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Pakistan's historical bowling performances in Australia

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Markhor

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A common theme in Pakistan cricketing history is our bowlers have often struggled to be effective in Australia. Excluding the current series, Pakistan's pacers have the worst bowling average in Australia compared to their averages in other countries. They average 38.54 with a SR of 75 down under. Second worst are our bowling performances in South Africa where our average is 36 so we seem to struggle to bowl on bouncier wickets.

This is in contrast to their performances in England. Since our first tour of England in 1954, Pakistani bowlers have averaged 30 at a SR of 62.

Link: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...=reverse;team=7;template=results;type=bowling

Let's look at more recent performances. Since 1999, Pakistani pacers average 45 in Australia at a SR of 75. That's also excluding the current series - this figure may well be worse by the time this series is over. Its the same bowling average as India's pacers in the same timeframe, though India's pacers have a better SR.

South Africa and England's pacers average 35 and 37 in the same period. So who has succeeded in Australia ? The two bowlers who did as well or better in Australia compared to their career numbers were Wasim Akram and Sarfraz Nawaz. Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis however especially took a hit in Australia:

PlayerMatWktsAvg in AusOverall avgDifference
Shoaib Akhtar61743.5225.69-17.83
Waqar Younis71440.5023.56-16.94
Mohammad Asif41335.2324.36-10.87
Imran Khan134528.5122.81-5.70
Azeem Hafeez51938.5734.98-3.59
Wasim Akram93624.0523.62-0.43
Sarfraz Nawaz125031.4632.751.29

What explains our bowling struggles in Australia ? Is it that we often get carried away with the bounce and bowl too short a length ? The hard Australian grounds can be taxing on the pacers so is fitness an issue ? Is the Kookaburra which once it goes soft is easy to bat against ?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Seems like Wasim Akram is the only one who had world class figures. And Imran did well too

I def think it has to do with not bowling right lengths. The bowlers get a bit too excited and bowl short which end up being half trackers

Also Wasim, Waqar especially came up against ATG line ups
 
We have never put it together all at once. When the bowlers clicked, the batsmen failed us. When the batting clicked, the bowlers failed us and then fielders let us down as well.

Unless you put together all 3 facets together, you aren't winning test matches in Australia.

It is shameful to note that even India has won 2 test matches in Australia since 2003 whereas our record since 1995 has been dreadful and nothing appears to be changing.
 
I'm sure I saw a similar chart where Asif's average was 24-25?Was that something different.
 
Slog said:
Seems like Wasim Akram is the only one who had world class figures. And Imran did well too

I def think it has to do with not bowling right lengths. The bowlers get a bit too excited and bowl short which end up being half trackers

Also Wasim, Waqar especially came up against ATG line ups
Click to expand...

Not at all. The line ups Wasim, Waqar bowled to in their prime in 1989 and 1995 were not ATG. The line up which Shoaib bowled to in 1999 and 2004 was an ATG line up and even then he managed 2 fivers against them.
 
AlphaFighter said:
We have never put it together all at once. When the bowlers clicked, the batsmen failed us. When the batting clicked, the bowlers failed us and then fielders let us down as well.

Unless you put together all 3 facets together, you aren't winning test matches in Australia.

It is shameful to note that even India has won 2 test matches in Australia since 2003 whereas our record since 1995 has been dreadful and nothing appears to be changing.
Click to expand...

Even??? 2003-2011 Indian test team was pretty decent mate esp on overseas tour, we had won in England,Nz drawn series once in SA,AUS.
 
Waqar toured Australia in 89(rookie), 95(right after back injury), 99(when he was past it).

Shoaib in 99 got carried away with the bounce due to inexperience. In 2004, he bowled exceptionally well to the greatest batting lineup ever assembled on their home soil with little support from the other end.
 
Chief Destroyer said:
Waqar toured Australia in 89(rookie), 95(right after back injury), 99(when he was past it).

Shoaib in 99 got carried away with the bounce due to inexperience. In 2004, he bowled exceptionally well to the greatest batting lineup ever assembled on their home soil with little support from the other end.
Click to expand...

