I have watched - or at least followed closely - every Pakistan tour outside Asia for the last half a century.
To be honest, there have often been major problems with the attack.
When Imran Khan had stress fractures in his shins in 1983 and 1984, the pace "attack" was Azeem Hafeez, who was pretty similar to Mir Hamza.
And even in the heyday of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, first with Mushtaq Ahmed and then with Shoaib Akhtar and Saqlain Mushtaq, their terrible batting unbalanced the team with a long tail, and one or more had to be sacrificed to accommodate Azhar Mahmood or Abdul Razzaq who could at least bat.
The appalling bowling performance at Perth left Faheem Ashraf under adverse scrutiny for being a "bits and pieces" player, but the real problem was that the specialist quicks - Shaheen and Shehzad - bowled rubbish in the First Innings.
The most disappointing thing about Shan Masood being made skipper now, rather than 5 years ago, is that Pakistan has yet again delayed making a generational change, which is worrying because teams like Australia and India now have to, and Pakistan has better quicks under the age of 25 than either Australia or India.
Look at Australia's attack for what it is:
Number 6: 32 year old batsman who can bowl fast medium support bowling at a speed of 130K from a height of 6'5. Batting average 30, bowling average 40.
Number 8: 30 yo top-class fast bowler: 6'4, bowls 140+, batting average is 16 but capable of 25.
Number 9: 34 yo near-top class left-arm quick, 6'6, bowls 140+, batting average of 21.
Number 10: 36 yo near-top class off-spinner, averages 31 with ball and 13 with bat.
Number 11: 33 yo near-top class right-arm quick, 6'6, bowls 135+, batting average of 12.
So 4 quick bowlers average a total of 102 runs per innings, plus 13 for the spinner meaning the 5 bowlers deliver 115 runs with the bat per innings.
To me, Pakistan looks like it can compete with that.
Number 11: 23 yo Shaheen Shah Afridi is left-arm fast-medium bowler, 6'8, bowls 135K, should end up bowling average 24 and batting average 15.
Number 10: Probably 22 yo Naseem Shah is a fast-medium away-swing bowler, 5'9, bowls 140K, should end up bowling average 26 and batting average 15.
Number 8: 29 yo Hasan Ali is a decent fourth seamer (third seamer in Asia) who should target averaging 25 with the bat and 29 with the ball.
Number 6: 30 yo Agha Salman is a batsman who can average 40 with the bat and take one or two wickets with his part-time off-spin.
If Mohammad Rizwan keeps wicket and bats in the Top Five, that leave Pakistan in a situation in which they need an economical - preferably extremely tall - third seamer who can slow down the scoring rate, as well as batting at Number 9 and averaging not just 20 with the bat, but an average batting innings survival time of 10 overs. For me, Pakistan needs to do everything it can to groom Mohammad Zeeshan with both bat and ball.
That then leaves a gap at Number 7 for a competent batsman who can bowl spin which goes away from the right-handers - either a left-arm spinner or a leggie. If I were the PCB I would be forcing Shadab Khan to play red ball cricket, and using Mohammad Nawaz in the role until Shadab can guarantee a batting average of 35 and a bowling average of under 40.
This Australian tour is a lost cause because of the injuries and lack of bowling support.
But Pakistan could do extremely well outside Asia with an attack of:
6. Agha Salman (OB) (I'd be open to Mubasir Khan instead for age reasons).
7. Mohammad Nawaz (SLA)
8. Hasan Ali (RMF)
9. Mohammad Zeeshan (RFM)
10. Naseem Shah (RFM)
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi (LFM)
This is an attack with plenty of variety, but also with decent batting from Numbers 6 to 9.
Pakistan has arguably got better youth talent emerging than its major competitors.
The key now is to respond to defeat in Australia by retiring massively flawed "fast" bowlers like Khurram Shehzad and Mir Hamza who are either too old, too slow, too poor at batting/fielding or too short. Far, far better to invest in developing younger players who can minimise those failings..
To be honest, there have often been major problems with the attack.
When Imran Khan had stress fractures in his shins in 1983 and 1984, the pace "attack" was Azeem Hafeez, who was pretty similar to Mir Hamza.
And even in the heyday of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, first with Mushtaq Ahmed and then with Shoaib Akhtar and Saqlain Mushtaq, their terrible batting unbalanced the team with a long tail, and one or more had to be sacrificed to accommodate Azhar Mahmood or Abdul Razzaq who could at least bat.
The appalling bowling performance at Perth left Faheem Ashraf under adverse scrutiny for being a "bits and pieces" player, but the real problem was that the specialist quicks - Shaheen and Shehzad - bowled rubbish in the First Innings.
The most disappointing thing about Shan Masood being made skipper now, rather than 5 years ago, is that Pakistan has yet again delayed making a generational change, which is worrying because teams like Australia and India now have to, and Pakistan has better quicks under the age of 25 than either Australia or India.
Look at Australia's attack for what it is:
Number 6: 32 year old batsman who can bowl fast medium support bowling at a speed of 130K from a height of 6'5. Batting average 30, bowling average 40.
Number 8: 30 yo top-class fast bowler: 6'4, bowls 140+, batting average is 16 but capable of 25.
Number 9: 34 yo near-top class left-arm quick, 6'6, bowls 140+, batting average of 21.
Number 10: 36 yo near-top class off-spinner, averages 31 with ball and 13 with bat.
Number 11: 33 yo near-top class right-arm quick, 6'6, bowls 135+, batting average of 12.
So 4 quick bowlers average a total of 102 runs per innings, plus 13 for the spinner meaning the 5 bowlers deliver 115 runs with the bat per innings.
To me, Pakistan looks like it can compete with that.
Number 11: 23 yo Shaheen Shah Afridi is left-arm fast-medium bowler, 6'8, bowls 135K, should end up bowling average 24 and batting average 15.
Number 10: Probably 22 yo Naseem Shah is a fast-medium away-swing bowler, 5'9, bowls 140K, should end up bowling average 26 and batting average 15.
Number 8: 29 yo Hasan Ali is a decent fourth seamer (third seamer in Asia) who should target averaging 25 with the bat and 29 with the ball.
Number 6: 30 yo Agha Salman is a batsman who can average 40 with the bat and take one or two wickets with his part-time off-spin.
If Mohammad Rizwan keeps wicket and bats in the Top Five, that leave Pakistan in a situation in which they need an economical - preferably extremely tall - third seamer who can slow down the scoring rate, as well as batting at Number 9 and averaging not just 20 with the bat, but an average batting innings survival time of 10 overs. For me, Pakistan needs to do everything it can to groom Mohammad Zeeshan with both bat and ball.
That then leaves a gap at Number 7 for a competent batsman who can bowl spin which goes away from the right-handers - either a left-arm spinner or a leggie. If I were the PCB I would be forcing Shadab Khan to play red ball cricket, and using Mohammad Nawaz in the role until Shadab can guarantee a batting average of 35 and a bowling average of under 40.
This Australian tour is a lost cause because of the injuries and lack of bowling support.
But Pakistan could do extremely well outside Asia with an attack of:
6. Agha Salman (OB) (I'd be open to Mubasir Khan instead for age reasons).
7. Mohammad Nawaz (SLA)
8. Hasan Ali (RMF)
9. Mohammad Zeeshan (RFM)
10. Naseem Shah (RFM)
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi (LFM)
This is an attack with plenty of variety, but also with decent batting from Numbers 6 to 9.
Pakistan has arguably got better youth talent emerging than its major competitors.
The key now is to respond to defeat in Australia by retiring massively flawed "fast" bowlers like Khurram Shehzad and Mir Hamza who are either too old, too slow, too poor at batting/fielding or too short. Far, far better to invest in developing younger players who can minimise those failings..
