Hauritz turns from optional extra to essential

Nathan Hauritz is almost doing it all for Australia. He exceeded expectations during the Ashes, has become the essential offspinner in the one-day arena, coped with Sachin Tendulkar in full flight and helped win the Champions League Twenty20 for New South Wales with one brave flighted ball to Kieron Pollard.

Those experiences have turned Hauritz from a figure of fun into a respected operator and the only thing he needs to polish his resume is a consistent run in the Test side. Prior to England he was picked because there was no one else, but since then he has been chosen because the side needs him. The only omissions were Leeds, when the pitch was green and Australia won in three days, and The Oval. How the selectors and team management misread the surface in south London and ruled out a spinner ranks alongside Clarrie Grimmett missing the 1938 England tour as one of Australian cricket's greatest slow-bowling mysteries.

Hauritz had carried a sore heel through the series and it had deteriorated slightly, but there was "no way in the world it would have stopped me bowling". Instead Australia went with four quicks, Marcus North delivered 44 overs of part-timers, Graeme Swann, England's specialist, took eight wickets and the hosts regained the urn.

Being overlooked for that game ensures Hauritz will play at the Gabba on Thursday because the selectors won't want to put themselves through the doubt and pain of relying on an all-pace attack. It would be no surprise if the outlook lasted all summer.

"It would be good," Hauritz said. "I'm in control of that, to play back-to-back Tests. If I bowl well in this one, the next one comes up." His cricket journey has taught him not to look far ahead, but his improvement is winning him many admirers.

Ricky Ponting is much more comfortable with Hauritz in his line-up and wants him to grab the spinning role for this series and beyond. "I've been really impressed with how he's gone about his cricket over the last 12 months almost, his performances in the early Test matches of the Ashes series were very good," he said. "They probably exceeded some of our expectations on the way we thought he could bowl, so that was a real positive.

"His one-day cricket has been outstanding, he's always been a very good one-day bowler anyway, and we want to keep developing him as a Test bowler. He'll get a good opportunity to do that over the next few days."

Shane Warne judges players on how they develop and is pleased with the direction Hauritz is moving, calling him "the star of the Ashes series". "When he first started playing for Australia to now he has improved, so I think he's doing a pretty good job and I think he'll bowl well out here during the Test. It's a really nice place to bowl spin in Test matches."

Hauritz isn't as glowing in his appraisal of the surface and wants to remind supporters how some of his predecessors have gone. "The hardest thing that the public forgets is we have had Murali and Harbhajan over here and they're the two best [offspinners] in the world for me," he said. "Those guys have hardly done anything at all on Australian wickets. The Gabba can be a tough place to bowl, the bounce is so true, it doesn't move off, and the batsmen basically wait on you all day."

If there is a little bit of turn he will be happier and will be able to aim more easily for catches to the slips and close-in fielders. The West Indies line-up also includes a lengthy list of left-handers, including the captain Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brendan Nash. Hauritz is excited by the prospect of bowling to them but remains grounded. "It's definitely a lot better to bowl to a lot of left-handers than consistently to right-handers," he said. "It's just cricket."