When you tour three different times you shouldn't look for excuses
 
Slog said:
When you tour three different times you shouldn't look for excuses
Click to expand...

Waqar had to tour in a narrow period of 2-3 years out of his 15 years long career.
 
JaDed said:
Even??? 2003-2011 Indian test team was pretty decent mate esp on overseas tour, we had won in England,Nz drawn series once in SA,AUS.
Click to expand...

Lol India was the only team that actually challenged that Australian team both home and away.
 
Copy and paste from another thread with my thoughts on this:

Although observers often speak of the pace and bounce of Australian pitches, it can be a quite unforgiving place for visiting pace men. Of the modern fast bowlers, Ambrose and Wasim Akram averaged less than 25 in Australia, but others performed less well compared with their career averages. Waqar’s average has already been noted. Donald, Pollock and Walsh averaged 28, 34 and 34 respectively in Australia. Dale Steyn, the best fast bowler of his era averages 29 in Australia, which is respectable but still below his career average.

While bowlers may look forward to the prospect of extracting pace and bounce, Australian batsmen are accustomed to this and play well off the back foot. Shoaib Akhtar was carried away with the bounce in Australia in 1999-2000 and was severely punished. As the ball comes on nicely, and generally true of bounce, erring in direction becomes a costly business. Australian batsmen are also aggressive and generally capitalise on any loose bowling, ensuring that bowlers are placed under pressure. On top of this, the kookaburra ball becomes soft quite quickly.

Feet are also pounded on hard surfaces, which can challenge any bowlers whom may not be in peak fitness. Akram, Donald, Walsh and Pollock all toured Australia towards the end of their careers, when their best was past them and when the bodies were not so robust. They all endured rough treatment on their last tours.

Specifically for Pakistan, a further issue is the size of the grounds. This makes ground fielding and fitness even more important – areas that Pakistan has always trailed others in. Finally, in Asia while the ball often does not carry when edged, this is clearly not the case in Australia. What should be a boon for Pakistani bowlers (the ball carrying to the slips) is however turned into a something altogether more ugly and dispiriting: the sight of dropped catches. There has barely been an Australian tour since 1990 where dropped catches have not blighted Pakistan.

All this considered, it is perhaps not that surprising that Pakistani bowling has often been vanquished down under.
 
KB said:
Copy and paste from another thread with my thoughts on this:

Although observers often speak of the pace and bounce of Australian pitches, it can be a quite unforgiving place for visiting pace men. Of the modern fast bowlers, Ambrose and Wasim Akram averaged less than 25 in Australia, but others performed less well compared with their career averages. Waqar’s average has already been noted. Donald, Pollock and Walsh averaged 28, 34 and 34 respectively in Australia. Dale Steyn, the best fast bowler of his era averages 29 in Australia, which is respectable but still below his career average.

While bowlers may look forward to the prospect of extracting pace and bounce, Australian batsmen are accustomed to this and play well off the back foot. Shoaib Akhtar was carried away with the bounce in Australia in 1999-2000 and was severely punished. As the ball comes on nicely, and generally true of bounce, erring in direction becomes a costly business. Australian batsmen are also aggressive and generally capitalise on any loose bowling, ensuring that bowlers are placed under pressure. On top of this, the kookaburra ball becomes soft quite quickly.

Feet are also pounded on hard surfaces, which can challenge any bowlers whom may not be in peak fitness. Akram, Donald, Walsh and Pollock all toured Australia towards the end of their careers, when their best was past them and when the bodies were not so robust. They all endured rough treatment on their last tours.

Specifically for Pakistan, a further issue is the size of the grounds. This makes ground fielding and fitness even more important – areas that Pakistan has always trailed others in. Finally, in Asia while the ball often does not carry when edged, this is clearly not the case in Australia. What should be a boon for Pakistani bowlers (the ball carrying to the slips) is however turned into a something altogether more ugly and dispiriting: the sight of dropped catches. There has barely been an Australian tour since 1990 where dropped catches have not blighted Pakistan.

All this considered, it is perhaps not that surprising that Pakistani bowling has often been vanquished down under.
Click to expand...

