Asia brings Australia down to earth
Russell Jackson and Barney Ronay of the Guardian both dissect Pakistan's 2-0 sweep of Australia in UAE
04-Nov-2014
Russell Jackson writes in the Guardian how Australia have failed to learn their lesson from their previous trips to Asia, particularly their disastrous tour of India in 2013 where they were swept 4-0.
This series prompts another uncomfortable question: how best do the various academies, finishing schools, pathways and centres of excellence best prepare young batsmen for encounters such as the two Tests of this trip? Last week former national selector Jamie Cox mooted the introduction of Indian-style pitches using imported soil, but their utility would be questionable if Australia doesn't also produce the types of slow bowlers capable of giving batsmen that genuine subcontinental experience. Forget pitches, Cricket Australia would be better off importing net bowlers and in wholesale quantities.
In the same paper, Barney Ronay believes that while Australia's failings deserve to be dissected, it should not take away from Pakistan what was a celebration of high Test craft.
Mainly, though, it is a wonderful achievement by this group of Pakistan players under the indestructible, brilliantly likable 40-year-old captain, Misbah-ul-Haq. On pitches that are slower and drier than those at home, Pakistan took down the team that took down England and then South Africa with a spin attack culled from that reliably productive domestic setup. And with some glorious batting performances, most notably by Younus Khan, the invisible colossus, who scored three hundreds in four innings and whose career, untelevised and beyond the immediate attention of the major nations, has thrived beneath the radar in recent years. He has slightly more runs at a better average from the same number of Tests as Sir Garfield Sobers.