Patient Pakistan punish unbalanced Aussies

Yet again, Australia have let Pakistan off the hook by missing opportunities in the field.

The Aussies were dominated by Pakistan but cruelled their bowlers by coughing up five chances for wickets on the first day of the second Test at Abu Dhabi.

In the first Test, reprieves handed to Pakistan’s batsmen cost Australia 111 runs and, ultimately, any chance of victory. Yesterday, it was even worse.

AUSTRALIA VS PAKISTAN: FULL SCOREBOARD

Australia handed the opposition a bonus 172 runs as a result of two dropped catches and a missed LBW review. They also put down a further two difficult chances.

Australia’s attacked laboured manfully and maintained a solid degree of pressure until the last session, when Younis Khan and Azhar Ali almost batted Australia out of the match with an unbroken 208-run stand.

On an unresponsive deck against a confident opponent boasting a plethora of in-form batsmen, even half chances must be snared. Yet in just the 13th over of the day, veteran wicketkeeper Brad Haddin missed a regulation edge from Ahmed Shehzad off the bowling of Nathan Lyon.

After taking 2-220 in the crushing first Test loss, Lyon was in dire need of an early confidence boost. Having your gloveman squander a chance from your second ball of the match is a nightmare.

Looking considerably more potent from around the wicket, after bowling mostly over the wicket to Pakistan’s right handers in Dubai, Lyon quickly bounced back to trap Shehzad in front in his third over.

But, similar to in Dubai where he bowled better than his horror figures suggested, Lyon could source no luck. When eventual centurion Azhar was on 34 Lyon defeated him in the flight but a sharp catch was put down at short leg by Steve Smith.

In between these two crucial wasted opportunities for Australia, they had handed a life to Younis by failing to review an LBW decision which went in his favour.

Younis was only on 23 when young all-rounder Mitch Marsh trapped him in front but had his appeal turned down. The Aussies erred in not reviewing the decision, with replays showing the ball hit the pad before bat and was cannoning into leg stump.

Australia’s long-muddled use of the DRS was highlighted the next over when they reviewed a Glenn Maxwell LBW appeal only to find the ball had not even struck Younis’ pads.

The Australians just could not take a trick. Their plight was summed up in the space of four overs during the final session.

First, Peter Siddle got the ball to jag back and cut Younis Khan in half only to see the ball shave the top of the stumps. Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin was so sure it was going to bowl Younis that he went up in a half-celebration and missed the ball, which went for four byes.

Ten minutes later, Steve Smith got a ripping leg spinner to explode on Azhar Ali and balloon to slip where David Warner appeared to get a touch on it during a full length dive.

Four balls after that, Clarke’s unusual field settings almost paid dividends when Azhar chipped the ball inches short of Glenn Maxwell at short midwicket.

After their earlier profligacy there was no room to feel sorry for the Australians. The scoreboard would indicate that Australia’s bowlers had a shocker. That was not the case.

As in the first Test, Pakistan’s batsmen were wonderfully patient and thoughtful, and fully exploited their knowledge of batting in such conditions.

The pitch, which was remarkably parched and lifeless for a day one surface, offered nothing to the Aussie quicks and reasonable but slow turn for the visiting spinners.

Mitch Johnson was again gallant, bowling with skill and at hostile pace from start to finish. Peter Siddle was his usual accurate self but rarely threatened, perhaps due to his marked drop in pace.

Siddle was dumped from the Test team in South Africa for his lack of speed but re-discovered it at Dubai where he got up into the mid-140s at times. Yesterday, however, he was back to the medium pacer we had seen over the past 18 months, bowling mainly in the 130-135 zone.

Velocity was no problem for young left armer Mitchell Starc, who pushed the speed gun up to 148 kilometres per hour and was consistently in the low-to-mid 140s.

Despite not having played a first-class match for 14 months, Starc was brought into the side at the expense of rookie spinner Steve O’Keefe. Starc’s ability to produce reverse swing likely persuaded the Australian selectors. From his first delivery, Starc posed questions to the Pakistan batsmen with his rapidity and wise full length.

He was every bit as threatening as Johnson across the day, regularly hurrying the batsmen and drawing false or uncertain strokes.

Yet, bizarrely, the 24-year-old was given just 11 overs on a day when Australia used eight bowlers. Australia selected two all-rounders this match yet they too were not given much work, with Marsh and Glenn Maxwell bowling just 14 overs combined. Neither was introduced into the attack until Younis and Azhar were well set.

Lyon, meanwhile, looked a much more dangerous bowler than he had been at Dubai.

In the first Test, Lyon mostly bowled from over the wicket and Pakistan’s batsman milked him through the leg side often either by sweeping him or deflecting him off the back foot.

Because he was pitching most balls well outside the off stump the risk of LBW was low, particularly when sweeping as the Pakistan batsmen ensured their front pads landed outside the line.

Yesterday, he operated from around the wicket and pitched the majority of his deliveries on the stumps or just outside off peg, bringing LBW into play. This forced the cautious Pakistan batsmen to shelve the sweep. They were also far more careful in trying to whip him through the leg side off the back foot.

Lyon’s loop and curve elicited many false strokes and, until the wheels fell off in the final session, he kept the Pakistan batsmen under wraps.

But after missing those crucial chances, Australia were always likely to be maimed by this pugnacious Pakistan batting line-up.

Five of their top seven batsmen have now scored hundreds in the space of just three innings in this series. A sixth, Asad Shafiq, came close to joining them when he made 89 at Dubai.

Australia are being whipped by an assured opponent. It will require a miraculous effort from here for them to avoid defeat in this two-Test series.