The pictures make for interesting reading. As Monty Panesar is seen paying key attention to Shane Warne’s observations and Warne to Panesar’s action, it begs the question: where is the next Australian spinner coming from?

Monty Panesar was quite the sensational newcomer during the previous Ashes trip for England to Australia. The first Sikh to play for England, Panesar held a bundle of hope and expectations and showed gumption to survive at the international stage.

However, in a sequence of events, not only did Panesar lose a little bit of himself in the process of adaptation but Graeme Swann came into his own to occupy the lead spinner’s role in the England team. With that Panesar may have been handed a backseat. But it has not stopped him from practising his art as is evident in the England spinner seen in the nets with Australia’s legendary leg spinner, Shane Warne.

But what is rather surprising is after the speculation that something on the lines of a reality show would reveal Australia’s next spinner to succeed in the tall boots of Warne, the Australian selectors have shown an ineptness and lack of knowledge and shrewdness to decipher who amongst the likes of Nathan Hauritz, Steven Smith, Xavier Doherty and Michael Beer is worthy of being groomed for the future of the game.

The Ashes have shown plenty of problems in the Australian cricket structure, including the inability to produce another spinner of quality. While Australia have found reasonable replacements in the likes of Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle in the fast bowling department, they have not been able to produce a spinner of decent reputation to convince the selectors to persist. Of the lot, perhaps Nathan Hauritz is the one who should feel a little aggrieved given that he has perhaps had the longest run of the lot but without the faith of the selectors and apparently the captain as it last turned out.

Should Cricket Australia thrust Warne with the sole job of finding his own successor? Desperate times call for desperate measures.