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Spin mentor Ashley Mallett says the great Clarrie Grimmett would be "horrified" at the state of slow bowling in Australia.
Mallett yesterday launched his hardcover book Scarlet as a tribute to the former Australian leg-spinner Grimmett, who took a superb 216 wickets in 37 tests and died aged
88 in 1980.
A veteran of 38 tests as an off-spinner bowler himself, Mallett says Australia's current crop of slow bowlers leave a lot to be desired. Mallett said at Adelaide Oval he was reserving his judgement on Australia's new No 1 spinner Jason Krezja, who is not playing in the second test in Adelaide against New Zealand because of an ankle injury.
Krezja made his test debut in India earlier this month, taking 12 wickets. Krejza's replacement Nathan Hauritz, recalled for his second test after making his debut four years ago in Mumbai, took two for 63 in New Zealand's first innings of 270 and missed the second half of the innings with a sore ankle.
Mallett wants to see Victoria's Bryce McGain, Australia's leading domestic bowler last summer with 38 wickets at 34.15, given a chance at test level when his shoulder injury heals.
"They are picking blokes who are averaging 50 a wicket," Mallett told reporters. "So the state of spin bowling is dreadful. Clarrie would be horrified.
"It stems back a lot to the coaching. There's a lot of blokes coaching who don't understand the art and I'm not talking about the lower grades, I'm talking about the state level."
Mallett said he had given Hauritz, now 27, some advice before his test debut.
"I went and saw Haury two days before he left for India [in 2004]. He was averaging 64 a wicket and they picked him," Mallett said. "To me, if I was averaging 64 a wicket I probably would have given the game away.
"I said to him before he went, 'if you don't change your action and improve, you'll be out of the Queensland side when you come back'.
"A part-time bowler [Michael Clarke] gets six for nine, he goes for 90 [2-87 off 22 overs]. They reckon it was the worst wicket of all time."
Hauritz, who is the second-choice spinner for NSW behind Beau Casson but finds himself in the test side, says he has rebuilt his confidence and his career since crossing to the Blues.
"He could get a lot better," Mallett offered. "He's bowling a lot of under-cutting stuff. He gets the ball to drift away but it doesn't spin back much.
"A bit like Krezja. He's an under-cutter. Krezja, we'll see how good he is when he bowls on Australian wickets. I'd like to see [McGain] get a go."
Hauritz has taken six wickets at 40.66 in two Sheffield Shield matches for NSW this season.
- AAP