Pakistan vs Australia Test Series has come to an end. Australia had white washed Pakistan
Pakistan had lost all three matches.
Important like the Pakistan series that concluded on Saturday( January 6). which despite the 3- 0 whitewash result felt anything like being open- and- shut. It was if anything among the most nearly- fought 3- 0 series you will see on these shores. One where Pakistan came closer than any team bar India in recent summers. Really get into positions from where they could potentially have won a Test, perhaps indeed should have.
It did not start too well at Perth of course, where they squandered openings with club and ball, and were shot out of contention veritably beforehand. originally, by David Warner, who made what would be his final Test ton and a brilliant bone
at that, and also by the muscle of the Australian bowling battery in the alternate innings. And you could not deny the feeling of’ oh then we go again’, as we moved to Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test.
Then, they went against the grain, by taking the action to organise a two- day practice match before Christmas. And indeed if it did not prove to answer too numerous questions, they sounded a more disciplined unit with the ball come the Test at the MCG. Like the Indians did three times prior, they managed to always stay within range without letting Australia power down and spread the periphery too wide in the first innings. Including when it came to the lead that Australia finished with, albeit on a bowling-friendly pitch.
also came the moment, which will presumably be replayed a number of times over the coming many times when an opposition platoon believes that it’s got a Test within its grasp in Australia, where Abdullah Shafique dropped the simplest of catches off Mitchell Marsh, with the lead a bare 70 runs. That the all- rounder would also end up playing arguably his stylish Test knock on home soil to date, only further signified the significance of that slip- up.
Pakistan had their moments in the run- chase as well of course and it took the brilliance of Pat Cummins to constantly baffle their expedients on the fourth day. You could say the same about their eventual defeat in Sydney as well. Unlike numerous brigades in the last decade who have come over and lost matches before indeed throwing a punch. Then, Pakistan kept getting Australia’s world- class players to bring out their absolute stylish in order to beat them.
That in itself added to the quality of the contest, creating some of the most instigative moments of Test justice we have seen on Australian soil for a while.
Like the exhilaration-a-minute excitement late on Day 3 in front of a baying SCG crowd, all decked in pink, as Josh Hazlewood tore through the Pakistan middle- order with a triadic- gate demoiselle. Labuschagne would relate to it as the stylish hour of Test justice he is been a part of.
The spell from Cummins in the first innings at the SCG to back- up the 10- gate haul he would produced a many days before in Melbourne. The masterclass from Labuschagne across both innings in Sydney on a dry, two- paced SCG pitch. And that quaint Warner special to see off his noble Test career on the fourth morning.