by As the new year’s sun shone on the Sydney Cricket Ground the day before the third Test against Pakistan, a new one-off festival was taking place at the same time.
“Warner Week has started,” Australia captain Patrick Cummins said.
“I think everyone will think about it in their own way.”
Which, as far as David Warner’s opening batting goes, gives just the right amount of scope for interpretation of a player who is as polarizing as another.
If Pakistan had squared the series 1-1 by changing their chances of winning in Melbourne, then the game of cricket would have to be abandoned after 112 Tests sharing billing with this match which be a decision.
Instead, Pakistan slipped, the series is gone, and this third encounter will be all about the valedictory lap. That much was evident from Cummins’ press conference, where he asked 13 questions about Warner compared to 11 questions about anything else.
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And that was before Warner went public with the news that his baggy green cap had been lost or stolen in transit from Melbourne, prompting an invitation from Schapelle Corby to exchange notes about experiences with Qantas baggage handlers. Somehow he has always found a way to be on the story.
New cap or not, Australia will need a performance from Warner for reasons beyond symbolism, hoping he can get the runs going again at the venue where he raided Pakistan for a century at lunch on the first day.
World Test Championship points are still on the line for this match, and as Cummins pointed out, Australia have already taken some deductions due to England’s slow rates. Not that this has stopped them from speeding up their work on the field since, mind you. But everyone is hunting to win.
So Australia will go in with an unchanged XI, backing their senior players to get the job done, and lucky that their three first-choice fast bowlers will be fit and firing.
“All three of us are really fresh,” Cummins said.
“Even the way this summer is spread out a bit more, there’s two Tests, then a bit of a gap, then two Tests, then a bit of a gap, then New Zealand. We’ll give it a chance. It’s gone pretty smoothly so far.”
And so Pakistan spent the day arguing about changes. Their captain Shan Masood arrived at his press conference half an hour late, delayed by discussions about team selection which were still unresolved at that point, with the team being announced several hours later.
This was largely due to a desire to take into account the chaos factor of leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed, who has taken bags of wickets in his half-dozen games since debuting a year ago, although often at the expense of runs.
Desperate for a lead, haunted by the memory of Sydney as a center of spin, Pakistan wanted to give him every chance to recover from injury, but in the end had to give up. Instead they turn to the evasive Sajid Khan.
Sydney’s history as a spinning park, however, is history. This century has produced little for most of his surfaces but runs, with 26 team innings of at least 400. India were back in 2004 on the way with 705 for 7 declared.
Local keepers have been working this season to add some pep to their Sheffield Shield pitches, and the Test strip had attractive patches of green grass the day before the match, but that has happened before and was an illusion.
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The pace of skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi, overworked in the first two Tests despite warming up into the series, is a bigger loss. His omission means that the attack will consist of the third gamer Aamer Jamal, impressive after debuting in Perth; fifth gamer Mir Hamza, who reduced Australia to 16-4 in Melbourne; and senior choice Hasan Ali in his 24th game, who worked unluckily in his last start.
Part-time bowling Agha Salman was the only spin used in the first two Tests, but he will be retained due to his success in the Melbourne run. The final change is 21-year-old uncapped Saim Ayub, who is highly rated as a dynamic bowler, replacing the defensive imam-ul-Haq. Saim was listed to open by the Pakistan board’s press release, but he is as likely to bat in the middle order as Masood to open.
That would suit Masood’s intention to lead the way in playing enterprising cricket, as the captain used his press conference to emphasize the need to keep the scoring rate high against Australia: “the best side in the world right now, in my opinion.”
So it will be up to Warner to build on that attitude once again. Farewell to Warner, Cummins said, “was a hundred and maybe a leg-spinner to take the last wicket of the match off the rough.” It was a delivery from Warner, an unlikely prospect given that Warner has not bowled a Test match since 2016, but the phrase could just as easily be read as any leg-spin bowler. Unfortunately for Pakistan, that leg-spinner will not be Abrar.
