SYDNEY - The Australians are poised to put Pakistan to the sword on the same familiar ground where they embarked on a confidence-restoring clean sweep of the New Zealand series seven weeks ago.
Back then, the Hobart wounds — deep wounds sustained in an innings loss to South Africa in the unlikely case you’ve forgotten — were fresh, so the 68-run win over the Kiwis at the SCG built on the Adelaide Test win the week before.
The ensuing 3-0 Chappell-Hadlee Trophy triumph laid the ground for an identical result in the Pakistan Tests; all that remains is delivering the coup de grace in the fourth of the five-match ODI series at the SCG tomorrow.
The tourists are reeling from squandering a big advantage in Perth — first by faltering in the final 10 overs of their innings and then by failing to exploit early inroads with the ball.
Middle-order batsman and part-time spinner Travis Head said yesterday the Australians were buoyed by playing an almost “complete game” in the seven-wicket win at the WACA on Thursday night. Describing the side as “clinical with the bat”, Head said coach Darren Lehmann put it on the top order to lift after moderate showings in Brisbane and Melbourne.
“You put on 180, it wins you most games,” Head said of Steve Smith and debutant Peter Handscomb’s matchwinning stand at the WACA. “We lost a couple of wickets at the start but that partnership through the middle was what we were looking for.” Head might say the side was “complete” and “clinical”, but different words are needed for aspects of the Australians’ game. Keeper Matthew Wade missed a stumping to give his many critics further ammunition ahead of the spin-fest in India.
In Wade’s defence, Umar Akmal’s air swing was the first ball that went past the bat, or was left, in Head’s first 47 balls. “He was a bit stiff,” Head said of the missed stumping. “It was probably the first one that skipped a little bit low. That happens sometimes. That’s fine.”
Wade is expected to get more practice standing up tomorrow as Adam Zampa is expected to at last get a game after sitting out the series thus far. The world’s leading ODI wicket-taker in 2016 is shaping as the hosts’ bowling trump on the nation’s most spinner-friendly pitch.
Zampa will add bite to a spin division that so far has started and ended with Head — Glenn Maxwell is yet to bowl a ball in anger or otherwise in the series. Head was grateful for Smith’s faith, but said it was easy to work on your bowling in the Shield when you captained your state. “I wanted to add another skill to my game to help with selection in any form for any team,” he said of how bowling has become another string to his bow. Mitchell Starc is expected to return tomorrow after being rotated out of the attack for Perth, where Josh Hazlewood (3-32 from 10 overs) gave the Pakistanis no room to play their preferred expansive game.
Billy Stanlake and Pat Cummins were also impressive as the hosts held Pakistan to just 50 runs in the final 10 overs. “We’re bowling extremely well and momentum’s a great thing to take to Sydney,” Head said.
“We played really well against New Zealand in Sydney. The captain got a great hundred (164) in Sydney. “So if we can replicate what we did yesterday, it’d be really nice to wrap up the series.”
An Australian win tomorrow would render the Australia Day match in Adelaide a dead rubber — if there is such a thing in international cricket — ahead of the Test players’ departure for Dubai.
There they will practise on pitches specially prepared to match the conditions they will face in India for the Test series that starts at Pune on February 23.