Australia can take solace in some very recent events
History still smiling on tourists
Anyone prepared to cite Australia’s emphatic loss to Pakistan in Dubai as an indication the lustre of last summer has already rubbed off is merely telling you they are no student of history.
While the scale and circumstances of the 221-run defeat to an undermanned and under-achieving opponent has raised the eyebrows and the voices of critics, it is unlikely to send the Australian team’s brains trust into a flap.
After all, they’ve been there before. In the not-so-distant past. And found a way to turn around sub-par performances within a tight time frame.
Quick Single: Australia fight but Pakistan win first Test
Sunday’s loss on a lifeless, spin-friendly pitch at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium was the third such reality check since Darren Lehmann took on the role of coach in 2013.
The first (by 347 runs) came just weeks after he was installed in the job and was played out on the largest of stages – at Lord’s, in an Ashes Test when the touring batsmen had no answer to the spin of England’s Graeme Swann.
But less than a fortnight later, the Australians put together their most complete effort of that series on the back of captain Michael Clarke’s heroic 187 to score a moral victory that only Manchester’s notoriously awful weather prevented conversion to actuality.
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The second came in South Africa when the world’s then-top-ranked Test team completed a thumping 231-run win inside four days when Dale Steyn unveiled an inspired spell of reverse swing bowling at Port Elizabeth.
Less than a week later, again led by Clarke who produced one his most memorable innings to post an unbeaten 161 against some genuinely hostile fast bowling, the Australians rallied to produce their own reversal and secure the series as well as the title (albeit briefly) of world’s best.
The telling contributions of the team’s leader and pre-eminent batsman (who on both occasions elevated himself from five to four in the batting order) aside, these changes in fortune were achieved through similar means.
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A refusal to entertain collective self-doubt and a minor tweaking of on-field personnel.
Clarke underlined the former when he spoke in the wake of Sunday’s defeat and addressed the lingering perception that Australia’s batsmen continue to struggle against spin bowling in sub-continental conditions.
"I think we've certainly improved as a team," he said, referring to his team’s record against spin which shows that in their last five Test matches in sub-continental conditions (India and Dubai) they have lost more than 80 per cent of their wickets (80 of 99 to fall) to spin bowling.
"I think we obviously have more work to do in these conditions.
“But you've seen some examples - Davey (David Warner) making a hundred, (Steve) Smith making 50, the way Mitch (Johnson) played (yesterday for 61) - you've seen some examples of players certainly improving in these conditions.
“Unfortunately the result is the same as what it was in India (where Australia lost last year’s series four-nil).
“But I think as a team in general we've improved out of sight since that series, for a number of reasons."
The other element common in Australia bouncing back from hefty defeats born from similar circumstances – losing the toss, unable to capitalise on bowlers’ early breakthroughs and then being forced to chase the game as well as large totals – was a rejigging of the line-up.
That’s the discussion the national selection panel – chair Rod Marsh (who in in the UAE), Lehmann, Mark Waugh and Trevor Hohns – will be earnestly undertaking before the final Test begins on Thursday.
As was the case in England last year and for the last Test at Cape Town in February, there are finite possibilities given the limitations of a touring party.
Following the Lord’s loss, batsman Phil Hughes (who scored 1 and 1) was replaced by previously out-of-favour David Warner, spinner Ashton Agar (match figures of 0-142) made way for Nathan Lyon and James Pattinson succumbed to injury to be replaced by Mitchell Starc.
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In the wake of the Port Elizabeth defeat, which followed six consecutive Test victories, a pair of ducks saw newly installed number four Shaun Marsh axed even though he had scored a century in the previous Test, and Peter Siddle was deemed to have dropped pace as well as penetration and Pattinson was preferred.
The speculation heading into this week’s second Test in Abu Dhabi, where conditions are expected to replicate those seen in Dubai, will focus on not dissimilar scenarios.
Should Doolan, whose Test return of 5 and 0 contrasted starkly with his assured, unbeaten 104 in the preceding tour match against Pakistan A, retain his place or is there a case for Hughes’ prolific scoring over the past 12 months to justify another chance at Test level?
Clarke was unequivocal in his support for the Tasmanian number three whose four Tests to date have yielded 191 runs at an average of 23.87 with a best of 89 in his debut match against South Africa at Centurion.
"He just made an unbelievable hundred in the tour game," the captain said after the first Test loss.
"Dools will be fine. He’s a very good player.
“He knows his game really well, he’s showed he can bat in these conditions.
"You don’t lose class overnight, that’s for sure, and I’m confident that come this second Test he’ll probably make another hundred."
The suitability of playing a third seamer (in Dubai it was debutant all-rounder Mitchell Marsh) on a pitch likely to offer little life and increasing turn will also doubtless feature in the selectors’ pre-game phone hook-up.
It is well known that Lehmann believes the presence of an all-rounder provides the flexibility and depth that is crucial to winning a Test, so if Marsh (who scored 30 in his two innings with the bat and returned 0-63 from 24 overs with the ball) is deemed not the answer that role would likely fall to Glenn Maxwell.
Maxwell was Australia’s third-highest runs scorer (117) and equal second-highest wicket-taker (4) with his off-spin in the three-match ODI series that preceded the Tests, which saw Marsh sidelined with a hamstring injury.
However, Australia’s success of the past year (seven Test wins from nine starts) has been largely built around the performance of their seam attack, so the inclusion of a third spinner might be deemed an unnecessary concession given the effectiveness of the front-line spinners in Dubai.
Nathan Lyon (2-220 from 55 overs) and Steve O’Keefe (4-219 from 57 overs on debut) were forced to change their usual tight lines in order to extract turn from the bowlers’ footmarks, which the Pakistan spinners were able to utilise as the match and the pitch wore on.
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The other change that might be considered is to replace Siddle (who bowled consistently and tightly but for one expensive over) with Ben Hilfenhaus given the latter’s proven ability to swing the new and old ball, a feature that the Australians will be looking to exploit even more in Abu Dhabi.
Perhaps the most significant difference between the two previous hefty losses that Lehmann oversaw and yesterday’s result was the perceived strength of the opposition.
Pakistan not only went into the series sitting sixth on the ICC global Test rankings (marginally ahead of New Zealand) while Australia was second and eyeing South Africa’s top spot.
They had also won three of their previous 15 Tests over the past two years (a run that included a loss to ninth-ranked Zimbabwe) and were missing all three of their leading wicket-takers over that period.
Saeed Ajmal (71 wickets in that time) has been banned from bowling until he fixes his illegal action, paceman Junaid Khan (52 wickets) was hobbled by a knee injury before the series began and Ajmal’s fellow spinner Abdur Rehman (24 wickets) was omitted.
But if the Australians are looking for reassurance, history again proves a fertile source.
They have not lost two Tests in a row since the Lord’s defeat – the first two matches of Lehmann’s tenure.
And the last time they succumbed to consecutive Test losses to Pakistan was when Kim Hughes’ team was defeated 3-0 in Pakistan in 1982 – not long after Clarke celebrated his first birthday.