Pakistan set for Aussie short-ball tactic redemption

As Steve Smith arrived at the crease, Pakistan’s fielders were sent scurrying to take up new positions.

Captain Shan Masood eventually settled on a silly point, three boundary fielders – a third man, a fine leg and a deep forward square leg – and another three square infield catchers on the leg-side.

Smith peered back over his left shoulder before facing up. Yes, there really were that many men awaiting a miscued cross-bat stroke … from his first ball. That he bisected all of them on his second would only have encouraged Pakistan, who plainly ignored the fact Aamir Jamal has twice had Smith caught behind edging regulation length balls in this series.

In Aamir's ensuing over to Marnus Labuschagne, who the paceman had also nicked off during the preceding Test in Melbourne, Pakistan had six men on the leg-side between fine-leg and a deep-square mid-wicket at varying distances from the batter.

Australia had of course used similar tactics in Melbourne to spark Pakistan's fourth-day collapse, and again on day one in Sydney with great success – until Aamir himself bashed a game-high 82 from 97 balls.

While Aamir was then given license to return fire for only an over-and-a-half before bad light stopped play, it may have been a telling insight into where this third NRMA Insurance Test is heading.

"We planned it when there was nothing happening from bowling (conventionally) to them," allrounder Salman Agha Ali told reporters with Australia trailing by 197 at stumps.

"We tried different things. We've seen that they tried it against us, so we wanted to do the same to them, and we got the wicket (of Usman Khawaja) with that. If we need to do that, we will do that."

The tactics will be familiar to those who watched Australia’s gripping winter campaign against England last year.

Ben Stokes' edict to produce "fast and flat" surfaces during last year's Ashes resulted in pitches that were mostly the latter. It encouraged extreme short-ball strategies from both sides.

There is irony now in the possibility that the Aussies, who might have thought Stokes and Brendon McCullum's methods that gradually wore them down during their six-week UK tour might be in the rearview mirror, may need to repel Bazball-lite to begin 2024 on a winning note.

The hosts may wonder how they have ended up starting the new year on a pitch that shares some characteristics to the ones they played on in the UK last year.

Speaking to SEN before play, paceman Josh Hazlewood described the wicket as being "pretty dead, to be honest" while Nathan Lyon forecasted "a slow grind" over the coming days.

Khawaja, who has played on the SCG since he was a teenager, defended the surface.

"This is as close to an SCG pitch that I grew up playing on," said the opener.

"It used to be, once the new ball lost its shine after 10 overs it was quite a slow wicket and it spun a bit, balls stayed low. That's what we want. That's the SCG we grew up playing (on).

"That's what we love about Australia – all the wickets aren't the same. If this was Perth or the Gabba, then you'd be like there's something not right here. But this is the SCG. I think it's a really good wicket out there, a perfect SCG wicket out there.

"If we keep getting play on it, I expect it to deteriorate, it's already taking turn. I think it's a very good wicket."

But until spinners can more regularly replicate the kind of turn Salman got to dismiss David Warner earlier on day two, both teams look likely to adopt the short-ball approach as soon as their balls lose hardness.

Before taking the reins as Pakistan's Test skipper ahead of their Australian tour, Masood spent the northern summer at the helm of flailing England county side Yorkshire in a county system that has been heavily influenced by the cavalier approach of England’s Test team.

The axing of obdurate opener Imam-ul-Haq for this Test, and the gradual uptick in their scoring rates in this series (they went under three-per-over in Perth, at around 3.5 in Melbourne and then more than four in the first innings in Sydney) suggests Masood is slowly winning his teammates over to a more up-tempo style of play.

And the final few overs of the abbreviated second day showed Masood is also open to the type of rapid strategic pivots that have characterised Stokes' captaincy in the field.

Aamir had started his spell with two slips and a gully for both Khawaja and Labuschagne, but after the speedster dismissed Khawaja with a leg-side short ball, eight of Aamir's next nine balls were bouncers.

Pakistan had only bowled seven short balls in 25 preceding overs of pace (per Opta), highlighting how swiftly the visitors were willing to shift plans.

Khawaja insists Australia are ready for it.

"It happens all the time," Khawaja said after scoring 47 from 143 balls.

"The majority of Test matches we've played, at some stage you bat long enough, teams will try it. It's nothing new, really. We’ve faced it a million times before."

"When the ball gets soft, there's not a lot happening off the middle (of the pitch). It's probably why it's specific at times. Sometimes you have a crack and do it and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't."

NRMA Insurance Test series v Pakistan

First Test: Australia won by 360 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 79 runs

Third Test: January 3-7, SCG (10.30am AEDT)

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, David Warner

Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi