The international summer of cricket starts Thursday as Australia and Pakistan meet at Perth Stadium for day one of the first Test, with the first ball set for 1.20pm AEDT (10.20am local time).
It has been a relatively uninterrupted preparation for the first Test after Australia confirmed just the one change to the starting XI, with Nathan Lyon replacing Todd Murphy.
A quicker Perth wicket with less green grass coverage is expected, which Australia captain Pat Cummins said would play in the hands of the hosts.
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“I’m very excited. It’s a bit more in our favour than perhaps the past couple summers against England or India,” he told reporters.
“We love playing over here, even someone like Nathan Lyon — probably not a traditionally spin-friendly ground (in Perth) — his record is great here. He loves bowling with the bouncy wickets.
“These are the wickets we’ve grown up on.” Earlier in the week, curator Isaac McDonald tipped a “hard, fast and bouncy” surface.
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Away from the field though, Mitchell Johnson’s scathing column on veteran David Warner ahead of his farewell Test series have certainly generated plenty of headlines.
While it would be easy for the very public criticism to be a distraction for Warner and the Australian team as a whole, Aaron Finch said the 37-year-old has consistently proven himself capable of thriving whatever the source of “chaos”.
“One thing that Davey’s never bothered with is what other people think,” Finch said on ESPN’s Around the Wicket.
“That’s one of the great strengths of him as well.
“He’s got the ability to function with absolute chaos around him and that’s why he doesn’t mind putting random things out there, because it doesn’t affect him like it does other people.
“If the house was burning down around him, he’s someone who is able to stay really calm under pressure and when it’s absolute chaos going on around him.
“Sometimes he brings it on himself and that’s what gets him going. If you look at his career, there’s time like World Cup finals, semi-finals, he gets the job done. Big games throughout his career, he gets the job done. That just shows the character of him.”
It is consistent with comments from Warner’s teammate Travis Head, who said earlier in the week that Johnson’s criticism would only fire up the Australian opener.
“I think he’s revved up and I think a few people have said he doesn’t need much motivation so (those comments) added a little spice to it and revs him up,” Head said at the time.
“We’ve seen that over his whole career where he’s had moments whether he’s at the crossroads or people have had opinions or whatnot, but it doesn’t affect him too much.
“But I know deep down he keeps it in the back of his mind and it spurs him on.
“Hopefully that’s a good reason for lots of runs over the next few Test matches.”
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Speaking of Head, he has been reappointed as vice-captain ahead of Thursday’s first Test, given a valuable opportunity to prove himself as a future leader of the Australian set-up.
While there are no plans for skipper Pat Cummins to step down anytime soon, he told reporters it was still important to somewhat “future-proof the team and give opportunities to other leaders”.
Pakistan has named two debutants, with pacemen Aamer Jamal and Khurram Shahzad added to an attack led by Shaheen Shah Afridi.
As for fast bowler Lance Morris, who Cummins described as an “X-factor”, it seems like he will have to wait for an injury to either the skipper, Josh Hazlewood or Mitch Starc before getting his shot.
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“Lance has been impressive this week [at training], really impressive,” Cummins said.
“But every Test match you pick your best 11. There’s World Test Championship points you play for every game. It’s a Test match for Australia.”
A Test match that is only even more important that Australia wins given its position in the World Test Championship, currently fifth place.
“I think we’re sitting about mid-table,” Cummins said.
“I think if last campaign was anything to go by, you’ve got to be able to win your home games. That’s almost a non-negotiable and then obviously, you’ve got to do well on a couple of overseas tours. So if we want to be in that final again, basically you need to win your home games, so that’s ahead of us.”
TEAMS:
Australia XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
Pakistan XI: Shan Masood (capt), Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Aamer Jamal, Khurram Shahzad
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