I would add that both Pakistani batsmen and bowlers dont seem to understand that a pitch with bounce can also be flat. because the bounce is true and predictable. The methods of success for bowlers are the same. They have to pitch the ball up. Right now the pitch in on good length and quite often beat the bat and there are lots of ooh's and aah's from behind the stumps.

The wahab delivery to get rid of khwaja....thats the length.
 
The problem with our tours to Australia has been that we've never taken a complete pace attack to sustain pressure which the Windies had learned. It's always been one or two bowlers in their prime and the third being too old or a rookie. There was little to no planning even though we had the pace battery available in our domestic during the 90s. There was too much nepotism and in-team fighting. Wasim and Waqar's egos didn't help the team at all because no younger bowlers were invested in to complete the pace attack during the 90s.
 
Chief Destroyer said:
The problem with our tours to Australia has been that we've never taken a complete pace attack to sustain pressure which the Windies had learned. It's always been one or two bowlers in their prime and the third being too old or a rookie. There was little to no planning even though we had the pace battery available in our domestic during the 90s. There was too much nepotism and in-team fighting. Wasim and Waqar's egos didn't help the team at all because no younger bowlers were invested in to complete the pace attack during the 90s.
Click to expand...

It's the same story this tour. Wahab and Amir bowl well and push the batsmen on the backfoot and then you get Rahat's rubbish or Sohail's pies which releases all the pressure. You've gotta be relentless in Australia. Can't afford to take your foot off the peddle and eventually the bounce will reward you. This is what the Windies had mastered so well.
 
In the 2009-10 tour when the Amir/Asif new ball partnership was in full swing, Pakistan only took 10 Australian wickets in two out of six innings. Even in Sydney we benefited from bowling under the clouds on the first day on a fresh green pitch.

Australia scored 454/5d, 225/8d, 127, 381, 519/8d and 219/5d, declaring four out of six times.

In this series Australia have declared two out of three times, piling on 429 and 624/8d in their first innings efforts. How can you win Test matches down under like this ?
 
Kapil Dev even when he was old was a force to reckon with in AUS

11 games 51 wickets @24

So back injury,rookie these are all excuses IMO
 
Markhor said:
In the 2009-10 tour when the Amir/Asif new ball partnership was in full swing, Pakistan only took 10 Australian wickets in two out of six innings. Even in Sydney we benefited from bowling under the clouds on the first day on a fresh green pitch.

Australia scored 454/5d, 225/8d, 127, 381, 519/8d and 219/5d, declaring four out of six times.

In this series Australia have declared two out of three times, piling on 429 and 624/8d in their first innings efforts. How can you win Test matches down under like this ?
Click to expand...

valid points

sometimes players need to punch above their weight in Aus to win

example: Agarkar has an avg diff of 12 when playing in Aus, 27 wickets in 7 tests isn't bad and won us a game in 2003-04

RP Singh and Irfan Pathan match winning performance of 11 wickets in between them won another in 2008.

They could not sustain the same level of performances and were rightly dropped after a year
 
Markhor said:
A common theme in Pakistan cricketing history is our bowlers have often struggled to be effective in Australia. Excluding the current series, Pakistan's pacers have the worst bowling average in Australia compared to their averages in other countries. They average 38.54 with a SR of 75 down under. Second worst are our bowling performances in South Africa where our average is 36 so we seem to struggle to bowl on bouncier wickets.

This is in contrast to their performances in England. Since our first tour of England in 1954, Pakistani bowlers have averaged 30 at a SR of 62.

Link: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...=reverse;team=7;template=results;type=bowling

Let's look at more recent performances. Since 1999, Pakistani pacers average 45 in Australia at a SR of 75. That's also excluding the current series - this figure may well be worse by the time this series is over. Its the same bowling average as India's pacers in the same timeframe, though India's pacers have a better SR.

