What Australia have not done since returning a fractured unit from India is head back to Asia to play an Asian team. Two of their major weaknesses – handling spin and reverse swing – will be tested in the UAE by Pakistan
Brydon Coverdale in Dubai21-Oct-2014″Let’s not talk about India.”Who can blame Michael Clarke for those words on the eve of the first Test in Dubai? A tour of disharmony and disappointment, Australia’s visit to India early last year was the low point of Clarke’s captaincy. His men could not handle India’s spinners in turning conditions and were crushed 4-0. Off the field, they imploded as well.Much has happened since then, most of it positive. The Ashes have been won in triumphant style and South Africa dispatched in South Africa. Briefly, the No.1 Test ranking was regained. Off the field, the squad is in a far better place, and observers could be forgiven for thinking the scars of India have completely healed.But everything the Australians have achieved over the past year has been achieved in conditions they know well. They have often repeated the mantra that they must improve away from home, and victory in South Africa was a good start. But in cricketing terms, South Africa is less foreign than some Australian venues where dull drop-in pitches are used.What Australia have not done since returning a fractured unit from Delhi is head back to Asia to play an Asian team. That is the challenge that now awaits them in the UAE, with two Tests against Pakistan. And two of Australia’s major weaknesses – handling spin and reverse swing – will be tested over the next fortnight.It should not be forgotten that the first series under coach Darren Lehmann was an Ashes loss in England, where the pitches turned. Graeme Swann was the leading wicket taker and particularly flummoxed opener Chris Rogers, who he dismissed six times.For Swann, we could have read Saeed Ajmal in this series. But the sighs of relief from Australian batsmen when Ajmal was banned for an illegal action last month could have been heard from Karachi. Conventional spin troubles Australia enough; mystery spin is like a whodunit with a twist on the last page – they have no idea what’s coming.And it will spin in Dubai, make no mistake. Peter Siddle said on Monday that he thought Australia would play two spinners, and when a member of the fast-bowling cartel fails to toe the pace-party line, you know something is up. It would be the first time since India that Clarke has captained a side with two spinners.There, they used Xavier Doherty and Glenn Maxwell in Hyderabad, then Doherty and Nathan Lyon in Mohali, then Lyon and Maxwell in Delhi. Nothing worked, but that was down just as much to Australia’s inability to bat in spinning conditions; after Clarke reached triple figures late on the first day of the series, no Australian scored another century in the four Tests.”I think it’s the slow wickets. I think that’s our greatest challenge, the fact that the wickets are so much slower than what we’re used to in Australia,” Clarke said in Dubai. “It’s being able to adapt to that, whether we’re bowling or we’re batting. I think spin and reverse swing are going to play a really important part throughout this series and we have to combat both of those to have success.”I’ve spoken a lot about having success away from home. Fortunately we played really well in South Africa and were able to start winning away from home. Now we’ve got to keep going with that momentum. The boys know how important this series is and I guess that’s why a few of us have spoken about not looking any further than this.”There’s been a lot of talk about the World Cup. We’re really focused on these two Test matches because we know as a team how important it is to continue to challenge ourselves away from home and most importantly to have success in different conditions you’re not accustomed to.”
“I think it’s the slow wickets. I think that’s our greatest challenge, the fact that the wickets are so much slower than what we’re used to in Australia. It’s being able to adapt to that, whether we’re bowling or we’re batting. I think spin and reverse swing are going to play a really important part throughout this series and we have to combat both of those to have success.”Michael Clarke
The threat of reverse swing cannot be underestimated. It should be assumed that any team coached by Waqar Younis is fully across the art form. It is worth remembering that when Pakistan beat Australia at Headingley in 2010, swing was the deciding factor, albeit regulation rather than reverse. Of course, no members of that Pakistani attack remain.In fact, batsman Azhar Ali is the only member of that winning side who is in Pakistan’s squad for the first Test in Dubai. Australia and Pakistan have not played since that Headingley Test. That was so long ago that Steven Smith was a frontline spinner, not Australia’s most in-form batsman, and Salman Butt was still a respected captain.Since Australia last played Pakistan they have had three Ashes campaigns, three Test series against India, three against South Africa, even two against Sri Lanka. It’s as if Pakistan are the forgotten cousins, seen only once every few years at a family reunion.At least they’re entertaining cousins. Last time they met, captain Shahid Afridi holed out to the boundary and immediately decided he didn’t have the patience for Test cricket, retiring post-match, and then in the next game Pakistan ran through Australia for 88. They also threw their wickets away to the part-time spin of Marcus North, who got his name on the bowling honours board at Lord’s.Here, Pakistan will likely face a two-man spin attack but how they handle the speed of Mitchell Johnson will be just as important a question. The Dubai Test will be played on the same pitch used during the limited-overs games and two days out from the Test it looked very dry as the Australians had centre-wicket practice on similar pitches nearby.Australia’s part-time spinners could also play a significant role as the wicket deteriorates in Dubai; Clarke said he was fit to bowl along with Smith and David Warner. But the great unknown is how Australia will handle Pakistan’s spinners. There is no Ajmal, but Australia have seen little of legspinner Yasir Shah, and a fraction more of left-armer Zulfiqar Babar, who played in the ODIs.”I looked at a bit of footage throughout the four-day practice game,” Clarke said. “I think Pakistan in general have always had very good spin bowlers. Subcontinent teams have always had very good spin bowlers. They’re brought up on wickets that turn. They’re going to be tough, there’s no doubt about it, but it’s a great challenge.”It is also a new challenge, for no members of Clarke’s squad have played Tests against Pakistan in Asia. In the last such series, Pakistan were skittled for 59 and 53 in one Test in Sharjah. Eight years later, they swung Australia out for 88 in Leeds. With these two teams, anything can happen.
