow even further if the series dates are earlier than expected.

While the immediate focus is on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the associated tussle for a top-order batting slot, Australia’s selectors already have Sri Lanka in mind. The two-Test series could be vital to their World Test Championship final hopes, particularly after India’s defeat at home to New Zealand.

Murphy and Rocchiccioli are getting an early chance to book a spot with the two Australia A matches against India A in Mackay and Melbourne. The pair will play one game each and when each offspinner doesn’t feature they will each spend time with Australia’s ODI squad to work one-on-one with bowling coach and former New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori.

Australia had thought the first Sri Lanka Test might begin on January 29 but there is a possibility it could start as early as January 26 with the dates still being finalised between the two boards. It is understood the hierarchy wants a 10-day preparation period for overseas Test tours and could fly to the UAE or Oman for a pre-series camp. If the first Test were to start on January 26, it would mean the Australia tourists could be pulled out of the BBL by January 15.

Murphy plays for Sydney Sixers and another contender, Matt Kuhnemann, is a key part of Brisbane Heat’s attack. Rocchiccioli does not currently have a BBL deal but was with Melbourne Stars last season and could yet be picked up.

Regardless of exact tour dates and who is selected, O’Keefe believes early red-ball preparation is vital. He cited his own experience in India in February 2017 as an example of how important it was to have a long red-ball lead-in. O’Keefe opted not to play in the BBL at all after playing the Sydney Test. His decision to spend six straight weeks bowling with a red ball before the first Test in India paid huge dividends as he bagged 12 for 70 in Pune.

“I pulled out of the last six games of the Big Bash that season because I just said, no, this is not the way that I’m going to be bowling over there,” O’Keefe told ESPNcricinfo. “And I copped a bit of criticism. I remember a couple of coaches coming out saying, well, you’re going to get slogged in India you may as well practice in the Big Bash.

“I deliberately took that time off, went and played grade cricket, played a Second XI game just to get used to bowling with the red ball. I think if we’re really going to be serious about the young spinners going over there, whoever is going to accompany Nathan [Lyon], is the Big Bash the best preparation?

“I’d be encouraging the selectors to let these spinners be going earlier and then I’d be encouraging those spinners to practice with a red ball in between Big Bash games.

“It’s two completely different ways of bowling. In essence, sometimes in Big Bash cricket you’re bowling your six worst deliveries to a batter, and then you’re going to be seven to ten days later asked to be landing it on a tea towel for 40 overs straight.

“It’s a change for batters as well. The way that you mitigate that is muscle memory, and you need to practice it.”

The BBL planned for a clear window for Australia’s Test players to feature between the end of the five-Test India series, which finishes on January 7, and the start of the Sri Lanka series. However, there were already concerns within CA’s high-performance unit about the Test players involvement given their workloads coming out of what is expected to be a gruelling series. There is also concern about the physical and technical preparation for Sri Lanka, with both Tests likely to be played on sharp-turning pitches in Galle.

Australia have recent experience of how difficult it can be for a spinner to prepare for a subcontinent tour while playing in the BBL. In 2023, Ashton Agar played the New Year’s Test against South Africa before returning to play five games for Perth Scorchers. He then had just 19 days, including a camp in Sydney and another in Bengaluru, to prepare for a Test series in India and was unable to find the consistency required to be selected before being flown home. Australia brought Kuhnemann over at short notice, but he had at least bowled 44 overs in a Sheffield Shield game after the BBL before making his Test debut.

“It’s tough, because you’re coming out of Big Bash which is bowling cross-seam, cut shots and yorkers, and leg stump [line] into I need to land the ball on a similar spot consistently and allow the wicket to do the work for me,” O’Keefe said.

“In Australia, we’re looking for overspin, because it’s a different game. Over there you need to be able to bowl that square spinner, which if doesn’t spin it hits a shiny side, slides on and you get an lbw. But that same ball can hit the same spot and then spin past the outside edge of a right-hand batter [for a left-arm orthodox]. Is that easy to do? I think it takes a bit of practice. But knowing what Matt bowls, and watching him bowl, I think he’s already got it in his armoury. I think Todd Murphy’s got it in his armoury.

“I’ve watched Corey bowl. I think he’s got it as well. But you need to go and bowl a lot of it over there. So the preparation that these guys will have hopefully is a month, but I reckon you need a couple of weeks of going over and consistently bowling it. In Australia, you might bowl it once every two overs, over there you’ve got be bowling it 10 times out of 12 balls.”

The selectors haven’t picked a specialist left-arm orthodox against India A although Cooper Connolly will play as an allrounder. The value of a left-armer in those conditions has been highlighted by the success of Mitchell Santner against India last week and Prabath Jayasuriya both against New Zealand in September, and Australia in 2022 when he took 12 wickets on Test debut to square the series 1-1.

Australia did not take a left-arm orthodox spinner to Sri Lanka in 2022 with legspinner Mitchell Swepson partnering Lyon alongside two quicks, with the support of Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne.

Chair of selectors George Bailey spoke on Monday of his panel’s desire to find players who bowl left-arm fingerspin for future subcontinent tours.

“Happy to very much publicly throw it out there that it’s an incredible skill set in the subcontinent,” he said. “We’ve seen that for many years. Realistically, there’s not a huge amount of players in domestic cricket at the moment that are doing it. It’s something that we’re looking to continue to expose. It’s certainly one of the reasons why we’re excited about Cooper Connolly and his journey.

“It’s still very much a work in progress with his left-arm spin. But [beyond] Matt Kuhnemann, Ash Agar, there’s just not a great many players who can do it. We know we’re going to have plenty of subcontinent tours, plenty of Tests where that skill set would be highly desirable. So [we] encourage anyone who’s got that up their sleeve to work hard at it.”