South Africa and England's pacers average 35 and 37 in the same period. So who has succeeded in Australia ? The two bowlers who did as well or better in Australia compared to their career numbers were Wasim Akram and Sarfraz Nawaz. Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis however especially took a hit in Australia:

PlayerMatWktsAvg in AusOverall avgDifference
Shoaib Akhtar61743.5225.69-17.83
Waqar Younis71440.5023.56-16.94
Mohammad Asif41335.2324.36-10.87
Imran Khan134528.5122.81-5.70
Azeem Hafeez51938.5734.98-3.59
Wasim Akram93624.0523.62-0.43
Sarfraz Nawaz125031.4632.751.29

What explains our bowling struggles in Australia ? Is it that we often get carried away with the bounce and bowl too short a length ? The hard Australian grounds can be taxing on the pacers so is fitness an issue ? Is the Kookaburra which once it goes soft is easy to bat against ?
Click to expand...

Hmmm I am quite surprised Shoib did so poorly, I was always under the impression he avgd in the late 20's in Aus. Waqar I always knew didn't have what it took when the quality of batting went up, to perform...
 
@KB dale steyn average is high because of flat tracks they gave to south Africa , when ever they gave good bowling track like Mcg 2008 or Perth 2012, Steyn ripped through their batting.
 
JaDed said:
I'm sure I saw a similar chart where Asif's average was 24-25?Was that something different.
Click to expand...

Asif did poorly on debut, but when he returned to Australia five years later he averaged 28.
 
Navdeep Srivastava said:
@KB dale steyn average is high because of flat tracks they gave to south Africa , when ever they gave good bowling track like Mcg 2008 or Perth 2012, Steyn ripped through their batting.
Click to expand...
Of course but when you look at the dominance of Oz in the noughties, it was built on producing roads & blunting the opposition bowlers. They'd outscore the opposition with their aggressive play & then Mcgrath/Warne could pluck the opposition batters under scoreboard pressure. You'd be hard pressed to see any seaming track in the 2001-2008 period being dished out against SA, Ind because of their pace bowling attack & our famed batting lineup.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like we've dished out turner in the noughties (we haven't bar one in 2004) but Australia's dominance has always been based on their batting & they wouldn't dare try a repeat of 2010/11 Ashes with the players they have. In the top 6 test teams of 2016 I'd argue Oz has the worst batting lineup, still do IMO, that can't survive on turning, swinging, seaming tracks. That their bowlers often times bail them out, like in SA or NZ, is a different story altogether.
 
joly said:
Kapil Dev even when he was old was a force to reckon with in AUS

11 games 51 wickets @24

So back injury,rookie these are all excuses IMO
Click to expand...

He was the best performing Asian pacer in Aus due to very good length and then swinging it. Despite being slow, he picked up truckload of wickets. Most Asian bowlers don't bowl the right length in Aus.
 
Deserves a bump [MENTION=53290]Markhor[/MENTION] when will it end ?

Pressure is released at the other end if we manage to string a good over or two, still have not found our lengths and have bowled too short and wide.
 
shaz619 said:
Deserves a bump [MENTION=53290]Markhor[/MENTION] when will it end ?

Pressure is released at the other end if we manage to string a good over or two, still have not found our lengths and have bowled too short and wide.
Click to expand...

Yep, we just can't seem to learn how to bowl in Australia !

Lord knows why the likes of Imran thought yesterday it was a good idea to bowl short at his 130kph pace against batsmen so strong off the back foot as Australia.

If you are to bowl that shorter length, you should have either some pace or height - and we've never really produced a Harmison/Morkel-esque bowler who can exploit the bounce.

Irfan was tipped to be that bowler but he lacks the pace and fitness.

Anyway that bowling avg of 45 since 1999 was before the series ! Going to take a further hit after this debacle.
 
Why do Pakistani bowlers fail in Australia?

I just find it extremely bizzare. Even when we had the all time great pace battery of Imran, Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib, they struggled to consistently perform and win series in Australia or atleast the test series.

The failure of the predeccessors can ease the pain and humiliation the current pace battery of Amir, Wahab, Rahat, Sohail Khan, Imran Khan has bought in this nation but then again this current Australian team is no where near the super power status of the previous team.

Where could the problem be? Failure to adjust and identify the right line, length to bowl to the Australian batsmen? Sub continental line, length not being effective on Australian pitches? The Australian ball? Abscence of reverse swing in Australia? A one dimensional, predictable approach? Having the wrong bowling combination? Poor captaincy and field placings?

