I accept that finger-spinners of all descriptions have found life tougher on covered wickets... and that modern pitches now last so well that there is basically no such thing as the old 4th / 5th day pitch.... but what I don't see is just how this is different for an off-spinner and for an orthodox SLA merchant like Giles. If the difference is the footmarks created by right arm over seamers then I can see some sense in the argument.. but surely pitches are otherwise the same for ALL finger-spinners!


ps. I'm not sure SLA spinners have a much greater record than off spinners at most Australian grounds: as I understand it, England's selectors wondered about taking ANY finger spinner to Australia even back in the days when they had a few to choose from.

pps. I'd also contend that whilst finger-spinners rarely get the conditions to dominate Test batting... they are far from peripheral if they can bottle up one end and allow the captain to rotate strikers the other end (and get the side through to the new ball, and get through the overs quickly enough to allow seamers and captains to **** around all day long).