When was the last time Australia had a "Slow Left Arm" Bowler?.>

[Ernest]

Australia have Warne.
Austraia have Stuart MacGill.

What I can't remember Australia having is a SLA, by that I mean a specialist SLA, I think Border did it part time.

I might have a mental block, but has Austraia had a decent SLA bowler in the last 15-20 years?, and who was the last decent Off break bowler Aussie had?.
I can't remember.

[Mike]

These are the main spin bowlers that had some sort of career in Tests. Usually the careers amounted to less than 20 Test matches. Greg Mathews was the exception because he was a very useful all-rounder with a batting average above 40. Most spinners selected could make some useful lower order runs which helped but Australia relied on their pacemen to take the bulk of the wickets. If you stack Warnes record against those spinners they look positively ordinary by comparison. Stuart MacGill, with his limited opportunities, has still managed to play many more Test matches than most of these names. So far he has played 33 matches - the same number as Greg Mathews.

Legbreak googly
Bob Holland
Peter Sleep
Trevor Hohns
Jim Higgs

Right-arm offbreak
Greg Matthews
Peter Taylor
Gavin Robertson
Ashley Mallett
Tim May
Colin Miller
Bruce Yardley

Slow left-arm orthodox
Darren Lehmann
Tom Hogan
Allan Border
Ray Bright

[ykickamoocow]

As i recall Micheal Beven was our last slow left arm bowler and he was only a part time bowler.

[ahsan32]

I Don't remember any except Darren Lehman, but he was a part timer

[Paoli]

Bevo was a slow left chinamen, or left arm wrist spin, bowler.

Who cares anyway...We don't need a slow left armer, because as we see bar one, Vettori, all the other international ones are rubbish.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Ernest

and who was the last decent Off break bowler Aussie had?

Tim May - was actually a very decent off-spinner and had he played in a different era, or in a different country (eg England or New Zealand) would have had a long and fruitful Test career. I think May is another career that failed to take-off due to the brilliance of Warne.

[Zainub]

Originally Posted by Paoli69

...a slow left armer...bar one, Vettori, all the other international ones are rubbish.

I strongly disagree with that.

[Paoli]

Ok, I realise that you are a big fan of Giles, but have a look at the facts; he took something like 10 wickets @ 50 during the Ashes. Ray Price is no longer on the international scene.

Enamul Haque and Mohammad Rafique, strangely, are the exception. The "strangely" part referring to them being a Bangladeshi duo. They aren't rubbish, actually, should've thought of it.

But when was the last time a slow left arm bowler took forty wickets in a five match series, Zainub, or, the last time a left armer took 31 wickets in a three match series? The two above cases refer to Shane Warne and Harbhajan Singh respectively..

[Maranello]

The last reasonably good attacking SLA I remember was Maninder Singh during the 1980s for India. At one stage he was considered a successor to the great Bishen Singh Bedi, though his career faded away rather quickly. Certainly not in the Bedi or Underwood class, but still an attacking, wicket-taking SLA actually offering some guile and mystery, and someone who was prepared to offer some flight regularly - in retrospect, much better than the current sorry lot!

[Zainub]

Originally Posted by Paoli69

Ok, I realise that you are a big fan of Giles

Originally Posted by Paoli69

but have a look at the facts; he took something like 10 wickets @ 50 during the Ashes.

But, still, [] "rubbish" ...don't you think that's a bit Terry Aldermanesque? A bit harsh I would say.

Originally Posted by Paoli69

Enamul Haque and Mohammad Rafique, strangely, are the exception. The "strangely" part referring to them being a Bangladeshi duo. They aren't rubbish, actually, should've thought of it. But when was the last time a slow left arm bowler took forty wickets in a five match series, Zainub, or, the last time a left armer took 31 wickets in a three match series? The two above cases refer to Shane Warne and Harbhajan Singh respectively..

All points well made Paoli, but as you say too "rubbish" is probably an exageration, it is correct that there aren't many quality slow left armers around, but the quality is still about average as opposed to rubbish. I always thought SLA bowling was bit a rare art, so perhaps unlikely that we'll ever have 10 excellent SLA bowlers in each of the ten 10 test cricket playing nations at a time, I can't really think of a time when that has happened in test cricket, or has it?