Former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has urged selectors to go back to a horses for courses selection policy as they try to find an edge in the Test series against Pakistan.
Haddin, speaking on Fox Cricket at the lunch break, as the first Test was headed for a spirit crushing draw in Rawalpindi, called for legspinner Mitch Swepson and allrounder Mitch Marsh to come into calculations, as doubts were raised over Josh Hazlewood’s work load.
“The one thing [selectors] had an appetite in the past couple of years is horses for courses – we saw it in the away Ashes where Peter Siddle played in front of Starc and maybe that might be the thinking going into the last two Tests,” said Haddin.
“You’ve got to find a way to get the leg spinner in so you’ve got options – you only need two quicks, two spinners and maybe a Mitch Marsh comes into the equation so you’ve got two allrounders as well.
“You need balance in the attack but you also need options over here to get wickets.
“Nathan Lyon has looked dangerous at times, Starc didn’t really swing that new ball, they didn’t use their bouncer much. On these wickets you need variation , you need to do different things to get them to make a different decision.”
Hazlewood, who missed the majority of the Ashes series through injury, bowled 26 overs in the first innings but on Tuesday bowled just two overs in the first session and three in the second.
“There’s a little bit of a cuddle there or is there a problem?” said O’Keeffe. “We’re going to find out later. Australia have won so many Tests through that triumvirate – Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood – and it would be in Pakistan’s interests if the back ups had to be used on slow pitches.”
Former Test batsman Simon Katich, commentating on the game in Pakistan, backed Swepson to get the call over left arm spinner Ashton Agar if there are changes.
“Mitchell Swepson hasn’t made his Test debut just yet but he’s been brought here for a reason so he’ll definitely be in the frame,” Katich said.
“I don’t know the conditions in Karachi well enough, having never been there, but if you’re saying it’s going to spin then I think you’d be mad not to look at that extra option.
“We’ve seen Ali get six wickets here on a wicket that hasn’t been conducive and if you’re telling me it spins there it will either be Agar or Swepson who will come in the mix.
“If you’re going on first class results then Swepson deserves the opportunity – he’s played more first class cricket in recent times than Ashton Agar who’s been in Australia’s white ball set up.”
Swepson has played 51 first class games, taking 154 wickets – the same as Agar who has played 10 games more.
Horses for courses was a bit hit in the recent Ashes as well where Scott Boland came in for a sensational debut in Melbourne.
“I think Boland will be in the frame as well and it would have been a tough decision to leave him out.
“The three big quicks have got phenomenal records and they do like to be consistent .”
Australia’s struggles with the ball continued on the final day as Imam-ul-Haq completed twin centuries.
Imam joined one of the most illustrious clubs in Test cricket, becoming just the 12th man to hit twin centuries against Australia.
Recalled to the team for this month’s series after two years out, the opener made his chance count with his first Test ton with 157 in the first innings.
He then backed it up with another hundred in the second, bringing up three figures when he lofted Travis Head to long off late on day five.
The 26-year-old’s chance in the team only came after a heart issue suffered by Abid Ali last December, with Imam-ul-Haq’s weight of runs at first-class level ensuring him another chance.
He joins a group that includes the likes of Herb Sutcliffe, Walter Hammond, Denis Compton, Virat Kohli and fellow Pakistanis Younis Khan, Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq.
It came on a dominant final day for Pakistan in Rawalpindi, with fellow opener Abdullah Shafique also scoring his maiden Test century.
Aged 22, Shafique reached triple figures when he turned Cameron Green around the corner to fine leg in just his sixth first-class match after enduring a nervous tea break stuck on 99.
In doing so the duo became just the third Pakistan pairing to score century opening stands in both innings of a Test, and the first from the country to do so against Australia.
The pair’s day was made easier by Australia opting to limit the work of the majority of their quicks, with the match long destined to be a draw and just four days out to the second Test.
However, that will matter little to the openers with Imam-ul-haq offering the only chance of the innings when he was given not out after edging Lyon on 95, which Australia did not review.
Prior to that Imam had produced the two best shots of the day by twice hitting Lyon back over his head for six.
The second in the middle session of Tuesday was particularly big, going well back into the stand.
Shafique’s best strike came after reaching his hundred, punching Cameron Green for four through backward point off the back foot.
(With AAP)