Starc out to exploit home advantage

Pace spearhead Mitchell Starc believes the pink-ball Test at the Gabba presents Australia with the perfect opportunity to get one up on a Pakistan side he says "struggles away from home".

Pakistan briefly claimed the world number one Test ranking in August after a 2-2 series result in England, but they were beaten 2-0 by New Zealand in the recently-concluded clashes across the Tasman, and Starc feels they are vulnerable on the road.

Quick Single: Pakistan confident Yasir will be fit for Gabba

Since Misbah-ul-Haq took over as captain in 2010, Pakistan have won just six of 16 Tests outside Asia (including two against Zimbabwe) while they've lost only four Tests out of 24 in their adopted home of the United Arab Emirates.

"They've struggled in New Zealand and probably struggle a little more away from home – they're really comfortable in the UAE," he said after arriving in Brisbane ahead of Thursday's first Commonwealth Bank Test.

"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 we all know goes a long way to working out the final result.

"(But) they've got a good bowling attack as well, so (their batsmen) would've faced pace or swing for a long time in the nets ... they've played some really good cricket over the last year-and-a-half to fight to the top of the world rankings."

While Pakistan's bowling attack looks more than capable of fighting fire with fire in Australia, the batting order is somewhat of an unknown quantity in the unfamiliar conditions.

The Mickey Arthur-coached side, which has slipped to fourth on the rankings following the defeat in New Zealand, hasn't toured Down Under for a Test series in seven years, and has never won a series in the country, from 11 attempts.

Among the batsmen, only veteran pair Younis Khan (three matches) and Misbah (two) have played Test cricket in Australia, with the duo posting highest scores of 87 and 65no respectively.

Pakistan's 2009-10 tour took in Tests in Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart, and gave Australian viewers a first taste of then 18-year-old Mohammad Amir, who subsequently spent five years banned from the sport following the spot-fixing controversy of Lord's 2010.

Starc said any questions regarding whether the left-arm quick – who was in scintillating form in his Australian return in a Cairns warm-up match last week – should have been allowed to return to international cricket were immaterial to the hosts.

"He's playing Test cricket, he's another player in their team, and we'll address him in the team meeting," he said. "That's all that needs to be said I think.

"To be honest, (I haven't read about his story) at all. I've seen a few highlights of him swinging the ball around, and in Cairns he had a bit of fun swinging the pink ball.

"Hopefully that means I can swing it around a bit down at the Gabba this week."

Starc praised the abilities of the 24-year-old, with the pair possessing a similar skills-set headlined by flat-out pace and a lethal inswinger to the right-hander.

"He's got great skills, everyone in world cricket knows that," he added. "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 get wickets early and throughout an innings.

"So we're going to have to discuss him in our team meeting and the guys who have faced him in the past can speak up and we'll see what little things they've picked up, but he's just another one of their players."

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