So Pakistan has underperformed in South Africa against a fairly weak South African team.
We know what went wrong.
1. The wrong balance to the team - no fourth quick.
2. Picking out-of-form (Imam, Fakhar) and past-it (Azhar) batsmen.
3. Expecting Yasir Shah to deliver on greenish tracks.
4. Retaining a skipper whose batting is in disarray.
5. Terrible scheduling - arriving three weeks too late to adapt to the bounce.
6. A squad with too few fast bowlers and middle-order batsmen.
But my word there have been some positives. Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir and Shaheen Shah Afridi have been excellent. And Asad Shafiq has been roughly the same as FAF, Markram, Amla and Elgar.
Don't forget, today we salute India for winning a Test series in Australia, and rightly so. But three months ago they lost 4-1 in England. Twelve months ago they too were 2-0 down in South Africa.
So Pakistan need to work out how to acquit themselves better in Australia in December. Against a team which has been in disarray.
So what needs to happen?
1. Understand the conditions where Pakistan will play
The two Tests are at the fast, bouncy WACA and a Day/Night Pink Ball affair at the Adelaide Oval.
Both matches will require a 4 pace bowler attack.
Neither match lends itself to legspin.
But Adelaide also requires a finger spinner who can bat, like Mitchell Santner for New Zealand.
Pakistan needs to understand that it can only win these Tests by bowling Australia out inside 70 overs. There will be no role for a real spinner, just someone like Mohammad Nawaz at Adelaide and probably no spinner at all in Perth.
2. Understand the type of bowlers required
At Perth, its all about bounce from a full length. There's no role for a short quick like Hasan Ali, and Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Abbas will be very marginal.
You need either extreme pace or extreme bounce at the WACA. I'd be locking in Shaheen Shah Afridi and Ehsan Adil already.
For Perth I'd be thinking an attack of:
Mohammad Abbas (batting at 10)
Shaheen Shah Afridi (11)
Mohammad Amir (8)
Ehsan Adil (9)
Faheem Ashraf (7)
Adelaide is different. Tall left-arm quicks (Jason Behrendorff) and sometimes even short ones (Trent Boult) tend to do well in Pink Ball matches in Australia. This is the Test where I'd be looking at an attack of:
Mohammad Abbas (11)
Mohammad Amir (9)
Hasan Ali (10)
Faheem Ashraf (8)
Mohammad Nawaz (7)
3. Think about your batting combination
At Perth, if you get through 20 overs with the Kookaburra batting becomes easy and scoring is rapid.
But at Adelaide, scoring is slower due to the longer grass on the outfield to preserve the pink ball. 250 in any innings can be a winning total.
I think it's time to discard Azhar Ali - he's 34 and in terminal decline. But I think that to avoid simultaneous retirements Pakistan needs to keep Asad Shafiq on for another year.
So my batting line-up in Australia would be:
1. Shan Masood (c)
2. Mohammad Rizwan (wk) - you don't want him facing Nathan Lyon!
3. Asad Shafiq
4. Haris Sohail
5. Babar Azam
6. Umar Akmal - for quick runs against the old ball
This leaves a constant left hander - right hander combination to throw the Aussie bowlers off their line.
4. Arrive as early as you do in England
Fail to Prepare = Prepare to Fail!
The debacle in South Africa came in part because players like Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali didn't play enough innings locally before the Tests to establish that they were unselectable.
That must not happen again.
Pakistan don't have to try to arrange three side games against local opposition.
Just go to Mickey Arthur's adopted home town of Perth, having done a deal with Christ Church Grammar School in Perth where he operates his own cricket academy.
Arrive four weeks before the First Test and take 18 internationals and 10 A International and Under-19 players.
And let them play against each other at Christ Church Grammar on the same bouncy surfaces that they will encounter at the WACA.
We know what went wrong.
1. The wrong balance to the team - no fourth quick.
2. Picking out-of-form (Imam, Fakhar) and past-it (Azhar) batsmen.
3. Expecting Yasir Shah to deliver on greenish tracks.
4. Retaining a skipper whose batting is in disarray.
5. Terrible scheduling - arriving three weeks too late to adapt to the bounce.
6. A squad with too few fast bowlers and middle-order batsmen.
But my word there have been some positives. Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir and Shaheen Shah Afridi have been excellent. And Asad Shafiq has been roughly the same as FAF, Markram, Amla and Elgar.
Don't forget, today we salute India for winning a Test series in Australia, and rightly so. But three months ago they lost 4-1 in England. Twelve months ago they too were 2-0 down in South Africa.
So Pakistan need to work out how to acquit themselves better in Australia in December. Against a team which has been in disarray.
So what needs to happen?
1. Understand the conditions where Pakistan will play
The two Tests are at the fast, bouncy WACA and a Day/Night Pink Ball affair at the Adelaide Oval.
Both matches will require a 4 pace bowler attack.
Neither match lends itself to legspin.
But Adelaide also requires a finger spinner who can bat, like Mitchell Santner for New Zealand.
Pakistan needs to understand that it can only win these Tests by bowling Australia out inside 70 overs. There will be no role for a real spinner, just someone like Mohammad Nawaz at Adelaide and probably no spinner at all in Perth.
2. Understand the type of bowlers required
At Perth, its all about bounce from a full length. There's no role for a short quick like Hasan Ali, and Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Abbas will be very marginal.
You need either extreme pace or extreme bounce at the WACA. I'd be locking in Shaheen Shah Afridi and Ehsan Adil already.
For Perth I'd be thinking an attack of:
Mohammad Abbas (batting at 10)
Shaheen Shah Afridi (11)
Mohammad Amir (8)
Ehsan Adil (9)
Faheem Ashraf (7)
Adelaide is different. Tall left-arm quicks (Jason Behrendorff) and sometimes even short ones (Trent Boult) tend to do well in Pink Ball matches in Australia. This is the Test where I'd be looking at an attack of:
Mohammad Abbas (11)
Mohammad Amir (9)
Hasan Ali (10)
Faheem Ashraf (8)
Mohammad Nawaz (7)
3. Think about your batting combination
At Perth, if you get through 20 overs with the Kookaburra batting becomes easy and scoring is rapid.
But at Adelaide, scoring is slower due to the longer grass on the outfield to preserve the pink ball. 250 in any innings can be a winning total.
I think it's time to discard Azhar Ali - he's 34 and in terminal decline. But I think that to avoid simultaneous retirements Pakistan needs to keep Asad Shafiq on for another year.
So my batting line-up in Australia would be:
1. Shan Masood (c)
2. Mohammad Rizwan (wk) - you don't want him facing Nathan Lyon!
3. Asad Shafiq
4. Haris Sohail
5. Babar Azam
6. Umar Akmal - for quick runs against the old ball
This leaves a constant left hander - right hander combination to throw the Aussie bowlers off their line.
4. Arrive as early as you do in England
Fail to Prepare = Prepare to Fail!
The debacle in South Africa came in part because players like Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali didn't play enough innings locally before the Tests to establish that they were unselectable.
That must not happen again.
Pakistan don't have to try to arrange three side games against local opposition.
Just go to Mickey Arthur's adopted home town of Perth, having done a deal with Christ Church Grammar School in Perth where he operates his own cricket academy.
Arrive four weeks before the First Test and take 18 internationals and 10 A International and Under-19 players.
And let them play against each other at Christ Church Grammar on the same bouncy surfaces that they will encounter at the WACA.