Michael Atherton voices concern over rare neglect of specialist spinners in Ashes 2025-26

At the Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia played without a specialist spinner, marking the first time since 1888 that they fielded a Test XI at the venue without a frontline tweaker.

The decision once again drew criticism from former England captain Michael Atherton, who expressed disappointment over the lack of bowling variety.

"It means the cricket we have seen in this series has been a bit one-dimensional," he said in the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, as quoted from Sky Sports.

"Looking at the pitch (on day one in Sydney) you wouldn't say it offered enough for five seamers but that is not to say it is going to turn on the last day either. We will have to wait and see," he added.

"(Not picking a spinner) May be a reflection on Murphy - if Lyon had been fit, I imagine he might have played. Murphy is not a bad bowler but he is no Lyon," he noted.

The numbers reflect how little spin has influenced the series. Across the Ashes so far, spinners have delivered 783 balls, picking up only nine wickets between them. Nathan Lyon has accounted for five of those wickets, while Will Jacks has four, with spinners averaging a high 56.55.

In the series opener at Perth, which ended inside two days, only three overs of spin were bowled. There was no spin at all in the fast-paced Melbourne Test, while the first day in Sydney also went without any spin, although rain limited play to just 45 overs.

"Pitches have become more uniform and less varied, partly because of the drop-ins at the multi-sport grounds like Brisbane and Adelaide," he said.

"Sydney used to be the outlier in terms of spin and if that's gone the way of the other grounds in terms of more grass left on there is a lack of variety and that is not necessarily a good thing for the game," he noted.

"What you want to see in a five-Test series is the whole range of skills," he added.

"The conditions have changed. It used to be a slow, low turner at the SCG," Atherton said, as quoted from Sky Sports.

"I listened to Steve Smith's pre-match press conference and he said at the start of his career you'd get games going deep into the last day and there would be a lot of reverse swing and spin," he noted.

"But he added for the vast majority of his career they have not been like that. I got the sense from hearing him speak then that Australia may not play a spinner," he added. (ANI)

Spin bowling has had a minimal role in the ongoing Ashes series, with neither side showing much faith in specialist spinners. England did not field a frontline spinner in any of the five Tests, with Shoaib Bashir left out throughout the series. While Will Jacks did contribute with part-time off-spin, England largely relied on their pace attack, according to Sky Sports.

Australia's use of spin was also limited. Nathan Lyon featured in the first and third Tests but was not included in the second match, the day-night Test in Brisbane. He was then ruled out of the final two Tests after suffering a hamstring injury during Australia's Ashes-clinching win in Adelaide.

The hosts had the option of bringing in off-spinner Todd Murphy for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests. However, Australia chose to go in with an all-pace attack, even in Melbourne, where the match lasted just two days on a pitch that had around 10mm of grass and proved extremely challenging for batters.