Top 5 Australian Test spinners of all time

Australia is best known for fast and bouncy pitches and, by extension, the country has produced plenty of fast bowlers throughout the course of its cricketing history. In fact, it can be safely said that Australia is known more for its fast bowlers than the spinner when it comes to that particular discipline of the game.

The pitches might not be particularly helpful for spinners, but Australia have almost always played a spinner in their side and some of them have played for the team for years. The nation has produced plenty of great spinners over the years and some of them have gone on to become greats of the game. Here is a look at 5 of the best spinners that Australia has ever had.

5 Stuart MacGill

There is an argument that Australian leg-spinner Stuart MacGill played in the wrong era - and it is a compelling one. He played for a decade between 1998 and 2008 but his career coincided with that of Shane Warne, arguably the greatest spin bowler to have played the game.

Hence, MacGill could only play in 44 Tests and got his chances when Warne wasn't available. However, his abilities as a leg-spinner were never in doubt.

MacGill could spin the ball a long way and had the standard varieties that one would expect from a quality leg-spinner, which made it possible for Australia to have a top-class back up to Warne during those years.

In 44 Tests, MacGill picked up 208 wickets at an impressive average of 29.02 and a strike rate of 3.22. He sits at number 5 in the list of highest wicket-takers among Australian spinners but it could have been higher had he played in a different era.

4 Richie Benaud

Richie Benaud

For a generation of cricket fans, Richie Benaud became the voice of cricket. But prior to becoming one of the world's much loved cricket commentators, but he was also one of Australia's best ever all-rounders and one of the best spinners to have played for the nation.

Although Benaud started off as a batsman, he soon became an all-rounder and was considered among the world's foremost leg-spin bowler during the 1950s and the early 1960s.

In a career spanning around 12 years, Benaud played in 63 Test matches and his excellent leg-spin bowling brought him 248 wickets, which remained a record for Australian spinners for many years. He was a highly disciplined bowler, and was remarkably accurate for a leg-spinner. Benaud recorded an average of 24.45 in his career and had an economy rate of only 2.10.

3 Nathan Lyon

Nathan Lyon

When Nathan Lyon made his Test debut for Australia back in 2011, the team was in turmoil and the search for a spinner to step into Shane Warne's shoes was going nowhere. However, the search ended with the emergence of Lyon and over the next six years, he went on to establish himself as one of the best spinners in world cricket.

Lyon is a classical right arm off spinner and unlike many of his peers, he can actually turn the ball. On the other hand, he is extremely accurate and can tie one end up with his accuracy. However, at the end of the day, he is an attacking bowler and has been one of Australia's top wicket-takers over the past few seasons.

More importantly, he can take wickets anywhere in the world and unlike many overseas spinners, knows exactly how to bowl on the spin-friendly pitches in the subcontinent.

His show in India earlier this year was simply superb and gave Australia a fighting chance in the series. He has played 70 Test matches, and is already at 7th in the all-time list of Australia's highest wicket-takers with a tally 274 Test wickets.

Lyon is all set to finish his career as one of his nation's all time best spinners.

2 Clarrie Grimmett

Clarrie Grimmett

From the mid-1920s till the end of his career in 1936, Clarrie Grimmett was the world's foremost spin bowler and there is no doubt that he remains one of the greatest spin bowlers to have ever played the game.

Grimmett was a leg-spin bowler, but what set the Australian apart from many of the spinners of his time was first, his variety and second, the relentless accuracy of a bowling machine that gave nothing away to the batsmen.

He could bowl the basic leg-spin delivery but what made him so dangerous was that he could also slip in the googly and the top spin delivery without much of a change in his question.

Later on in his career, Grimmett added a lethal flipper to his armoury. In the 37 games that he played, Grimmett picked up 216 wickets in those games at an average of 24.21 and was often the architect of many famous Australian victories in that era.

1 Shane Warne

Shane Warne (second left) bowls Darryl Cullinan of South Africa

With 708 Test match wickets in 145 Test matches, Shane Warne is not only Australia's greatest ever spinner but perhaps the greatest bowler that has ever played for the country. Warne made his Test debut for Australia back in 1992 and over the next 15 years, emerged as arguably the best spin bowler in the world.

His ability to turn the ball to varying degrees, from the benign turner to the absolute ripper, made him an unplayable bowler at times and over the course of his career, he made plenty of top batsmen look like absolute fools.

On the other hand, he could bowl the googly, the flipper and seemed to develop new deliveries every few years that made him an innovator of sorts as far as the art of leg spin bowling is concerned.

An average of 25.41 in 145 games and strike rate of 57.4 is well and truly the mark of a giant of the game. It is unlikely that Australia will ever produce another spinner of his calibre.