Australia v Pakistan: Five things we learned from the first Test
COULD we have uncovered a ‘reverse Steve Smith’, Aaron Finch looking the part and will Renshaw return? Here’s five things we learned from Australia’s stunning first Test draw with Pakistan.
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AFTER one of the more remarkable finishes to a Test you could ever imagine, what did we learn?
Well, for starters, you can never write off an Australian team. No matter the match sitation.
And also that one career-defining knock can paper over some wider cracks in the Australian team.
Here’s five things we learned from Australia’s stunning Test draw with Pakistan in Dubai.
The Warnie curse and can Australia pull a reverse Smudge?
It’s official, Australia has failed to find a cure for that pesky Shane Warne syndrome.
Australia’s spin depth was again exposed in the UAE with frontline spinners Nathan Lyon and Jon Holland taking just eight wickets between them.
Lyon’s status as one of the game’s premier turners was pseudo-enhanced after surpassing legendary West Indies offie Lance Gibbs to sit sixth on the all-time off-spinning Test wicket list.
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But the milestone only highlighted the glaring gap between Lyon and the rest of the turners in the country, with Australia’s premier first class tweaker Holland looking like a fish out of water in the Dubai desert.
“Dutchie” owns an imposing home record, taking 50 wickets at 20.78 from 11 during the 2016/17 Sheffield Shield season before injury halted his momentum this year.
However, that destructive Shield form failed to fly to the UAE, with Holland acting as cannon fodder for Pakistan’s batsmen. Holland was Australia’s most expensive bowler and his return of four wickets from 49 overs was flattering.
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But Australia may have unearthed a “reverse” Steve Smith in the form of debutant Marnus Labuschagne who was picked to do a job with the bat but instead starred with the ball.
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But Labuschagne looks a genuine threat sending down his part-time leggies, picking up two top order batsmen from his 14 overs. If anything Tim Paine under bowled him. Could he be the man to close the gap on Lyon? Time will tell.
Will there be any changes for the second Test?
Matt Renshaw’s immediate future in the baggy green was under a serious cloud after coach Justin Langer overlooked the big Queenslander for the first Test, preferring to hand white-ball specialist Aaron Finch his debut at the top of the order.
Despite being cleared of concussion after copping a heavy knock at short leg in Australia’s final warm-up game, Langer cited a lack of match practice as the key reason for the omission.
But Renshaw’s absence from the team could be short-lived as Australia looks to solidify its brittle middle order which was brutally exposed on a flat deck in Dubai.
While Finch and Usman Khawaja cemented their places with impressive back-to-back knocks, a shift to first drop for Khawaja to accommodate Renshaw is a very real possibility.
The 22-year-old is arguably the form first-class batsman on the planet after topping the Sheffield Shield scoring and peeling off three recent county tons for Somerset - numbers that made his initial omission all the more unusual.
The potential change at the top would mean Australia’s newest cult hero Marnus Labuschagne would be the unlucky scapegoat of Australia’s batting woes.
Langer also faces a selection conundrum in the bowling ranks with Australia’s most important bowling asset, Mitchell Starc, in serious danger of breaking down in Dubai with a World Cup and Ashes series on the horizon.
Starc, returning from a six-month injury layoff, suffered extreme cramps and toiled on a deck that was hardly conducive to fast bowling and if Langer follows Australia’s recent management of its fast bowlers, Starc could very well be watching the second Test from the stands.
Michael Nesser was on the cusp of a Test debut after selectors bowled him ahead of Peter Siddle in Australia’s warm-up clash, but the burly Queenslander could very well partner Siddle in the second Test if Australia decide to wrap Starc in cotton wool.
Did Australia miss the boat on Aaron Finch’s call-up?
It has to be asked: was Aaron Finch’s Test debut long overdue?
In his first audition, Finch looked every bit a Test batsmen and his 4392 first-class runs back that up. He’s scored big centuries across all formats and owns a handsome average of 39 in four-day matches.
There’s no doubt his white-ball prowess hampered his Test aspirations, with Australian selectors preferring more reserved partners to complement David Warner’s attacking style.
