Australia rout Pakistan as World Cup momentum builds — 7 things we learned
Back-to-back series wins has seen Australia’s ODI fortunes turn just in time for a World Cup. SEVEN THINGS WE LEARNED from the Pakistan whitewash: including Glenn Maxwell’s sense of occasion.
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A series whitewash of Pakistan has seen Australia’s ODI momentum gather pace heading towards a World Cup in less than two months’ time.
After four wins in two years prior to the recent tour of India, Justin Langer’s side have posted twice as many in the past eight matches.
Here’s what the 5-0 win in UAE has told us about how the side is tracking …
The Big Show is still box office
There are few sights in cricket as pleasing as Glenn Maxwell in full freewheeling, boundary-pummelling flow. Something Australian fans have been treated to on repeat in the series just ended.
Taking full advantage of a weakened Pakistan attack, and some batter-friendly wickets in the UAE, Maxwell posted consecutive scores of 71 (55), 98 (82) and 70 (33). He may be uneasy with the tag of ‘Big Show’ but he undoubtedly remains box office for this Australian team. His destructive presence will be vital to the World Cup campaign.
His talent has never been in question, but selectors have been reluctant to fully back him at times in the past. Not anymore. Justin Langer’s assertion that he is as good as Virat Kohli on his day might be stretching credulity a touch. But he is shaping as a potential match — even tournament — winner within the ranks.
Cummins is Australia’s most important player (even when he doesn’t play)
Pat Cummins played just a single match in the whitewash win over Pakistan. In that one outing he underlined his importance to this side. As did his absence otherwise.
In Abu Dhabi his eight overs brought three wickets and an economy rate under three. Those scalps removed three of Pakistan’s top four, who between them added just three runs to the host’s total. In short he took an elegant wrecking ball through the top order to strangle a run chase that had looked modest before his intervention. Rested before that, and sent home soon after, the careful management of his workload was a pragmatic and wholly justified move from Cricket Australia, with Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Jhye Richardson all dealing with injury.
Australia boast depth in the quick bowling stocks, but Cummins is now the undisputed leader of the pack. Taking care of your chief weapon ahead of the serious conflict makes perfect sense.
Warner is still an absolute machine
A remarkable and record breaking 185-run partnership with Ashes rival Jonny Bairstow proved that a year on the sidelines has done nothing to blunt David Warner’s explosive excellence.
A 55-ball 100 for Sunrisers Hyderabad followed 85 and 69 in his opening matches in this season’s IPL — 254 runs at 127.00 and strike rate of 175.17 no less — surely means he must come back to open for Australia in England.
“The 12 months has done me well,” Warner himself said. “I’m nice and refreshed.”
An understated warning for all of Australia’s opponents. And another reason for Australia to believe they have the weapons to pull off a World Cup defence that had looked shambolic just a few short months ago.
Khawaja has proved himself more than an understudy
Usman Khawaja came in to this ODI side this summer, after two years on the outer, as a stopgap before the return of David Warner. Less than two months out from a World Cup he is the highest scorer in the format this calendar year (769 at 59.15) with two centuries to his name in Australia’s eight-match winning run.
It would have been three were it not for a bout of severe dehydration in Dubai (something you have to imagine won’t be a problem in England in June).
Since reuniting at the top of the order, Finch and Khawaja have averaged 81.70 as a partnership, and they recorded their third 100-plus run stand at the weekend.
“When he’s timing the ball, he hits the gap a hell of a lot,” Finch said of Khawaja. “He doesn’t hit the fielder too often. That was a brilliant innings that he played.
“I was disappointed he didn’t get a hundred because he really did deserve it, the series that he’s had, the way that he’s been playing.”
Australia look like happy tourists again
The sight of Adam Zampa casually running his fingers through Marcus Stoinis’ hair as the pair watched on from the team rooms was a touching show of the closeness between the pair.
And on the evidence of the last month emblematic of a squad at ease with each other’s company and showing signs of a genuine unit of purpose.
Winning matches helps, of course, but after 18 months in which cricket in Australia has been characterised by division and rancour, a happy squad is something to be valued. The new faces drafted in and the change of leadership within the group has turned a toxic culture in to one, in the ODI side at least, where players seem to be enjoying their cricket once more. You don’t have to be best mates to win a World Cup but it has to help with a successful World Cup tour set to span two months.
Pakistan have no real depth in their squad
For all the confidence that eight straight wins have breathed in to this Australian side, and without wanting to down play the achievements of the touring squad, it must be noted that those wins have come against sides still searching for their own best combinations leading in to a World Cup.
Especially in the case of Pakistan, who rested six first team players from the entire series, including influential captain Sarfaz Ahmed.
You can only beat what’s in front of you, but Pakistan’s fringe players, on this evidence at least, looked unequal to the task of dislodging those in front of them. The underwhelming performances may also, in part have been a function of carrying tired bodies in to the series so soon after the conclusion of the Pakistan Super League.
India, too, appeared to take the foot off the gas when they went 2-0 up and chopped and changed their own line up at a cost of consistency.
Australia will face tougher opposition when the World Cup gets underway, though have firepower of their own to come in and burnish the squad. Regardless, a winning habit has replaced as losing culture and momentum firmly with the reigning champions at a crucial time.
Finch’s form slump seems a long, long time ago
Australia’s revival in fortunes has gone in step with that of their captain.
Scratching around for form at the start of the India tour he is now in the kind of form to complement his expert leadership of the side. Scores of 116, 153no, 90, 39 and 53 for a total of 451 runs at 113 made him the most prolific Australian batsman in a five match series (just 27 runs behind the record for any series, George Bailey’s 478 in a six-match run against India in 2013).
His valued captaincy and lack of other options for that role within the side offered defence of his spot in the side in the lean times. Those who questioned his merit on the strict criteria of runs have had their concerns answered in spectacular style.
Uncertainty over Marsh proves there is competition for places
In speaks volumes of the attention grabbing exploits of Khawaja, Finch and Maxwell that Shaun Marsh’s supporting roles in the first and fifth match of the Pakistan series have gone largely gone unmentioned.
Despite the added scrutiny his surname brings, that may in part be thanks to its familiarity. Marsh a victim of his own recent success.
A 61 from 68 balls at first drop in the fifth match helped lay the platform for Maxwell’s fireworks; his unbeaten 91 in the first match guided Australia comfortably to the finish line. In the last two traumatic years, Marsh has been the rock around what limited success was achieved was built. He has scored four ODI centuries in the last 10 months, two of them in England.
And yet his position in the side is under threat.
Peter Handscomb’s busy, increasingly reliable contributions of late, as well as Alex Carey’s quality with the gloves, likewise are no guarantee they will be on the plane.
All of which underlines the positive position from which Justin Langer will select his final squad. Some form players will be denied a plane ticket. Something that seemed unthinkable earlier this year.
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Originally published as Australia rout Pakistan as World Cup momentum builds — 7 things we learned
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