He has travelled with the Australian team across formats.
Adam Zampa has been the premier white-ball spinner of Australia for several years, delivering consistent success across conditions and limiting opportunities for others. However, one bowler who has quietly but rapidly emerged as a strong contender is left-arm finger spinner Matthew Kuhnemann.
Kuhnemann has travelled with the Australian team all around the world across formats and has tried to take cues from other big guns, even while carrying drinks. He has slowly established himself as the country’s second leading spinner, crediting Zampa and Dan Vettori for his progress.
“You never know when conditions might suit two spinners. (I’ve) got to be ready for anything. I’ve spent a lot of time with ‘Zamps’ in the last three months, especially, and working with (Dan) Vettori, and even though it was a one-day game (today), in T20 you’ve got to be able to bowl any over from one to 20, especially as a finger spinner.”
At 29, Kuhnemann has played only five ODIs and a solitary T20I, while Nathan Lyon’s presence in the longest format has restricted his Test outings to a mere five. But he has ensured to remain around the setup with constant improvements, and whenever Australia require two spinners, he will get the nod in all the formats.
Matthew Kuhnemann has refined his game across various aspects in recent years, but one major improvement has come in death-over bowling, where Adam Zampa has been brilliant for a while. Kuhnemann has worked on varying his angles and pace, while his lengths have often been spot-on as a defensive bowler.
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A good illustration came against India in the first ODI yesterday, where Australia front-loaded their pacers, and a reduced innings forced the spinner to bowl in the final few overs. Despite bowling to left-handers Axar Patel and Washington Sundar, Kuhnemann was accurate with his lengths, dragging them back with flatter trajectories, and varied his pace to mix slower and quicker ones adeptly.
Barring two maximums by Nitish Kumar Reddy in the final over, he was brilliant throughout his four-over spell, conceding only 6.50 runs per over, and ensured India couldn’t score enough, even though they had a few batters left. Even in general, the spinner has been accurate while bowling in this phase, which has added another dimension to his arsenal.
The next T20 World Cup will be in the subcontinent, where more spinners might come into play, at least in Sri Lanka games, and Kuhnemann has ensured to remain in the mix ahead of other spinners. It’s a travesty that he finds himself in the same era as Adam Zampa, but he is doing everything possible to maximise the limited opportunities that come his way.
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