Australia v Pakistan First Test result: Will ICC have guts to sanction Pakistan over poor pitch?
After a soulless five days of cricket, eyes now turn to the ICC to see if it will take issue with the pitch prepared for Australia’s first Test in Pakistan in more than two decades.
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You don’t traverse 24 years, deploy security befit for a head of state and exert this much effort, only for the symbolic first Test of the Benaud-Qadir trophy to be played on a pitch resembling a road.
Records were broken and it was a wonder bowlers weren’t broken too.
The game was finally called off with the home side 0-252 late on the fifth day.
Only 14 wickets fell in the entire match.
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Abullah Shaffique (136no) and Imam-ul-Haq (111no) put on the highest partnership against Australia for Pakistan.
The highest unbeaten first-wicket partnership in a Test against Australia.
It was the first time in Test history a match featured three consecutive first-wicket century stands.
The wickets Australia took cost an average of 182 a piece — the second highest ever.
The match, however, was ruined by a moribund surface and one which the ICC may run a magnifying glass over.
In the fourth Test of the Ashes in January 2018, match referee Ranjan Madugalle rated the MCG pitch ‘poor’ after Australia scored 327 and 4-263 and England 491 in a soulless affair.
In Rawalpindi, Pakistan declared on 4-476 after almost two days batting and Australia was bowled out for 459 after two days more.
Australia resumed its first innings on day five at 7-449, but the tail was no match for the wiles of spinner Nauman Ali.
Eyes will now turn to the ICC to see if it will harden its heart and take issue with the pitch prepared at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium for the first Test, but that is unlikely.
When six wickets fall on the first three days – with one session lost to rain and one of those dismissals a run out – it is a fair indication that the pitch is, as Steve Smith said after day four, “dead”.
The 35-year-old spinner Nauman managed to summon some life from the wicket and take an impressive 6-107, but that was an exception. The left-arm orthodox’s figures sit in stark contrast to offspinner Nathan Lyon’s match figures of 1-237.
Australia’s batsmen will be disappointed that nobody was able to go on to triple figures on such a benign surface. Imam-ul-Haq (157) and Azhar Ali (185) both made the most of their opportunities in the home side’s first innings.
There was some talk the Australians had got the side wrong by not picking two specialist spinners, but it appears unlikely it would have made any real difference and the three specialist seamers at least put the brakes on the scoring in the first innings to guard against a loss on the last day.
The Karachi wicket for the second Test, which begins Saturday, has a reputation as the most favourable for spin in the country, while seamers have traditionally done better at Rawalpindi.
It feels churlish to criticise Pakistan, given the extraordinary lengths the cricket board has gone to, and unkind to find fault, considering the hospitality and excitement around the series, but the simple fact is the wicket let both teams down.
Repeated indiscretions can see a venue suspended or a side docked Test championship points, but that is unlikely to happen.
Had the pitch deteriorated late on the fourth day, there may have been some chance of the game moving.
The sides combined to post 14-1187 by the final session of play, with Pakistan 0-217 in its second innings – Abdullah Shafique 110 and Imam 102.
The one thing that might allow the ICC to avoid being party-poopers is that the bounce, at least, remained true, but the onus was on the captains to create a result.
Since the morose affair in Melbourne, the ICC has adjusted its penalty system and venues risk being suspended.
Madugalle was clear in his criticisms of the MCG wicket in 2018.
“The bounce of the MCG pitch was medium, but slow in pace and got slower as the match progressed,” he wrote in his report.
“The nature of the pitch did not change over the five days and there was no natural deterioration.
“As such, the pitch did not allow an even contest between the bat and the ball as it neither favoured the batsmen too much nor it gave the bowlers sufficient opportunity to take wickets.”
Smith, who is playing his 83rd Test match, admitted the wicket gave only a slight assistance to spinners.
“It’s pretty benign,” he said. “There’s not a great deal of pace and bounce in it for the seamers.
“I think the spinners have offered a little bit. When you hit the right length there’s been a little bit of natural variation and you know, when you get it out a bit wider into the rough I think there’s a little bit there as well.
“So I thought it would break up a little bit more and probably turn a bit more from the start, but it probably hasn’t done so. But yeah, pretty benign, dead wicket.”
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