Australia are involved in Test cricket for the first time since they won The Ashes on Thursday when they begin a three-match series with Pakistan, one which begins with the two sides opening up proceedings in Perth.
Since retaining The Ashes, Australia have won the 50 over World Cup and head into a good Test series feeling good about their cricket. As ever, Pakistan seem to begin a new era every time something goes wrong and that is the case here.
Australia
While keeping hold of The Ashes was a huge aim of 2023 for the Australian team in Test cricket, we shouldn’t forget that they also won the World Test Championship prior to that, confirming their status as the leading side in the world in this format of the game. We are relatively early into the new cycle of that competition but the one thing we know about Australia is that they always take this format seriously and that is the case here even though the series begins in Perth rather than the traditional starting point of Brisbane.
Australia have plenty of options with the ball going into this series with all of what you would call their first choice selections fit and available having rested since the World Cup win. They are also at full strength with the bat in what will be the final series in the career of David Warner. That is only likely to add to the motivation they have to win this series and win it well. In the past the WACA was an Australian fortress and it will be interesting to see if they can replicate that at the new stadium.
Pakistan
There is rarely such a thing as a settled period in Pakistan cricket. I guess the positive to that if there is one is that they are well versed in beginning new eras and they start another one here with Shan Masood the new captain of the side after the captaincy was taken away from Babar Azam. Things are different behind the scenes as well but you do come to expect that from Pakistan. One positive for their chances in this match is they did manage to get a warm-up game in despite the proximity of this tour to the recently concluded World Cup.
Generally, Pakistan have a bowling attack that can be useful in Australian conditions. They have a couple of seamers who are of top quality but they are going to need to get new ball wickets because they have been searching for a reliable spinner at this level for a while. If Pakistan are going to be competitive in this series then their batting is going to need to hold up to a fair bit of scrutiny but there is no shortage of depth in their order.
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Team News
Australia have already confirmed their team for this match and there are no surprises to the XI which will take to the field for them. Their only selection issue was whether Mitch Marsh would play on his home ground or if there would be a return for Cameron Green and the former has got the nod.
Pakistan have also named their XI for this opening match of the series and they will give debuts to two of their quicks in Aamer Jamal and Khurram Shahzad. Sarfaraz Khan has surprisingly got the nod over Mohammad Rizwan behind the stumps.
Betting
I’m going to ease my way into the series and see how the two teams look and things in this opening match rather than get stuck into it. I’ll save all of that for the Boxing Day and New Year matches but there is one bet which I will go with is the player performance of the Australia captain Pat Cummins who will be eager to impress as he starts the Test match summer and who should have conditions in Perth that will really suit him.
The line is 120.5 so six wickets should cover this because you would imagine he will score a run in the match. He might well not need that many wickets though because he could well be good enough for 21 with the bat and as captain he is going to field in positions where the ball could come to him so he has plenty of scoring methods. Primarily his main method of scoring is wickets though and with the pace and bounce that is expected to be in this wicket I think Cummins can do enough of the scoring with the ball to get the job done here.
Tips
Back P.Cummins’ Performance – Over 120.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
