Pakistan conclude their tour of Australia with a two match Test series which begins in Brisbane on Thursday. We wait until next week for the pink ball Test so we get underway with the red ball in the traditional home of the first Test of the Australian summer.
Australia will be expected to dominate both matches in their own conditions, even more so after taking Pakistan apart in the T20 series recently, but Pakistan have shown they are gutsy in Test cricket and will be out to show their worth.
Australia
The Australians got off to a perfect start for their summer when they dominated T20 series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan and now they will look to show their red ball worth too. They head into the match off the back of a drawn Ashes series which they completely dominated, despite resting some of their best players at times in that. It is unlikely their key men will be missing in this series, even with plenty of cricket to come.
This is a pretty important match for both sides as it forms part of the World Test Championship, something Australia have made a solid if unspectacular start in but a couple of wins here would propel them nicely up the table. The issues they had in The Ashes still remain with question marks over their best attacking unit and their make up in terms of six batsmen or an all-rounder but they will still expect to win here.
Pakistan
Pakistan are making their first foray into the World Test Championship here. That is because it has been 11 months since they last played the longest form of the game. In that time they have changed coach and moved on in many areas. This is their chance to show that they have assessed their shortcomings and done something about them, as well as that they can compete in all conditions, which they are going to have to do to come out on top in the WTC.
Generally speaking when Pakistan go away from home their bowlers are still competitive but it is their batting which can struggle. When you look down their order they stand up to scrutiny but it is one thing looking good enough, it is another thing to stand up to a decent attack and score runs. They managed it in the two warm up matches but they are always chalk and cheese to the real thing.
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Team News
James Pattinson has been banned for this match after something he said in a prior match. That means Australia will go into this match with Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc as their seam attack. Joe Burns will be Warner’s opening partner.
Pakistan could give a debut to 16-year-old Naseem Shah. Iftikar Ahmed looks to be the man who will slot in at six while Mohammad Rizwan will be the wicket keeper. They will have to decide on Mohammad Abbas or Imran Khan as the other seamer.
Brisbane Cricket Ground
This famous ground has staged 61 previous Test matches with Australia having a sensational record here with 39 wins to just eight defeats. There has been 13 draws here as well as a tie. Pakistan have played here five times and are yet to record a win, having drawn once and lost on the other four occasions they have played Test cricket on this ground.
This is generally a decent ground to bat on, especially in the early stages, but the longer the match goes the more it can turn and on the last day it will be hard to survive. That means the toss could be quite important in this one although it has been said that the second and third day is often the best days to bat here.
Betting
It is almost an unwritten rule that you don’t bet against Australia at the Gabba but backing them isn’t going to get us very rich given they are going to start off around the 1/4 mark. It might be that they trade bigger if Pakistan get off to a decent start in which case we can get involved then but until that is the case it is the side markets which are going to have to be the centre of attention.
The one in question is the player performance of Pat Cummins, who I expect to have a very good series. He has a performance line of 125.5 which might not be as high as it seems. He took 10 wickets in a win over Sri Lanka here last year and comes into the match in decent nick of with bat and ball. He took wickets regularly in the T20 matches leading up to this series and was in good touch in a Sheffield Shield match as well. Six wickets and a few runs gets us there here but seven wickets obviously isn’t beyond him. I’ll play the over here.
Tips
Back P.Cummins’ Performance – Over 125.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Bet365
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