http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746-Pakistan series: The Story of Debutants, Paine and Smith
When Australia introduced wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Paine and leg-break bowler Steven Smith to their national side to play Pakistan in England, the stage was set for the dynamic duo to make their impact on international cricket. Aged 25 and 21 respectively, Tim Paine and Steven Smith had played in the other formats of the game before getting a chance to represent their country in Tests.
Tim Paine scored 104 runs in the two Test matches, with his 47 in the second innings of the first Test match being quite an important contribution. Australia was down to 188/6 in the second innings and faced the danger of being bowled out cheaply and failing to put up a competitive target for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 to chase. But Paine came in and batted confidently. He stayed at the crease for almost two hours and made a vital contribution to Australia’s second innings score of 334. Eventually, the target of 440 proved to be too good for Pakistan.
He batted patiently in the second Test match also, but could only score 45 runs in both the innings. However, Paine was very impressive behind the wickets. He has 12 dismissals to his name already with 11 catches and 1 stumping. He showed great stamina in keeping the wicket for long hours and then batting patiently. What was even more commendable was that he is usually a top-order ODI batsman who smashes the ball around, but in Tests, he has shown much restraint.
Smith, who was expected to cause damage with his spin bowling, actually performed better as a batsman. After some minor contributions in the first three innings with scores of 1, 12 and 10, Smith surprised everyone with a brilliant 77 off 100 deliveries in the second innings of the second Test against Pakistan. He was the joint top-scorer in that innings along with Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120.
He held the Australian tail together and ensured that Australia reached very close to the 350-run mark. Although, eventually, his efforts could not save the game for Australia, it definitely showed promise from the youngster to become an effective all-rounder at number seven position.
However, Smith was selected in the team for his bowling abilities and he got his chance to show these off in only the second innings of the first Test match. After Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 had demolished the Pakistan batting line-up, Smith was not required to bowl in the first innings. However, in the second innings, Smith picked up his first three wickets in Test match cricket, conceding 51 runs in 21 overs.
He was able to generate spin and bounce from the Lord’s pitch to trouble the batsmen. However, it was extremely surprising to see the Australian captain, Ricky Ponting under-use Smith in the second Test. He bowled only 10 overs after two innings in the second test, conceding 31 runs without a single wicket. Smith could defend himself by saying that he was not given ample opportunity to make an impact in the game.
Ponting relied on his lethal fast bowling attack of Mitchell Johnson, Shane Watson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger for most of the second Test. But, critics argue that Ponting should have given more number of overs to Smith to get some variation in the bowling attack.
Pakistan’s first innings score of 258 gave them a 170 runs lead in the first innings itself. Although Australia came back hard to score 349 in the second innings, the target of 180 was too small to defend. The Australian fast bowlers looked non-threatening as Pakistan reached 137/1. Smith did bowl nine overs in the second innings but there was not enough time left as Pakistan inched closer to victory.
Although neither debutant left a huge mark on the series, both of them showed a lot of promise. All in all, good signs for the future of Australian cricket.
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