Pakistan primed to end Australia drought

‘If we can adapt to conditions quick enough we’ll be fine. I constantly remind the players if we can be getting 270, 280, 300, we’re in the game because we’ve got the ability to take 20 wickets. If we can use the new ball particularly well against Australia, we’ll be good’Pakistan have never won a series in Australia and last claimed a Test Down Under more than two decades ago, but Mickey Arthur’s squad are confident they can end at least one of those droughts over the next four weeks. That the three-match series commences with the first day-night Test at Brisbane’s Gabba tomorrow adds an element of unpredictability to the start of the contest that the tourists will hope to exploit against an Australian side in transition. For their part, the hosts will be hoping to maintain Brisbane as the fortress it has been since they last lost a Test there in 1988 and for the extra pace and bounce of the home wickets to confound touring batsmen and bowlers alike. Pakistan coach Arthur knows plenty about Australian conditions, having coached the men in the baggy green from 2011 to his sacking in 2013, and is convinced he has the weapons at his disposal to hurt the hosts. “If we can adapt to conditions quick enough we’ll be fine,” said Arthur, who also led South Africa to their first tour triumph in Australia in 2008. “I constantly remind the players if we can be getting 270, 280, 300, we’re in the game because we’ve got the ability to take 20 wickets. If we can use the new ball particularly well against Australia, we’ll be good. And seven left-handers in their 11 makes our left-armers even more potent.” Frontline left-arm quicks Wahab Riaz and Mohamed Amir, the latter now rehabilitated after a spot-fixing ban, will be hoping leg-spinner Yasir Shah is fit enough to offer his support. Yasir missed the warm-up match in Cairns because of a back injury but took a five-wicket haul with the pink ball in Dubai when Pakistan played their maiden day-night match against West Indies in October. Pakistan’s batting showed some fragility in the recent 2-0 reverse in New Zealand but their line-up is at least far more settled than that of the hosts. Australia overhauled their side after losing the first two Tests of their recent series against South Africa and having returned to winning ways in the third Test at Adelaide Oval, have retained the same squad for Brisbane. For all the inexperience, though, they have plenty of proven performers on home tracks, not least the world class pace attack of Josh Hazlewood and left-armer Mitchell Starc. Opener David Warner and skipper Steve Smith were in sparkling batting form in Adelaide as well as in the one-day series against New Zealand squeezed in between the two Test series and left-hander Usman Khawaja has also been in good touch. Islamabad-born Khawaja scored a brilliant 145 in the third Test against South Africa and is determined to cement his place in the Australia side against the land of his birth on his adopted home ground. “We obviously have a really good record here so hopefully if we can get off to a really good start we can drive the game from there,” he said yesterday. “But, lesson learnt from the first Test against South Africa — you can’t take anything for granted and we’re going to have to respect the opposition and play our best cricket.” Starc said Australia plan to inflict a psychological blow on vulnerable Pakistan in the day-night first Test in Brisbane to set up their three-match series. The visitors have never won in 11 series in Australia, dropping their last three series here 3-0 and losing their previous nine Tests Down Under since 1999. Their recent form in New Zealand on the way to Brisbane does not engender confidence that things will be any different. They were defeated there by hefty margins in both Tests, including an ignominious collapse of nine wickets in the final session of the second Test in Hamilton. Starc is confident Steve Smith’s new-look team, who halted a run of five Test defeats in the third Test against South Africa last month, can press their home advantage at the Gabba where Australia have not lost in 27 Tests stretching back to 1988. Pakistan have never won in four Brisbane Tests. “They’ve struggled in New Zealand and probably struggle a little more away from home — they’re really comfortable in the UAE (where Pakistan play their home Tests),” Starc said. “So it’s a good opportunity for us in this Test match to assert our dominance first up, make an impression in the first Test of the series, which goes a long way to working out the final result.” There is added spice to the series with South African Arthur now in charge of Pakistan three years after he was sacked as Australia coach and replaced by Darren Lehmann. Arthur, who still lives in Perth, faces the huge challenge of not only ending Pakistan’s drought in Australia but becoming the first team from the sub-continent to win a Test series here. He has past form when it comes to plotting series upsets in Australia. In 2008-09 he coached South Africa to a 2-1 victory — the first time any touring team had won a campaign in Australia since the mighty West Indies 16 years earlier. “For these guys to come here and win would be amazing,” Arthur said. “But we are under no illusions. Australia are a fantastic cricket team and, in these conditions, it’s going to be very tough for us.” Pakistan’s big hopes rest with their pace attack led by Riaz and Amir. “He’s got great skills, everyone in world cricket knows that,” Starc said of Amir. “He bowls at good pace, swings the ball, he’s got a fast-arm action and knows his game really well for a young bowler. So he’s one of the guys they’re going to rely on to get that ball swinging around and trying to get wickets early and throughout an innings.” Leg-spinner Shah, who has taken 116 wickets in 20 Tests, injured his back in a pre-Test warm-up game and faces a fitness Test. The clash will be Australia’s third pink-ball Test, but the first under the Brisbane lights, having beaten New Zealand and South Africa in Adelaide. Pakistan downed the West Indies in their only day-night Test in Dubai in October. Pakistan briefly held the top Test ranking this year but come into the match in fourth, while Australia are third behind top-ranked India.SquadsAustralia: David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (capt), Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, Chadd SayersPakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Azhar Ali, Sami Aslam, Sharjeel Khan, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Sohail Khan, Imran Khan