Murphy comes in for Australia at a time where spin is scrutinised and the role of fast bowlers has taken precedence lately.
Todd Murphy hopes to play his first Test at home for the second time in less than a week, as the importance of spin in Australia has become increasingly apparent.
As of right now, this Ashes has the joint fewest spin wickets of any Test series played in Australia with at least three games. Eight of those wickets came in Adelaide, the only one of the four matches that has featured a substantial amount of spin.
CA executives are hoping for a Test that goes the distance in Sydney after Nathan Lyon bowled two overs in Perth, missed the day-night Test in Brisbane due to an injury, and Murphy had to warm the bench at the MCG when Australia adopted an all-pace attack in what turned out to be another two-day match—the first in Australia without a single over of spin. Will Jacks has been in charge of spin for the last three games as England has not yet faced Shoaib Bashir.
“I don’t think going into the series there was ever that planning or idea that spin wouldn’t play a role,” Murphy said. “I think it’s sort of just been how it’s eventuated. I think it’ll evolve from year to year. Next year it could be completely different.”
The yearly argument over using two spinners at the SCG is long gone. Only twice in the past 20 years has that occurred: in 2016–17, Steve O’Keefe played alongside Lyon against the West Indies, and in early 2023, Ashton Agar played alongside Lyon against South Africa, in part as a trial before the subsequent tour to India. The SCG has the highest average of spinners in the nation among the main Test venues since the WACA was cancelled in 2018.
Murphy, whose last seven Test matches have all taken place abroad, is expected to receive his chance despite the surface having a substantial amount of grass three days ago. Murphy only bowled 12 overs in the Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales earlier in the season, but there has been considerable turn on offer in the BBL, where he plays for the Sydney Sixers.
At a time when stocks are at their strongest point in a while, Australia’s Tests have seen a decline in the use of spin. Alongside Murphy, legspinner Mitchell Swepson is still a possibility, Western Australia offspinner Corey Rocchiccioli worked hard to be considered as Lyon’s replacement, and Australia’s Matt Kuhnemann has made an impression abroad. This season’s Sheffield Shield collective spin average of 34.16 is the third-lowest of the previous ten years.
Murphy will only play his second Test since the end of 2023, when he played his first six games, if he does make a comeback to the Australia XI. He made one appearance against Sri Lanka in early 2025. Although he took six wickets in the latter Test, he anticipates that England would treat him aggressively this time around, like they did in the previous Ashes at Headingley and The Oval.
“I probably understood back then [when his Test career started] it was never going to be linear for me,” Murphy said. “I was never going to keep my place in the team when Nathan came back and I was always going to have to go back through Shield cricket and keep developing.
“At that stage I was only 23 so I still felt like I had a long way to go to be at my best. I still feel like I’m trying to discover that as well and continuing to get better. It’s been a couple of years there where I’ve just been working away and trying to find the best version of myself.”