But considering Finch is a viable option in the middle order - spending most of his Sheffield Shield career hovering from four to six - the 31-year-old gives the national side plenty of options.
On a Dubai deck that bamboozled Australia’s tested batsman (looking at you Marsh bros), Finch showed the patience and poised of a seasoned opener, falling one run short of registering first and second innings half centuries.
Victorian bias aside, Shane Warne has pushed for Finch to wear the baggy green for some time and the legendary spinner liked what he saw in Dubai.
“I hope they stick with Aaron Finch and he continues to makes some runs, he’s someone that could captain the side,” Warne said after Finch’s second innings knock came to an end on 49.
Finch embarked on a gruelling fitness regime in order to crack the national side, even giving up the gaspers in his pursuit of the baggy green.
“It’d be huge (to play Test cricket), that’s why I still train as hard as I do,” Finch said last year.
“Four-day cricket I’ve come to the realisation that everyone gets out, regardless if it’s a duck or for 200, everyone gets out eventually in the game of cricket so I’ve embraced that, but don’t be content with getting out.”
With Finch all but cementing his place in the Test side for the India series, the question of whether the right-hander’s absence from the Test side will be answered in the form of a nipping red cherry in Australian conditions.
Can this team win back the Australian public?
This is absolutely the sort of performance that can bring the punters back for Australia.
For years Australia has built a reputation around the world as having a win-at-all-costs mentality, and it led to them becoming the most despised team on the planet.
A fascination with sledging and ugly on-field confrontations were the hallmark of Australian teams.
It came to a head in Cape Town and in the wake of the sandpaper debacle – the epitome of that win-at-all-costs approach, and rock bottom for Australian cricket – new skipper Tim Paine took a stand and said he wanted to change that.
He wanted a team that was respected for its actions as well as its results.
On the evidence seen in Dubai, this is a team the Australian public can be proud of.
Test great Shane Warne may have slammed the batting as the worst he’s seen following the embarrassing first innings collapse of 10-60, but there wouldn’t be an Australian cricket fan on the planet who wouldn’t have cheered on as Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Tim Paine and – finally – Nathan Lyon scrapped, scratched and blocked their way to a draw.
It was the sort of performance which inspires fans at all levels of the game.
Gutsy cricket – with the biggest victors on the day the maligned Khawaja, hastily installed skipper Paine, the team’s heartbeat in Lyon and a debutant in Head.
Australia has always got behind a winning cricket team. But as a nation we love the underdog, too. And this team has the underdog mentality.
Who will take more confidence from this Test heading to Abu Dhabi?
Pakistan outplayed Australia on each of the first four days of the Test, but will walk away feeling like the losers.
Australia stayed out in the field for two days as Pakistan batted freely and without a care in the world – and then produced one of their calamitous collapses.
And, yet, they celebrated the final delivery as if they’d sealed the series.
The contrasting emotions in both camps will make for vastly different breakdowns of the match.
Pakistan, rightly, will feel as if they’ve thrown that match away. Cautious batting on days three and four, when the home side held the upper hand, opened the door slightly for Australia.
Negative defensive fields for the first two sessions on day five rammed home the message that Pakistan were more intent on not losing the Test than they were on winning it.
Australia sensed that and latched onto it, bravely batting for 140 overs to secure the draw.
“They were out of it. Dead and buried,” said Australian legend Mike Hussey.
“But they fought and scrapped - and with some class from Khawaja, great performances down the list from Tim Paine, Travis Head, Aaron Finch... they’ve managed to hold on.”
Paine insists it very much felt like a draw – not a win – but admitted Australia will take confidence into Abu Dhabi after pulling one out of the fire.
“No, I don’t think (it feels like a win),” he said.
“I think we were outplayed, particularly for the first few days.
“I’m really proud to get some sort of result out of it and to go to the next Test match with this series level.
“We can take certainly a lot out of it, a lot of confidence out of the way we played in the second innings. But we can play a lot better next Test as well.”
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Originally published as Australia v Pakistan: Five things we learned from the first Test
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