Pak tour of Oz, Dec 14 - Jan 7

[mikesiva]

Thu, 14 Dec '23
1st Test • Perth, December 14 - 18, 2023, Pakistan tour of Australia
Australia
Pakistan

Tue, 26 Dec '23
2nd Test • Melbourne, December 26 - 30, 2023, Pakistan tour of Australia
Australia
Pakistan

Wed, 03 Jan '24
3rd Test • Sydney, January 03 - 07, 2024, Pakistan tour of Australia
Australia
Pakistan

[andy]

Pakistan's bowling attack looks scarily weak for this tour...dosent help Harris rauf has opted out of the series

[sussexpob]

Pakistan's bowling attack looks scarily weak for this tour...dosent help Harris rauf has opted out of the series

Rauf is a limited overs specialist, so he isnt a viable test solution anyway. Think he has only played a couple of FC games in his life (and one test where he was total pants).

The thing I never understand about Pakistan is, Abbas averages 22 in test cricket and they decided he was too slow for that level despite the evidence suggesting he was actually world class.... and while he is at home tucking into Chrismas cake, they pick Mir Hamza instead, a bowler so slow he might as well bowl backwards. Doesnt make a great deal of sense.

[GarlicJam]

on top of that, I have the idea that Haris was pretty poor in the CWC - or am I getting my Pakistani pacers mixed up?

Will check on christmas cake supplies in Islamabad.

[GarlicJam]

So, Cricket Season is about to traditionally start. First home test of the summer.

It seems pretty low key, one of the reasons being the opposition. Pakistan have done woefully in Aus over the past 15 or so years. Having lost every single test in (I think) four tours that were made up of 11 games.

I am hoping that enough of Pakistan's unpredictability and brilliance will shine to challenge Aus, but I think it is an inexperienced bowling lineup.

This is the first game for Australia in any format at home since they left for their Test Championship final, Ashes, and CWC run. It was good the see the mace, the Ashes (trophy) and the World Cup all on display at the opening ceremonies. Pity there are so few to welcome them.

Aus win the toss and bat.

[bigfluffylemon]

Aus win the toss and bat.

And so the home flogging of a weak bowling attack begins.

Warner has a ridiculous return in Australia. Touring sides just can't work out how to bowl here, apart from South Africa and India. By the time they figure it out, they're 2-0 down.

[bigfluffylemon]

Apparently Pakistan haven't won a test in Australia since 1995, and have lost 14 in a row across 5 series since.

Yikes.

Meanwhile, following on from my previous post, Wee Davey averages 59 at home with 19 hundreds and 32 overseas with 5 hundreds, 3 of which were in South Africa which is the closest place to Australia in terms of conditions.

He averages 59 at home, 63 in South Africa and Bangladesh (2 tests there, 2 hundreds), 34 in Pakistan and under 27 everywhere else. Never scored more than 71 in India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka or West Indies. Scored all his overseas hundreds in 2 series, where he averaged 62 and 90, only had one other overseas series where he's averaged over 37 (2015 Ashes, 46). 11 of the 16 tours he's done he averaged 28 or lower. Averaged over 50 in 11 of 17 home series, over 70 in 6 of those.

It's like he's 2 batsmen how consistent the 'good Warner,' and 'bad Warner's stats are...

[sussexpob]

It's like he's 2 batsmen how consistent the 'good Warner,' and 'bad Warner's stats are...

I wrote this in response to Mitchell Johnson's recent outburst....

Warner averages 60 odd in Australia, and his last innings he played he whacked 200 vs SA..... suggesting dropping him for home tests would be a little bit crazy. On Aussie pitches, he bats like prime Lara or Tendulkar.

Very few players in history are as daunting a prospect to bowl to, than Warner playing at home. The suggestion he should have been dropped for this series ignores the fact that, as your stats proves, hes always been rubbish away, and nothing but excellent at home. After Smith, he's the first name on the team sheet for a test in Australia

[sussexpob]

I find it interesting that Smith once again got out after making a start, which is now becoming quite an established pattern in recent times. If there has been one thing about Smith that stands out in his career, its the fact that he cashes so many of his starts into big runs. Until 2022, only Bradman and Headley had better average scores after they passed 20 runs, with Smith averaging a whopping 96 runs per innings once passed 20.

Failure rate of his batting is about identical to his career, so he's not getting out early more, but then when he hits that magic 20 that usually means a massive score is coming, he's then getting out a lot. His average past this point has nearly halved in returns, and if you check how many times he has been out between 20-40 in his career, he has been dismissed 13 times in this score range in the last approximate calendar year (from November 2022 to include the WIs tests), but up to late 2022, he had only made 21 scores in this range in his whole career.

Maybe a hint of a decline creeping in? The technique is maybe becoming slightly more fallable than usual, meaning eventually he is giving you a chance? It felt like that at stages watching him recently, especially defending the stumps where that hand-eye technique is looking more vulnerable imo.

Probably score 400 next test now I said that.

[mikesiva]

Australia 487 all out

Warner 164
Mitchell Marsh 90

Jamal 6-111

[mikesiva]

Will check on christmas cake supplies in Islamabad.

As for Smith, it could be that the older he gets, his reflexes get a little bit slower, and he starts to look like a mere mortal once more. His stance always looks like a walking lbw IMHO. It's amazing that he's scored so many runs in his career with a stance like that.

[sussexpob]

As for Smith, it could be that the older he gets, his reflexes get a little bit slower, and he starts to look like a mere mortal once more. His stance always looks like a walking lbw IMHO. It's amazing that he's scored so many runs in his career with a stance like that.

I have certainly been guilty in the past of believing that technique would unravel at some point, but he kept on getting better and better for many years, so has made that look a very foolish assumption. A lot of modern bats get criticised for unorthodox techniques that rely on things other than footwork, and certainly in the case of a batsman like Warner its true, because as soon as the ball moves laterally that planting of his feet and body, and relying on his hands to feel for the ball, becomes his doom.

With Smith though, I am guessing he must have eyesight like a golden eagle, because he is moving all over the place, head bobbing around, but his ability to time the ball from all sorts of terrible body positions is incredible. Especially when he hooks or pulls, because his trigger movement is to move offside of the ball, quite how he plays behind square into the onside to short balls with such control is beyond me.

As you say, I guess when you rely on such a strong physical characteristic to make everything else that is wrong work, it only take a small decline to notice a big difference. He certainly looks more vulnerable to balls coming back in.

[bigfluffylemon]

Second innings duck for Warner after 147 first up.

Australia still well on top .

[mikesiva]

Pakistan 271 all out

Imam 62
Shafique 42

Lyon 3-66

[GarlicJam]

I don't know too much about the subject, but I am curious to see the rating of the pitch for this test.

The inconsistent bounce is very much a factor.

It is not favouring one side over the other, but it is not good enough, I think.