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PL is not happy about this spin

Slow bowling, in Australia at least, has suffered a rapid, possibly terminal decline. In Perth, Nathan Lyon bowled two overs and was ignored for the rest of the proceedings. In Brisbane, he was deemed unnecessary. And, since he broke down in Adelaide, selectors have opted not to bother with a front-line spinner at all.

Todd Murphy, who was brought in for Lyon, has sat out the last two Tests. Four times in six matches, Australia has taken the field without a specialist slow bowler.

England packed a couple of spinners and a spin bowling coach, but they’ve proven to be excess baggage.

Spin bowling, it seems, has gone the way of the dodo and defensive batting. Well, at least until the subcontinent comes calling, and when it does, the call will go out to see if anyone out there can still turn one off the straight and narrow.

So much feels lost, not least the reassuring rhythms of an afternoon trying to winkle a batter out with a spinner at one end and the quicks rotating through the other. Maybe even that ability to call on your slow man for an over or two late in the early sessions to unsettle the top order.