London, July 20: There were many who thought Nathan Hauritz shouldn’t have been in the touring party for the Ashes, but while Australia has struggled in the second Test at Lord’s, the off-spinner has made his critics eat a humble pie with his bowling performance.
The off-spinner was heavily criticised not only by former players from around the world but from Australia as well, who claimed that Hauritz’ bowling wasn’t penetrative to trouble the batsmen at the international level.
However, Hauritz silenced his critics with some splendid bowling spells in the opening Test and then followed it with another remarkable performance here at Lord’s.
After three days of the second Test, the often mocked off-spinner had nine wickets for the series at 29.93 and his Ashes wicket-tally was only equalled by Ben Hilfenhaus. Even bowling with a busted finger, he was able to take 2-0 in the space of eight balls to dismiss England openers Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss here at Lord’s.
The 27-year-old stands on the edge of a remarkable slice of history because in 17 previous Ashes tours since World War II, Australian off-spinners have managed 10 wickets or more just three times.
Tim May took 21 wickets at 28 in 1993 bowling in tandem with Shane Warne. Ashley Mallett claimed 10 at 27 in 1972 and Tom Veivers 11 at 40 in 1964. Hauritz, who only last year was the second XI spinner for NSW, has primarily been known as a containing one-day bowler in recent years. But he says being given another crack at first-class cricket by his state side has turned his career around.
”It was great to just get the opportunity to get a crack at four-day cricket and to learn my game,” Hauritz said. ”In the last five years I have had to completely fix my action from being a lot rounder. I try to get people away from me being defensive. ”The wickets turn a little bit more here (in England) than they do in Australia. And maybe I am just a bit newer on the international scene and the batsmen haven’t seen me too much,” he added.
—–Agencies