Fresh location, familiar predicament for Australia

Australia’s first Test match day in Pakistan for 24 years was a celebratory occasion in Rawalpindi, complete with a vocal – and vuvuzela-wielding – crowd unabashed in their affection for the return of the touring team.

The mood of cricket contact renewed was tempered a little by commemorations of the life of Rod Marsh after his death in Adelaide at the age of 74. Where Sir Donald Bradman’s death on day one of a Test series in India in 2001 was a solemn but more remote occasion, Marsh’s passing was met with genuine grief among the tourists.

What transpired on the field of play, though, was much more familiar for watchers of Australia’s previous two away series against Pakistan in the UAE: calm, attritional batting by the hosts to put the Australians in a tight corner right from the start.

For Nathan Lyon and Australia, it was another barren away day against Pakistan.Credit:AFP

Neutral territory in Dubai had provided slow and docile pitches on day one of those series, and on each occasion, Pakistan’s batters set down a platform that set the tone for much of what followed. In 2014, Pakistan’s day one grind to 4-219 led to a total worth 454; four years later, a tally of 3-255 at stumps on day one was expanded to 482.

Lacking Hasan Ali and the all-rounder Faheem Ashraf, Pakistan looked intent upon building a similarly strong platform this time around. As he had done in 2018, the bespectacled Imam-ul-Haq played a key role, and this time went on to sculpt his first Test hundred.

And for all their feats on juicy Australian pitches during the home Ashes summer, there was really not a whole lot the touring attack – following the familiar three quicks and one spinner formula – could do to prevent its construction. Pakistan’s 1-245 was a monument to patience and composure.

Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc began with a pair of searching spells, beating the bat more than once. Starc had the series’ first DRS appeal turned down when a delivery that beat Imad-ul-Haq for pace turned out to be skimming over the stumps.

Cummins turned to Lyon before himself, and there was enough early grip and turn not only to create several false shots but also see Travis Head introduced. The obvious conclusion at this point was that, with the inclusion of the all-round skills of Cameron Green, Australia should have chosen one of Ashton Agar or Mitch Swepson.

But it is worth noting that in both 2014 and 2018, Australia did opt for twin spin in the first game of the series, and had little success in doing so. Another first in the team’s recent history was the availability of Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood for the same Test match in Asian conditions. In Rawalpindi’s temperate climes, with hotter weather expected in Karachi and Lahore, the gamble on extra pace was made.

Conditions, too, drifted ever more towards the favour of the batting side after a smidgen of early moisture subsided. The early spin extracted by Lyon reduced; the pace bowlers struggled to find any bounce; the minimal series preparation, forced by the tight security blanket over the tour, was manifest in an Australian side lacking in the sharpness they had summoned on day one of the Ashes.

Not for the first time, Alex Carey declined to dive for a chance that landed in front of first slip David Warner and to his left. Lyon’s spells oscillated in quality, too often aiming at leg stump as he varied his pace. And none of Cummins, Starc or Hazlewood could impose their will on a surface where a sound forward defence was sufficient to keep out most deliveries. Even so, they bowled too short.

Cummins, who took a tremendous catch for the day’s only wicket, used eight bowlers in all, including three part-time spinners. His knack for generating wickets with bowling changes was verging on Mark Tayloresque against England, but then even Taylor had several barren fielding days in Pakistan.

As the day’s shadows lengthened and Imam refocused upon getting to stumps in the company of Azhar Ali, Marnus Labuschagne turned a couple of his leg breaks with venom to leave Swepson and Agar wondering what they might have achieved.

But either way, the overwhelming impression was of an Australian side still adjusting to their newest assignment. Pakistan’s cricketers settled into a comfortable day one batting groove that they had established in the UAE long before this tour became possible.

From here, a high scoring draw would be a serviceable outcome for the Australians, affording the chance for further adaptation to Pakistan while keeping open the possibility of victories in Karachi and Lahore.

A few of the grimaces in evidence on day one of the series smacked of a team coming to grips with how hard a series this will be to win. For all the joy expressed at Australia’s presence, Cummins’ men do not want to be in Pakistan solely as diplomats.

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