Between Shane Warne and Nathan Lyon : Australia's army of unheralded spinners

Shane Warne was arguably Cricket's greatest leg-spinner. For all the years he played for Australia, it was unusual for a team outside the sub-continent to have a spinner as their best wicket-taker in Tests and leg-spinners by themselves were a rarity.

Post the Warne era, Australia struggled long and hard to fill up the void left behind by the charismatic bowler. Stuart MacGill was there for a while, but he too left, possibly with a potential that remained unfulfilled. It would be almost a decade and a squad of spinners later that Nathan Lyon would establish himself as a certainty in the Australian XI and become one of the premier spinners in Tests in the modern age.

Let us have a look at a select few spinners who held the Baggy Green during this time but couldn't really make it big in international cricket.

#8 Dan Cullen

Before making his Test debut in 2006 against Bangladesh, Dan Cullen was for a while at the top in the list of bowlers queued to replace Shane Warne as Australia's long term specialist spinner. Cullen burst onto the scene as a big turning off-spinner who could bowl the doosra, an art form looked upon with frown in Australian cricket circles.

He first came into prominence in 2004, taking 43 wickets in the Pura Cup (now Sheffield Shield) at 30.37, impressive numbers where pitches are non-conductive to spin in general. His dream of playing for Australia came true when he formed a part of a three-pronged spin attack, rare for Australia, alongside Warne and MacGill in the 2nd Test of Australia's tour to Bangladesh in 2005-06.

Bowling a total of 14 overs spread across two innings, Cullen could only manage the solitary wicket of Mashrafe Mortaza as Warne and MacGill made hay, grabbing 15 wickets among themselves. That match against Bangladesh remains his only appearance at the Test level as he was dropped from the side thereafter and never came close to a recall.

It can be argued that he should have been given another crack at Test cricket but subsequent first class seasons didn't justify his case. He appeared for Australia in 5 ODIs too but without impressive returns.

#7 Beau Casson

Beau Casson against West Indies

Beau Casson was forgotton almost as soon as he came into prominence. Battling a long spate of injuries and loss of form, lady luck finally smiled on him when he was selected for Australia's tour of West Indies in 2008. With Stuart MacGill deciding to retire mid-way through the series, Casson was selected to play in the 3rd Test.

A slow left-arm chinaman bowler, Casson was in similar mould as Brad Hogg. Born with a heart condition, he adjusted his training regime and was continuously monitored. With figures of 3/129 in his debut match, he didn't exactly grab eyeballs and was subsequently dropped for Australia's next assignment to India, with selectors favouring more conventional spin options in Jason Krejza and Bryce McGain.

The fall didn't stop there for Casson as he soon lost his place in the New South Wales side after a poor run of domestic matches, with Nathan Hauritz replacing him as the team's leading spinner. He moved to Sydney in order to revive his steeply falling career and inflating bowling average, but a shoulder injury hampered those plans.

His heart condition eventually forced him to retire from all forms of cricket in 2011, aged 28. His debut Test against West Indies remained his only international appearance for Australia.

#6 Michael Beer

Michael Beer during The Ashes 2010/11

Michael Beer, a slow left-arm orthodox spinner, was a surprise inclusion in the Australian squad for the 2010/11 Ashes series. Having played only five first class matches till then, he was selected more out of the desperation of selectors after a couple of unimpressive Test outings for Xavier Doherty.

A five wicket haul against the touring English side during a practice match worked in his favor and he was named in the squad for the Perth Test. Beer finally made his Test debut in the final match of the series at Sydney.

Michael Beer had a forgettable Test debut, bagging figures of 38-3-112-1, the solitary wicket being that of Paul Collingwood. Although Australia lost the series 3-1, Beer remained on selectors' radar possibly due to dearth of able replacements. He was again selected for the tour of West Indies a year later.

Beer made his second and last Test appearance for Australia in the first Test of the series at Port of Spain. With just a couple of wickets to show for his efforts in almost 30 overs, he was replaced for the rest of the series by Nathan Lyon, who at 24 years of age at the time was slowly rising up the ranks in the Australian pecking order.

#5 Bryce McGain

McGain playing for Victoria in a Sheffield Shield match

Bryce McGain turned from an IT worker to a professional cricketer at the ripe old age (in cricketing terms) of 35. Such was his explosion onto the scene that he was selected in the squad for Australia's tour of India in 2008 for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy just after playing a year of Shield cricket.

Australia's desperate search for the next long term spinner led to his inclusion, but looking at his age, him being labelled as a 'long-term' solution for Australia's spin problems seemed out of place. Nevertheless, a decent tour of India for Australia 'A' helped his cause. But fate had other plans for the veteran as he was ruled out of the Test series before the first match due to a tendon injury.

