Unhappy birthdays for Mark Taylor and David Warner

Former Test skipper and opening batsman Mark Taylor turned 50 yesterday, while current Test opener David Warner turned 28.

But there was precious little for both to celebrate.

Taylor was on television commentary duty at the SCG to call his state NSW being thumped by Western Australia to the tune of 64 runs in the Matador One-Day Cup final.

Warner sat in the Dubai shed and watched teammates Steve Smith and Mitchell Johnson valiantly try to hold off defeat in the first Test. But once they went it was a procession for Pakistan to win by a comfortable 221 runs.

Both games were batting failures.

SCG man of the match Michael Klinger kick-started the Wests’ batting with 96, and was well supported by Craig Simmons’ 47, skipper Adam Voges’ 40 and Marcus Harris’ 33.

NSW had the Wests’ 6-255 well covered while Shane Watson, back on duty for only his second game after five months off injured, and Kurtis Patterson were at the crease.

But once Patterson left for 44 off 71, and Watson for 83 off 100, the procession was embarrassing.

Watson departed at 4-152, that became 5-153, 6-165, 7-172, 8-178, 9-179 and all out 191.

Dubai was a mixture of Australian batting failures, and exceptional bowling from the Pakistani spinners.

Only Warner’s first dig 133 off 174, sedate by his explosive standards, was worthy of mention on days two and three.

That gave the left-hander three Test tons on the trot to join Warren Bardsley against England in 1909-10, Charlie McCartney against England in 1926, Arthur Morris against England in 1947, Don Bradman against India in 1948 and Adam Gilchrist against Pakistan and New Zealand in 2005.

Surprisingly, among the plethora of records he set, ‘The Don’ only cracked three successive Test centuries once.

But back to Dubai where Smith and Johnson deserve recognition facing a heavy defeat – 221 was bad enough, but it would have been a whole lot worse had they not stuck around.

Smith’s stoic 55 off 175, and Johnson’s 61 off 127, put some sanity and stuffing back into the Australian total.

Bot look at the rest, with six Australian batsmen scoring six runs between them in the second dig – Alex Doolan (duck), Michael Clarke (3), nightwatchman Nathan Lyon (duck), Mitchell Marsh (3), Brad Haddin (duck) and Steve O’Keefe not out on zero.

And to ram home their supremacy, the Pakistani spinners ran rings around their Australian counterparts. Zulfigar Babar, Yasir Shar and Mohammad Hafeez bowled 140.2 overs between them to capture 15 wickets for 341.

Nathan Lyon, Steve O’Keefe on debut and Steve Smith bowled 118 overs between them for 7-489. Pakistan spinner’s average per wicket 22.73, Australian spinners 69.86. Little wonder Pakistan won in a canter.

The lead-ups weren’t too flash, but happy birthdays today to Mark Taylor and David Warner.