Australia pulled a 138-year first Sunday by omitting a spinner for a Sydney Cricket Ground Test, with skipper Steve Smith saying he had been backed into a corner. 

Not since 1888 have the hosts neglected to play a frontline slow bowler at the storied venue, once considered the country’s spin haven. But with all-rounder Beau Webster selected for the fifth and final Ashes Test and Todd Murphy overlooked, the unprecedented run was broken. “Hate doing it,” said Smith. “But if we keep producing wickets that we don’t think are going to spin and seam is going to play a big part and cracks are going to play a big part, you kind of get pushed into a corner,” he said.