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When all else fails, it’s time to resort back to plan A. The thumping handed out by Pakistan in the first Test, as well as reinforcing the impression that Australia just don’t do slow and attritional, made it quite clear that the team selection was awry.
As a general rule, the XI put on to the field in the kind of conditions encountered in the UAE has to reflect that surface being used. This, you would think, means two spinners as a matter of course.
But every so often there is a glaring exception to the rule and this is it.
When there is no pace to work with, either from the 22 yards of turf being utilised or coming from the ball being propelled at them, Australia look half the side of the one that obliterated England and took down South Africa in the past 12 months.
The batsmen, as shown in India last year, look far from comfortable and the bowlers look nowhere near as incisive.
And the latter part of that sentence provides the crux of the matter. Scoring runs keeps a side in the game; taking wickets opens up avenues to victory.
The Ashes in England in 2013 were closer than the scoreline indicated for the simple reason that the Australian bowlers were taking wickets. And when the top order decided to consistently show up a few months later, added to the extra cutting edge in the attack, the results were spectacular.
It was the penetration provided by Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle that turned fortunes around with Nathan Lyon doing sterling work in the supporting role.
Fast forward to the past few days and the whole dynamic has altered and for the worse.
Lyon had a poor game, which didn’t represent the bowler he is and can be, but when the emphasis is on him to take centre stage he struggles to deliver.
Steve O’Keefe looks tidy enough but the pair of them are not going to win Test matches and it really is as simple as that.
To do your work as a spinner when the seamers are cleaning up at the other end is a damn sight easier and the opposite end of the spectrum was on show last week.
With Johnson and Siddle tamed to a certain degree – excellent tactics by the Pakistanis by the way – the spinners had to provide the cutting edge and there wasn’t any.
Would a third seamer be any less of a weapon?
I’d argue not and while it flies in the face of cricketing logic, playing to an obvious strength, and one that has been almost solely responsible for the team’s resurgence has to be worth the gamble because plan B is an inferior substitute.