McGain underwent surgery but didn't give up on his Baggy Green dreams. He returned to play Shield cricket in the 2009 season and was selected for the tour of South Africa after an impressive 5-wicket haul for Victoria.

He finally made his Test debut, aged 36, at Cape Town but was taken to cleaners by the likes of Kallis and De Villiers as South Africa cruised home with an innings victory. McGain had a highly forgettable debut as he struggled to find his length, and ended up wicketless with an economy of 8.27 after bowling 18 overs.

He was dropped thereafter and was forgotten by the selectors. Hopes for further international action faded as he aged and his Test debut remains his only appearance for Australia in international cricket.

#4 Jason Krejza

Jason Krejza playing against India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Not many bowlers can boast of an 8-wicket haul in their debut match. Jason Krejza made headlines with his attacking brand of off-spin bowling as he ran through the famed Indian batting line-up in his first ever innings for Australia at Nagpur in the 4th Test of 2008 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

As memorable as his debut was, it came with a heavy price. Krejza leaked runs at will as his 8 wickets came at a cost of 215 runs in 44 overs. Even in the second innings he bagged 4 wickets but after giving away 143 runs in 31 overs. His wicket tally grabbed attention but his economy raised even more eyebrows. A match haul of 12 for 358 did more harm than good as India romped home with a comfortable win by 172 runs against the Aussies.

Krejza was inducted into the Australian squad after a decent season for Tasmania as national selectors searched in every nook and corner of Australia for the next Test spinner. Having dealt with disciplinary issues of his own, Krejza came a long way in repaying the faith showed upon him. He was handy with the bat too, with a first-class hundred to his name.

His wicket-taking ability got him another crack at the Test level as he was selected for Australia's next tour to South Africa. There in the 1st match of the series Krejza couldn't create much of an impact and returned with a match haul of 49-4-204-1. With economy rates touching the sky, he lost favor with the selectors and was subsequently dropped from the national side. A national recall never came and Krejza played his last first-class match for Tasmania in 2013.

#3 Xavier Doherty

Xavier Doherty bowling against England

Xavier Doherty was called up for Australia's Test side for the Ashes after an impressive debut against Sri Lanka in ODIs. He made his Test debut in the first match of the 2010 Ashes at Brisbane, selected ahead of Nathan Hauritz.

Although his debut was largely forgettable, racking up figures of 48.5-8-148-2 in a drawn encounter, he was retained in the side for the next match at Adelaide. Fortunes didn't turn there too for Doherty as he was smashed all over the park by the likes of Pietersen and Cook, who scored a double hundred and a hundred respectively. Doherty ended up with figures of 27-3-158-1 as England decimated Australia by an innings and 71 runs.

Xavier Doherty was stronger ODIs, where he was a regular feature in the Australian side for a while. Australia missed him during the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent, when a back injury ruled him out of selection.

It was nearly two and a half years before he made a comeback into the Test arena, this time during Australia's disastrous tour of India in 2013, where they were blanked 0-4. Doherty played two Tests in the series, at hyderabad and Mohali, and again visibly lacked enough penetration to trouble the Indian batsmen.

He often bowled tight lines, but lacked adequate weapons in his armory to be truly threatening at the Test level. In the Test at Hyderabad he picked up three lower-order wickets after toiling hard for 46.1 overs and giving away 131 runs as India won by an innings and 135 runs. In Mohali too his numbers didn't improve as he ended up with the combined figures of 31-10-111-1, playing alongside Nathan Lyon as the second spinner.

Doherty was subsequently dropped from the Test side but was in the ODI scheme of things even till the 2015 World Cup. His career began with a lot of promise for Tasmania, where he was named the state's One Day player of the year for two successive seasons from 2006-08. Out of national contention for two years now in any format, Doherty announced his retirement from cricket in March 2017, after the conclusion of the 2016-17 Sheffield Shield season.

#2 Steve O'Keefe

Steve O'Keefe playing vs Pakistan

Steve O'Keefe was one name in the long list of spinners in the post Shane Warne era who waited for their chance even as other spinners with less fascinating numbers got a nod ahead of him. He had been brilliant for New South Wales over the years, compiling an average of around 25 with the ball in his First-Class career, numbers far superior than most of the spinners around, but a Test call-up didn't come his way for a lengthy span of time.

Stars finally aligned for the left-arm orthodox bowler when he was selected for Australia's tour of UAE to play against Pakistan in 2014, four years after making his T20I debut against the same team. He was the top wicket-taker in the preceding summer, bagging 41 wickets in the Sheffield Shield at 20.43. He compiled match figures of 57-6-219-4 on Test debut at Dubai, as Australia lost by 221 runs.

