Australia’s last Asian Test adventure – the Indian tour of early 2013 – was exhausting. It was like one of those biopics where you already know that the subject’s bright prelude will slump into 140 minutes of failed relationships, addiction, dereliction and the death of at least one key supporting character. Still, you start watching because you like Frances Farmer or Peter Sellers, and then you’re stuck as the whole depressing spectacle unfolds.
Australia were flogged all round the field in that series, with a makeshift team, inconsistent selections and embarrassing performances. Ravi Ashwin choked their batsmen at will. An unknown first-class opener named Shikhar Dhawan scored the fastest debut century in history without hitting a ball in the air. The Australian dressing room was divided, procedures fell apart, and Mickey Arthur began his own downfall with the disastrous suspensions he talked himself into imposing on players. Shane Watson left the tour in a huff one Test, then was captain the next. The whole thing was a glorious, awful, squalid mess.
So you’d forgive anyone some nerves ahead of Australia’s first Test against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates. Of course the intervening 18 months have changed Australia’s fortunes dramatically, thrashing England at home and fighting past South Africa away, but they need to confirm their Test resurgence against a spinning nation, in the dry and dusty conditions that have so often brought them undone.
Both teams have had a chaotic lead-up. For Pakistan, the suspension of king spinner Saeed Ajmal for throwing was a blindside hit, though his deteriorating elbow should have been a peripheral flicker of warning. Ajmal would vie with Dale Steyn for the title of most dangerous bowler in world cricket. His absence is Australia’s greatest boon, but a sore disappointment for the likelihood of competitive cricket.
Ajmal’s supporting off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez missed the one-day series with a hand injury, while left-armer Raza Hasan ended a two-year international exile, but Hafeez is back in the Test squad and Hasan is out. The other spin options are Zulfiqar Babar, who at the age of 35 and with only two Tests manages to be both old and inexperienced, and uncapped leg-spinner Yasir Shah. Paceman Junaid Khan is injured, replaced by the new bearer of a familiar name in Imran Khan.
For Australia, meanwhile, Watson was pulled from the tour with a calf injury, while his understudy Mitchell Marsh and captain Michael Clarke missed the one-day games with hamstring trouble. Patrick Cummins was pulled from the T20 team to play in the Champions League. Three Test players made up the numbers the T20 squad. George Bailey was dropped from it after quitting as captain, but was asked to lead the ODI team in Clarke’s absence.
Confused yet? Mercifully the game of musical chairs has stopped as the Tests approach, with the physiotherapist’s approval given to the requisite players. Australia’s XI should be largely incumbent: Chris Rogers opening with David Warner, Alex Doolan with the long-term support to bat at No3, Clarke and Steve Smith to form the middle order, Marsh offering attacking batting and seam bowling at six, Brad Haddin keeping wicket and his spot at seven.
Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle should lead the pace contingent, with Nathan Lyon bowling off spin. The only decision is whether Australia will pick left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe to turn the ball the other way, or swing bowler Ben Hilfenhaus as a flat-deck toiler. While we assume the wickets will turn, they might be just as conducive to reverse movement.
For the sentimentalists, it’s whether you pick O’Keefe for his long, long, long awaited debut, or Hilfenhaus for a chance to move past 99 Test wickets. Mitchell Starc is in the squad as a left-arm fast understudy to Johnson, James Faulkner to cover Marsh, Glenn Maxwell as a spinning all-rounder, and Phillip Hughes as the reserve batsman, but none are likely to take the field.
Pakistan’s bowlers are the key variables, given their inexperience: they may be overawed or they may be awesome. But even if Australia do struggle with spin and swing, cobbling together moderate scores might be enough, given the fragility of Pakistan’s batting both recently and historically. Misbah-ul-Haq is their rock, his remarkable late-career upsurge meaning he averages nearly 57 as captain, but there are no other imposing names on the Pakistan card. Ahmed Shehzad is the new hope, but it’s time for mid-range players like Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali to step up.
Australia will depend on Clarke and Smith’s composure against spin, Lyon’s composure delivering it, and Johnson’s ability to produce his brand of shock spells on tough wickets. If their preferred XI stay together, Australia should prevail. But as we saw in India, the scripts in Asia don’t always end well for the visitors.
