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Australia’s batsmen finally refound their touch in Sydney to win the series with a match to spare, but there is still a battle to be waged in Adelaide with Pakistan trying to restore some pride at the end of a disastrous tour before they catch the flight home.
Australia Day is always an important one, and winning on the country’s national day is right up there with the Boxing Day and New Year’s Test as the most important of the summer.
With the series sewn up though and the Aussies having one eye on their upcoming tours of New Zealand and India, this match could turn into a dead rubber in the truest sense of the word.
Australia wrapping up the series with a game to spare does give them a sense of flexibility though, with players possibly being rested from this final game.
In Sydney, it was all about the Australians getting their batting right, because it had barely fired throughout the series with the exception of a Steve Smith century to help chase a target in Perth during the third match of the series, which pushed Australia up 2-1 in the series.
David Warner kicked things off at the top of the order with a stunning century, eventually being dismissed on 130 from just 119 balls, but by then the damage had been done to a fragile touring outfit.
While Steve Smith departed just two balls after Warner, leaving Australia at 3 for 213 after winning the toss it was over to Travis Head (51 off 36) and Glenn Maxwell (78 off 44) to not only stear, but power the hosts into a dominant position – or a score that was never going to be tracked down.
From Maxwell particularly, it was a display of power hitting like we have come to expect from him, just not on a consistent basis as we would like.
Australia would end with 6 for 353, and they would have taken extreme satisfaction from the fact Mohammad Amir ended with figures of 1 for 75 from ten overs.
In reply, Pakistan lost returning captain Azhar Ali early and it simply got worse from there. While they had a few partnerships and Sharjeel Khan scored 74 from 47, the wickets fell all too regularly and they fell for 267, 86 runs short of the target.
Unfortunately for Pakistan, Sharjeel’s was just about a lone hand as their batting order crumbled, with no other batsman going past a half century.
For Pakistan, it just about summed up their tour which has gone from low to low and never really looked like it was going to rebound.
Adam Zampa impressed in his first match of the series, picking up two wickets, but it was big quick Josh Hazlewood who stole the show, knocking over Ali and ending with 3 for 54.
Essentially, the one-day series has so far gone exactly how it was expected to and Pakistan will need to put in a massive, fighting effort if they are to come back in this final and grab only their second win on tour.
Last five meetings
January 22, 2017 – Australia defeated Pakistan by 22 runs at Sydney
January 19, 2017 – Australia defeated Pakistan by 7 wickets at Perth
January 15, 2017 – Pakistan defeated Australia by 6 wickets at Melbourne
January 13, 2017 – Australia defeated Pakistan by 92 runs at Brisbane
March 20, 2015 (world cup quarter-final) – Australia defeated Pakistan by 6 wickets at Adelaide OvalLast five series
2014 – Australia defeated Pakistan 3-0 in United Arab Emirates
2012 – Australia defeated Pakistan 2-1 in United Arab Emirates
2010 – Australia defeated Pakistan 5-0 in Australia
2009 – Australia defeated Pakistan 3-2 in United Arab Emirates
2002 – Pakistan defeated Australia 2-1 in Australia
Told you! Warner back in form and Australia dominate
You thought I was going to stop talking about Warner, didn’t you? The line that has often been written in these columnns is if Warner dominates, then Australia will score big – and look what happened in Sydney.
Warner made his first century of the series – and indeed his first big score since the red ball was put away, with Australia then going onto make 353.
If that doesn’t prove the theory then I’m not sure what does. Warner was voted as one-day player of the year at the Allan Border Medal – and of course won the big one – but certainly his one-day award was the correct decision.
He has been far and away Australia’s best in the pyjamas over the last 12 months, and is almost without a doubt the most dangerous opening batsmen in world cricket right now.
Who do Australia rest on Australia Day and how does it affect the result?
While the likely XI I have named in the article isn’t going to reflect any of this speculation, the bottom line is that the series is wrapped up and Australia need to turn their attention to other events – namely the upcomning ODI tour of New Zealand and more importantly the Test tour of India.
Now, I’m not a selector or a mind reader, but a reasonable guess should still be able to be taken at what the real selectors will do in terms of giving players a game off.
The first thing to note is that Usman Khawaja and David Warner will both be there and playing. Despite a long summer already under their belt, they have both been given the tour of New Zealand off – albeit for different reasons – so if they are healthy and in the best XI then they will be there.