The first four Tests of his career were spread across four series, with debut against Pakistan, a washed out match against West Indies, a solitary Test on the disastrous tour of Sri Lanka before injury struck and he was sent back home, and then a Test against Pakistan at the SCG. The numbers were decent to say the least, 14 wickets at 32.78, but O'Keefe struggled for consistency.

His moment in the sun finally came on the tour to India in 2017, when on a rank turner at Pune, O'Keefe bamboozled the Indian batting line-up with his accurate bowling. A match haul of 12 for 70, with identical figures of 6 for 35 spread across both innings was a just reward for the hard toil he had put in over the years. He single-handedly put Australia at a 1-0 lead in a keenly contested series, and looked promising for the matches to come.

O'Keefe played all four Tests on the India tour as the second spinner alongside Nathan Lyon, but rewards were hard to come by at Ranchi, Bangalore and Dharamshala. He could muster only 7 wickets in the next three Tests after Pune, at an unremarkable average of 53.14, as Australia failed to register a win and lost the series 2-1.

With both skipper and selectors aiming an eye on the future, O'Keefe fell out of favor and was not initially selected on the tour of Bangladesh, replaced by Ashton Agar. But fortunes again turned for him as Australia shockingly lost the first Test and he was recalled as a stop-gap measure even as Agar failled to impress.

Although Australia won the second Test to level the two match series 1-1, O'Keefe was largely unimpressive, taking 2 wickets for 128 runs in the match. An Ashes recall doesn't seem likely for the left-armer as Nathan Lyon continues to be the no. 1 spinner in the country. To say that O'Keefe might have played his last for Australia might not be wrong.

#1 Nathan Hauritz

Nathan Hauritz playing vs Pakistan

An attacking off-spinner, Nathan Hauritz made his Test debut much before Warne retired, but remained on the fringes of the national side as Warne and MacGill remained the two leading spinners in the country. Making his debut against India in the famous Mumbai Test of the 2004 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Hauritz took 5 wickets in the match on a square turner, where even Michael Clarke, a part-time bowler at best, took 6 for 9.

Hauritz was subsequently dropped from the national side and another chance was difficult to come by due to Warne's presence. An unlikely second chance came up in 2008, when Hauritz was recalled for the home series against New Zealand. Notable returns in subsequent matches made him a regular in the national side for a couple of years.

Hauritz had his best series against Pakistan in 2010 at home, where 18 wickets at 23.05 in 3 matches made him the country's no. 1 spinner. The selectors breathed a sigh of relief for a while, as Hauritz looked to continue being the first choice spinner for a long time.

But poor form struck soon as Hauritz struggled for consistency in next few matches. During the tour of New Zealand in March 2010, he could bag only 4 wickets in 2 Tests at an average of 65.75. The next tour of India proved to be his undoing as he toiled hard but couldn't greatly trouble the Indian batsmen.

An ever increasing average and economy rate made the selectors run out of patience and he was dropped from the national side, only to be replaced by Nathan Lyon. In a career spanning over 7 years, Hauritz played 17 Tests, taking 63 wickets at 34.98. In January 2016, Hauritz annouced his retirement from competitive cricket.

Special Mention : Steven Smith

Steven Smith made his debut as a specialist leg-spinner

When he first broke into the scene, Steven Smith was a leg-spinner, and New South Wales' best spinner at the time. He was being widely regarded as a successor to Shane Warne, as he was a proponent of the same art and even had a similar approach to his bowling, giving the ball a lot of revolutions and spinning it in the air.

On his debut he batted at no. 8 for Australia, and few would have imagined that when he would be handed over the captaincy five years later, he would be the world's best Test batsman and just an occasional bowler.

His batting talent was apparent early on, as he hit 2 fifties in the first five Tests of his career but couldn't inspire with his bowling. Playing all of those five matches in the 2010-11 season, he was dropped from the national side in favor of other spinners trying to make their mark.

In hindsight, it was the best thing to happen to Smith, as he worked on his technique as a batsman and made a comeback on the 2013 tour of India, hitting 92 in the first innings at Mohali. From then on, it was a meteoric rise for Steven Smith in the batting department as he established himself as Australia's no. 3 and scored Test hundreds for breakfast.

He has scored 20 centuries in just 56 matches, with the first one coming in his 12th match. An average of nearly 60 puts him heads and shoulders above all the contemporary batsmen and he looks set to scale a mountain of runs in years to come.

It has become an even rarer sight to see Smith bowling his leg-spinners, but that unorthodox style of batting, the high backlift and powerful cuts and pulls all over the park are always a value for time and money.