I certainly wish the team had arrived in Australia atleast a month earlier, held a training camp here, played 3-4 practice matches and even played the T-20's and ODI games before the start of the test series. I believe the bowlers and batsmen both need plenty of practice matches, experience before they really get used to the conditions and learn the perfect line, length to bowl on Australian pitches.
 
Two Asian pacers did very well in Aus. Kapil and Wasim. Guess what, they pitched it up and both could swing the new ball.
 
Buffet said:
Two Asian pacers did very well in Aus. Kapil and Wasim. Guess what, they pitched it up and both could swing the new ball.
Click to expand...

Nah, Wasim struggled in 1999 and in 1995 he didn't have a match winning impact.
 
Somebody should post Imran, Wasim, Waqar & Shoaib's Test numbers in Australia.
 
AlphaFighter said:
I just find it extremely bizzare. Even when we had the all time great pace battery of Imran, Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib, they struggled to consistently perform and win series in Australia or atleast the test series.

The failure of the predeccessors can ease the pain and humiliation the current pace battery of Amir, Wahab, Rahat, Sohail Khan, Imran Khan has bought in this nation but then again this current Australian team is no where near the super power status of the previous team.

Where could the problem be? Failure to adjust and identify the right line, length to bowl to the Australian batsmen? Sub continental line, length not being effective on Australian pitches? The Australian ball? Abscence of reverse swing in Australia? A one dimensional, predictable approach? Having the wrong bowling combination? Poor captaincy and field placings?

I certainly wish the team had arrived in Australia atleast a month earlier, held a training camp here, played 3-4 practice matches and even played the T-20's and ODI games before the start of the test series. I believe the bowlers and batsmen both need plenty of practice matches, experience before they really get used to the conditions and learn the perfect line, length to bowl on Australian pitches.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

You can't turn up in Australia and start playing without acclimatization and practice Matches
 
Markhor said:
A common theme in Pakistan cricketing history is our bowlers have often struggled to be effective in Australia. Excluding the current series, Pakistan's pacers have the worst bowling average in Australia compared to their averages in other countries. They average 38.54 with a SR of 75 down under. Second worst are our bowling performances in South Africa where our average is 36 so we seem to struggle to bowl on bouncier wickets.

This is in contrast to their performances in England. Since our first tour of England in 1954, Pakistani bowlers have averaged 30 at a SR of 62.

Link: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...=reverse;team=7;template=results;type=bowling

Let's look at more recent performances. Since 1999, Pakistani pacers average 45 in Australia at a SR of 75. That's also excluding the current series - this figure may well be worse by the time this series is over. Its the same bowling average as India's pacers in the same timeframe, though India's pacers have a better SR.

South Africa and England's pacers average 35 and 37 in the same period. So who has succeeded in Australia ? The two bowlers who did as well or better in Australia compared to their career numbers were Wasim Akram and Sarfraz Nawaz. Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis however especially took a hit in Australia:

PlayerMatWktsAvg in AusOverall avgDifference
Shoaib Akhtar61743.5225.69-17.83
Waqar Younis71440.5023.56-16.94
Mohammad Asif41335.2324.36-10.87
Imran Khan134528.5122.81-5.70
Azeem Hafeez51938.5734.98-3.59
Wasim Akram93624.0523.62-0.43
Sarfraz Nawaz125031.4632.751.29

What explains our bowling struggles in Australia ? Is it that we often get carried away with the bounce and bowl too short a length ? The hard Australian grounds can be taxing on the pacers so is fitness an issue ? Is the Kookaburra which once it goes soft is easy to bat against ?
Click to expand...



In his first debut Test in New Zealand Wasim took 2 wickets at an average of 52.50

In his debut Test in Australia Asif bowled 18 wicketless overs.


If you discount Asif's Test Debut than He averages 28 with a SR of 64 and than only

Wasim, Imran, Asif & Sarfraz tasted relative success. Asif took a 9fer in Sydney Test of 2010. Only Kami's heroics robbed us of that Test.


Wasim's numbers are worldclass and only recently I saw his spell against Slater. It was sheer quality of Sultan.
 
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