Steve Smith is the one that really has question marks over his head. The captain has been selected for New Zealand and is yet to miss a match this summer, so it could be a good chance to give him a sit, save a flight and allow Warner to get some more leadership experience.
As for the fast bowling combination of Starc and Hazlewood – they have also been included for the trip to New Zealand, but have both had a match off in this series already.
Needless to say, the XI Australia comes out with for this match will probably be the most interesting part with the series already decided.
Pakistan will either win, or be absolutely dominated in Adelaide
Look, I don’t want to be a doomsayer, but Pakistan are probably already on the plane home. If that is indeed the case, then there is going to be no close loss for them.
They are either going to play dreadfully and have a massive run chase or low score to defend, or have a few solid individual performances and pull off what could be a big victory against a switched-off Australian side.
Sharjeel to come out firing again
Of course, we can talk about how Pakistan are already mentally on the plane and that Warner is the most dangerous opener in cricket all we want – but a rival for that crown is building in the Pakistan lineup.
Sharjeel had a pretty slow start to the series, but he had shown glimpses of what he could do. Now with another half century as he mauled the Australian attack early in the chase for 74 off 47 and there is no question about the talent of the man.
Sure, the question still remains about where he has the concentration and temperment to turn it into a really big score at international level, but by wow this man is scary and a dead rubber provides what should be the perfect opportunity for Sharjeel to make a monster score.
What’s going on with Glenn Maxwell?
I’ve talked about the man affectionately known as ‘Maxi’ during this series already, but the situation took another twist – and got weirder at the Sydney Cricket Ground, partiuclarly given he will be the spinning all-rounder in India – and that’s a fact, rather than speculation.
But Maxwell is still yet to bowl an over in the series, with Travis Head getting all the accolades at the other end and bowling out in Sydney.
What makes the decision to have Maxwell as the only spin bowling all rounder for the squad to India baffling is that Steve Smith simply refuses to bowl him here, and Head has only bowled to a reasonable level – something Maxwell could probably ecplise.
It just makes no sense right at the moment, and no matter how well Maxwell batted in the last game the situation doesn’t look like improving in the near future with both Zampa and Head likely to be in the side for Adelaide.
Key game information
First ball: 2:20pm (AEDT) – 1:50pm (local)
Venue: Adelaide Oval
TV: Live, Nine Network
Online: Cricket.com.au live pass
Betting: Australia $1.27, Pakistan $3.82
Overall Record: Played 97, Australia 61, Pakistan 32, tied 1, no result 3
Last five: Australia 4, Pakistan 1Likely Teams
Australia
1. David Warner
2. Usman Khawaja
3. Steve Smith (c)
4. Travis Head
5. Peter Handscomb
6. Glenn Maxwell
7. Matthew Wade (wk)
8. Adam Zampa
9. Pat Cummins
10. Mitchell Starc
11. Josh HazlewoodRest of squad – Adam Zampa, Marcus Stoinis, Billy Stanlake
Injured – Mitchell Marsh, Chris LynnPakistan
1. Azhar Ali (c)
2. Sharjeel Khan
3. Babar Azam
4. Mohammad Hafeez
5. Shoaib Malik
6. Umar Akmal
7. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
8. Imad Wasim
9. Mohammad Amir
10. Hasan Ali
11. Junaid KhanRest of squad – Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Asad Shafiq
| Start (AEDT) | Finish (AEDT) | |
| 1st Innings | 2:20 PM | 5:50 PM |
| Break | 5:50 PM | 6:35 PM |
| 2nd Innings | 6:35 PM | 10:05 PM |
*Times are subject to change due to over rates, game situation, weather
Prediction
The Australians have the momentum on the back of two straight wins, and given Pakistan have only won a single game for the whole tour, they will be mentally down and out with nothing really left to win.
While on an individual basis, players might be extremely keen to go out on a high with a big performance, the pressure will come in the field, particularly if Australia get away to a good start. Mistakes there could lead to a bigger score than Australia should get, and that will be just about where the destruction starts and ends in this one.
Of course, Australia might rest a number of players, but even then you would be skeptical about backing Pakistan to do anything good in this one on Australia’s national day.
It could get very, very ugly no matter how many individual performances Pakistan have for them over the course of the match.
Australia in a canter
Don’t forget The Roar will have a live blog of each and every day from the summer of cricket as well as highlights throughout the match.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde