Adam Voges outlines how Australia should look to play against spin in SL

Former Australian batter Adam Voges has identified the challenges that await the Aussie batters in their upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.

At the age of thirty-five, Voges was Australia's oldest player on the 2016 tour and was averaging 95.50 after his first fifteen Tests, including five centuries and two doubles. He went on the tour being touted as one of Australia's best players of spin. 

But he averaged just 19.66 for the series in three Tests, falling to spin five times, including four times to the left-arm orthodox spinner Rangana Herath, who took 28 wickets at 12.75 for the series to dismantle Australia in a 3-0 Sri Lankan sweep. 

Voges also talked about how the Australians must have a clear-cut game plan in mind to counter the threat of spin in Sri Lanka. 

"You've got to be fast on your feet and you've got to be able to create length, either full or short to provide scoring options. I think that's the absolute key," Voges said. 

"It's generally not the one that spins and beats your outside edge that is the dangerous one. It's the one that goes straight on the next ball and being able to understand that you definitely have to cover that one and being okay with playing and missing at the odd one that spins past you,”

"But then if you are going to use your feet and come out of your crease, commit to making sure you're getting as close to the ball as you possibly can. All easy when you're sitting down talking about it. It's being able to go out there and execute it under pressure," 

However, this time, much of Australia's batting order will be heading into the series with a lot more experience. For instance, Usman Khawaja, who was prolific with the bat for the Aussies on their tour of Pakistan, will be heading to Sri Lanka for the third time, having played two Tests in 2011 and two more on the 2016 tour. 

He has scored a total of 115 runs in seven innings against Sri Lanka. But like Voges said, he has learned some valuable lessons. 

"I just have a lot more shots now to spin than I did back then," Khawaja said. "I use my crease better. I score in different parts of the ground. It's just about trying to make the best decisions now,”

"I felt like I was a very good player of spinners in 2015 back in Australia. But overseas I still struggled, I just didn't have enough options,”

"In Australia, you are taught to go forward, forward, forward. I had to learn how to play off the back foot. So now I can play off the front and back,” the batter concluded.