When Australia played Sri Lanka at the Premadasa during the 2011 World
Cup, the visitors arrived with a very well aired reputation for being
poor players of spin. The pitch that was prepared was so dry that Ricky
Ponting called it "basically just rolled mud". Sri Lanka played three
specialist spinners, but before Australia had a chance to bat the match
was rained out. Nineteen months later, at the same venue, Pakistan
banked on their phalanx of slow-bowlers and Australia faltered.
This time the pitch was no rolled mud. In fact Mitchell Starc and Pat
Cummins generated pace and were rewarded with good carry. Xavier Doherty
and Brad Hogg managed some turn, but they were hardly unplayable.
Still, Pakistan backed their spinners to the extent that if Shoaib Malik
had not disappeared for 14 in the 15th over, the Premadasa might have
witnessed the first full Twenty20 innings comprised entirely of spin.
Shane Watson and David Warner
were forced to exert their own pace on the ball, and though Watson has
had success against spin in the past, neither much enjoyed it.
Oppositions had wondered what lay beyond the colossal top three, and
Pakistan had figured a way to unhinge the vault. Both opener's
dismissals hinted at frustration induced by a slower-than-usual scoring
rates. At four runs an over Australia were hardly crawling, but the
start was a sight more pedestrian than they had been used to in the
tournament.
Australia rarely looked troubled by the turn or the bounce, but trouble found them when batsmen attempted the big strokes. Mike Hussey
survived long enough to breach 20 - alone among his team-mates - but
that is perhaps because he barely played a shot in anger until late in
the match. Having arrived at the crease in the fourth over he did not
hit his first boundary until the 15th. George Bailey
perished trying to loft one over the infield, Cameron White was caught
at long-on and Glenn Maxwell swung hard, but couldn't even clear
backward point.
In between the dismissals, there was a steady trickle of runs. For a
while Australia seemed to be awaiting the arrival of pace to make their
charge, but when the fast bowling never came they were cornered into
attacking spin, and no one but Hussey seemed equipped to do that.
"I don't think it's any great secret that we've had some deficiencies at
times against spin and that probably showed tonight," Bailey said. "The
fact that Pakistan played to that was tactically very astute from them.
They had 18 overs of spin - I don't know if that's happened before in a
Twenty20 game. I certainly think we've worked on it and we've got some
very good players of spin as well. We managed to beat Pakistan in Dubai
recently, so we can overcome it. But it was probably our shortcoming
tonight."
Aside from their woes against spin, Australia must also address a middle
order that seemed short on confidence in their first proper outing in
the tournament. Between Nos 4, 5, 6 and 7, Australia's middle order made
just 44, and each batsman was tentative at the outset, heaping extra
pressure on themselves to catch up with boundaries as the required rate
rose. Australia may not have lost more than three wickets in the four
matches before this game, but they cannot rely on Watson to win a title
by himself despite his monstrous form. As Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore
had said before the match, even Watson can have a poor game.
"We hadn't had a hit in the middle, but it's not like we haven't hit a
cricket ball for three weeks," Bailey said of the middle order. "I think
everyone was prepared. Guys were getting starts, so I don't think guys
looked out of place in the middle. The whole thing about Twenty20 and
momentum meant that by the end of the six overs we were a long way
behind where we needed to be as well, with the wicket slowing up a
little bit.
"We probably also got caught going for that target and looking for the
112. As a group that's probably something that could have been
communicated better between the batsmen
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