If you want to beat Australia, just follow this plan

It was Confucius who opined that “success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure”.

Individuals and sporting teams have been successful by accident, but sustainable success is achieved through meticulous planning, preparation and execution.

My first Test series was against England in Australia and the English captain, Ray Illingworth, had thought through what his team needed to do to win in Australia. He had a good pace attack, brilliantly led by John Snow, backed up by the parsimonious spin of Derek Underwood and himself. The batting was unspectacular and relied on patience and building partnerships.

Possibly, the two best prepared captains to arrive in Australia have been Douglas Jardine and Clive Lloyd.

Jardine did not play in the 1930 series in England, when Don Bradman amassed 974 runs at the astounding average of 139.14 and Lloyd had suffered a stinging defeat in Australia in 1975-76. They were not going to sit idly by and hope providence would prevent it from happening again.

England paceman Harold Larwood.Credit: Archives

After that series, Jardine sat down with Arthur Carr, captain of Nottinghamshire, and his two fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce who appraised Jardine of what they had seen of Bradman.

The four of them devised a plan to combat Bradman on the next Ashes Tour to Australia in 1932-33. Jardine asked Larwood if he could bowl a line of leg stump and make the ball “come up into the body” to force Bradman to play the ball on the leg side rather than the off. Larwood replied, “yes, I think that can be done. It’s better to rely on speed and accuracy than anything else when bowling to Bradman because he murders any loose stuff”.

Larwood and Voce bowled at Bradman’s body, with a packed leg-side field, ready to catch anything that Bradman fended. Jardine questioned the open off-side field, but Carr replied that Larwood was so accurate that there was no need for concern. Fast leg theory was born.

Not everyone in the England camp supported Jardine’s leg theory during the Bodyline series, but they had an acrimonious 4-1 series win.

Australia’s experienced team, on the back of some strong pace bowling, brilliant batting and great catching hammered Lloyd’s West Indians 5-1 in 1975-76.

After the tour, Lloyd sat down with his friend and former first-class cricketer Dr Rudi Webster, who lived in Melbourne at the time, and vowed to assemble the finest pace bowling attack ever seen, supported by aggressive batting and world-class fielding. What he put together went on to dominate world cricket for the next 20 years.

Babar Azam hits through the offside during the Perth Test. Pakistan need to play with more positive intent in Melbourne, says Greg Chappell. Credit: Getty

Yes. It is tough for visiting teams to win in Australia.

Only five countries have won Test series in Australia. England have done it 14 times, West Indies on four occasions, South Africa three times, India twice and New Zealand once. Pakistan have never achieved the feat.

This won’t change any time soon unless Pakistan play with more purpose and planning in Melbourne and Sydney.

What does it take to win in Australia?

The first thing is to look the Aussies in the eye. Show them that you are their equal. India have learnt this lesson in recent times, stood their ground and returned fire with interest.

Secondly, quality pace bowling is a must. No visiting spinner has won a series in Australia in my memory. Some have played important roles, but Australia requires bowlers with pace, bounce and control to do the heavy lifting and to get the bulk of the20 wickets needed to win a Test.

Obviously, the West Indies of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s had that in abundance and it paid off handsomely. South Africa and India have had the incisive pace to rock Australia. The absence of Naseer Shah due to injury and now Khurram Shazad handicaps Pakistan.

Thirdly, discipline and partnerships in both batting and bowling.

Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson were a great partnership in my time and were well-supported by the spin of Ashley Mallett. Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne were a great partnership and interchanged as strike or support bowler depending on the situation.

Accurate wrist spin has been a potent weapon in this country. Nathan Lyon’s record as a finger spinner is therefore laudable. The fact that Jim Laker, Erapalli Prasanna, Saqlain Mushtaq and Muttiah Muralitharan could not help their countries win in Australia highlights Lyon’s achievements. Lyon’s top spin and bounce have been instrumental, as have his productive partnerships with Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc.

The encouraging sign is Pakistan have reflected on their Perth loss and realised that they have to do better with the bat and ball.

They are not the first bowling team to get carried away with the bounce in Perth.

Counterintuitively, when the wicket offers bounce, it is imperative to pitch the ball up to make the most of that bounce. It is hard to drive the ball on the up, and their pace bowlers must challenge the Australians to do so. Charging in without a plan, hoping to take wickets with magic balls is the mistake that many visiting teams make. Their bowling was profligate as evidenced by Australia’s rollicking run-rate of 4.29 runs per over. Wickets follow good balls strung together into good overs and good spells, so the Pakistan bowlers will need to be extremely disciplined.

Their batsmen seemed inert and intent on keeping their wickets intact, as was graphically illustrated by their first=innings return of merely 2.66 runs per over.

Once again it is counterintuitive; batting, like life, is an exercise in risk management. If one wants to make runs, one has to be prepared to play some shots.

A major part of the art of batting is knowing which balls to attack and which to leave in the prevailing conditions. Even when the pitch is difficult, as it was in Perth, one needs to be looking for the balls from which to score and, if the bowler misses his mark, punish him. If you don’t put the pressure back on him, the pressure will only grow on you.

Pakistan are not out of this series yet, but it could be gone by the first lunch break in Melbourne unless they arrive on Boxing Day with a plan and execute it.

Greg Chappell is a former Australian captain. He led Australia in 48 of his 87 Tests, scoring 7110 runs at an average of 53.86.