Australia name unchanged team for second Test against Pakistan
As Australia prepares for the second Test against Pakistan, captain Tim Paine is confident the team is developing consistent winning habits. And should he win the toss, there’ll be only one decision to make.
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Update: Tim Paine admits he’s still haunted by the scar of an Ashes series win gone begging, as he prepares to put Pakistan to the sword in Adelaide.
Before the final Test against England at The Oval, the Australian captain went against the old saying that you should always bat first in a Test match, and if you have any doubt at all … think about it … and then still bat anyway.
Paine intimated on Thursday that he would likely never elect to bowl first again in a Test match, although his ill-fated decision at the coin toss a couple of months ago was only one aspect of an underwhelming Australian performance which surrendered dominance and allowed England off the hook.
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Australia showed signs of growing stability and strength against Pakistan at the Gabba, but Friday’s challenge at Adelaide Oval is to go in for the kill.
“What comes into my mind now is the grief you cop if you don’t bat first in a Test match and I have made that mistake a couple of times,” said Paine.
“So I am a firm believer in batting first all the time.
“… We were certainly disappointed with how we played the fifth Test. One of the things we have spoken about as a group since then is, we’ve called it ‘winning after winning.’
“Making sure we can back up a performance which we were really happy with last week.
“But we come to Adelaide knowing that last week’s performance means nothing and again we have to be at our best starting (Friday) afternoon.”
Pakistan are set to drop 16-year-old pace sensation Naseem Shah after just one Test, and will promote the wily seamer Mohammad Abbas, in a chastening admission it was a shocking call to leave Abbas out in the first place at the Gabba.
Captain Azhar Ali will revert to No.3 in the batting order, allowing them to pick Imam ul-Haq as an opener and axe the out-of-depth Haris Sohail.
Paine denies that ruthlessness has become an issue for Australia, given the side only emerged from the holding pattern it was keeping without Steve Smith and David Warner during the Ashes.
With the likes of Joe Burns and Marnus Labuschagne taking their chances in the top order and Mitchell Starc roaring back into form with the ball – the skipper is confident the platform is now set to ‘win after winning.’
“I wouldn’t say we’ve had a problem with it. I would say we haven’t won a lot of cricket games in the past 18 months,” said Paine.
“But as I touched on in Brisbane, now we’ve got a team together where we are turning up to Test matches expecting to win.
“Probably in the last 18 months we were a bit unsure. Most teams would have been the same had you taken their two best players out.
“Now we’ve got some consistency around our group.
Paine is wary of the returning seam bowling genius Abbas for Pakistan and says Australia’s batters endured a nightmare session under lights on Wednesday to prepare themselves.
History says teams can crumble in the dark against the pink ball and Australia A’s recent capitulation against Pakistan in Perth serves as a warning sign to the Test top order.
Burns put that dismal collapse down to a lack of match practice for Australia A – and the same will apply for at least four members of the Test top six who wouldn’t have faced a pink ball in some time.
Abbas destroyed Australia just over 12 months ago in the UAE.
“We’re as prepared as we can be without facing him,” said Paine.
“We all know what he does. We’ve got a different side that played against him before.
“We know what he does. He’s an exceptional bowler. His record would suggest that.
“We’ve spoken about him. We’ve spoken about the whole team. They are a dangerous side and if we’re not on top of our game, Abbas and the rest of the side can create problems.”
Australia has named an unchanged team for the second Test.
The Australians will keep Michael Neser in Adelaide as a standby for any potential concussion substitute while releasing batsman Cameron Bancroft and paceman James Pattinson to Sheffield Shield games.
Australian team for second Test in Adelaide
David Warner, Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Travis Head, Tim Paine (c), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood 12th man: Michael Neser,
Originally published as Australia name unchanged team for second Test against Pakistan
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