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Australia again struggled to control Pakistan’s tail-end batting yesterday as the tourists put themselves in a solid position in the Boxing Day Test.
The hosts had a chance to finish Pakistan off for around 300 after they reduced the tourists to 6-268 on the back of fine bowling by quicks Josh Hazlewood and Jackson Bird.
Instead, tail ender Mohammad Amir spanked 28* from 23 balls and Pakistan sprinted to 6-310 by the close of play.
With more ordinary weather forecast for Melbourne today and tomorrow, that late burst by Pakistan put them in a position from where they almost can’t lose this Test. Already 78 overs have been lost in the Test, so if Pakistan wish to push for a result, they may need to consider a declaration if significant time is lost again tomorrow.
Amir carried on where he left off with the blade in the second dig of the first Test. At Brisbane he teed off en route to 48, compiling a brisk stand of 92 with Asad Shafiq as Pakistan gave the Aussies a fright when they made 450 in chase of 490. Yesterday, Amir put on 42 from just 39 balls, with opener Azhar Ali, who crafted a patient, cultured 139*.
The Aussie attack has been very good this year, often let down by flaky efforts from their batting colleagues. Their glaring weakness however, has been an inability to consistently finish off tails.
The most obvious example was at Brisbane, where Pakistan incredibly went from 6-220 to 450 all out. Only a few weeks prior to that, South Africa’s tail wagged in the first Test at Perth. At 6-352 in their second innings the tourists led by 350 and the match was still alive. By the time bowlers Vernon Philander (74) and Keshav Maharaj (41*) finished smacking Australia around, the match was all but gone.
That lower order blitzkrieg by South Africa crushed the spirit of Australia and set them up for a devastating series loss.
Something similar occurred in the opening Test of the series in Sri Lanka in July. Batting a second time, Sri Lanka were 7-290 with no recognised batsmen left.
The lead was still manageable at 204. Then some ordinary bowling from the Australians allowed tweaker Rangana Herath to tonk 35 from 34 balls and Sri Lanka’s lead ballooned out of reach. The Lankan tail were at it again in the second Test. After being 6-121 in their second innings, they almost doubled their total thanks to 64 from spinner Dilruwan Perera and 26 from Herath.
Mitchell Starc, who time and again destroyed Sri Lanka’s top six with searing full deliveries, regularly bowler much shorter to their lower order.
Starc is not the only culprit among the Australians when it comes to making life too easy for tail enders, but it must be noted that he owns the best yorker in world cricket, yet underuses it against the lower order. To tail enders there are only three balls a paceman need bowl – a throat ball, a Yorker and a delivery hitting the top of off stump.
What you don’t want to do, if you pitch it short, is have the ball rising to a comfortable height between the waist and nipple. What you don’t want to do, if you aim for the blockhole, is offer a half volley. What you don’t want to do, in search of clattering the top of off, is get the length right but offer width. Each of these mistakes has been made too often by Australia’s pacemen this year.
Then there’s Nathan Lyon. The off spinner should love bowling to the tail, instead he seems frightened by the ignominy of being dispatched by lower-order players. Typically, when bowling to the tail, a canny spinner will bowl slower, with greater loop. They seek to get the ball up above the eyeline, coaxing the tail-ender into an aggressive shot, before undoing them with dip, drift and turn.
Lyon has become more inclined to dart the ball through in an effort to try to keep things tight, an obvious symptom of his sagging self-belief. Lyon’s had a horror summer, averaging 62 from five Tests, and seems to have completely lost the confidence of his skipper, Steve Smith. Again Lyon has been scarcely used in this Test, bowling just 17 overs, compared to 29 for Jackson Bird, 26 for Josh Hazlewood and 23 for Mitch Starc.
If Australia are to have any hope of manufacturing a victory in this rain-shortened Test, they have to scythe through the Pakistan tail this morning. If they let it wag, once again, Australia will be left fighting for a draw.