Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

Entertainment Cricket and Other Sports
1

Even though England collapsed in quite unbelievable fashion yesterday, it must be said that England generally compete against Australia in Australia better than most other test teams including South Africa. I mean even though England were comprehensively outplayed in the first test at Brisbane, the match still finished on the 5th day and the second test almost went the whole distance. Infact most of England’s Ashes tests in Australia go into a 5th day. It’s another matter that they go on to lose the majority of those tests but atleast they don’t surrender as abjectly as we do. Secondly England somehow manage to squeeze atleast one test win in every away Ashes series. You have to go back to the days of Sarfraz and Imran in the late 70s/early 80s to look for Pakistan’s last test (let alone series) win in Australia i.e. despite having the two W’s in the 90s we have been underperforming in tests in Australia for almost three decades. More often than not it’s our batting that let’s the team down.

During Pakistan’s last outing there in 2004, a disastrous one, all three tests finished inside 4 days including that shambolic 72 all out in the second innings of the first test at Perth. I know Inzi missed the second and third test and Shoaib missed the third test but that surely does n’t excuse our perennial inability to match Australia in Australia.

(First test, Perth)
http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2004-05/PAK_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/PAK_AUS_T1_16-20DEC2004.html

(Second test, Melbourne)
http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2004-05/PAK_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/PAK_AUS_T2_26-30DEC2004.html

(Third test, Sydney)
http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2004-05/PAK_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/PAK_AUS_T3_02-06JAN2005.html

I mean we were not even in a position to draw any of the games (like England were at Adelaide)

The 1999-2000 series was no different although we were denied victory in the second test by some dubious umpiring decisions (the age of one home and one neutral umpire)

Infact we have lost all of the last 9 tests against Australia!

India won a test in Sydney in 2003 albeit against an Aussie attack minus McGrath and Warne. And If I am not mistaken NZ generally do better than us in Australia.

I think one of the reasons for our poor performance is that our players seem to take more time to adapt to playing conditions in Australia and because we only play a three-test series, by the time they are beginning to find their feet in Australia, the series is effectively over. As you can see, Pakistan’s best batting performance was in the third test at Sydney (300+ totals in both innings) but still not good enough to match Australia.

Perhaps we should arrive in Australia (and for that matter in SA and England) atleast 3-4 weeks before the start of the first international game. but then our batters generally do well in NZ (and England) which is a bit puzzling.

This is not a conspiracy thread. I just want honest opinions on why you think Pakistan do worse in Australia than most other test teams.

Your thoughts…

2

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

Obviously the types of pitches in Australia, SAfrica are of different nature which most of our batsmen find hard to adjust to hence fail.

3

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

Pakistan did win a test match in Australia in 1995,Mushtaq took 9 wickets in that match while inzi scored some crucial runs,
and they should have actually drew the series in 1999 because First test match was looking like a draw before the 5th day started but Razzaq(again) went at the first ball of the day 5 to Warne and rest of the batting line up folded up meakly,and in the end they lost by 10 wickets,and then 2nd test match which they should have won comprehensively and had they won that one,then who knows they might had performed much better in the 3rd test and win the series.
In last 2 series though Pakistan did very badly against Australia(again they should have won columbo 2002 match where they were 170/2 chasing 315) but that is mostly due to the their batting and pathetic fielding,now the thing is ,till 2005 only Inzamam was one batsman in the side which They could have realy relied upon,only This year that Yousaf and Younas have come to their own(and will remain so hopefully).
But before this year as i said Inzamam used to be the only hope and Interesting thing is that he missed 5 out of those 6 test matches in last 2 contests and one match which he did play he was out for 1 & 0. So there was no match winner at that time in the side.Now e.g If Butt And yousaf could have scored 100s against Aus in last 2 test matches then there was no reason Inzimam coud,nt .
and the one other reason is(which might not look that significant to some but is very important) that they played THAT SAMI CRAP in most of those matches who can,t win you matches even against BD let alone Aystralia ,as we saw in first 2 test matches of last series in Australia that whenever Shoaib used to get a wicket ,Mr Sami used to come and release all the pressure from the other end,even Shoaib said this thing when he came back from Australia.
But hopefully next time these 2 sides do meet Pakistan will put up a much better show(also the fact that next series will be in Pakistan and most of the Australian greats will be gone by then)

4

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

But then our batsmen generally do well in NZ (where India usu. struggle) and England. We managed two 400+ and one 500+ scores in 4 tests v England this Summer and were it not for injuries to Asif and Akhtar we would not have lost 0-3 (actually 0-2 as we were in a winning position at the Oval) for sure. I also think it's partly psychological. Against Australia and South Africa we seem to have lost half the battle even before a ball has been bowled. It's almost like the players lack self-belief that they can beat Australia and SA.

5

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

because cricket sucks.

most boring sport on earth.

Looking for Rishtas? Post here.
6

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

nobdoy can beat australia in australia.the last team to do so was west indies in 1992 with the help of some exreteme pace in the form of ambrose,bishop and walsh.australia since 1998 have lost to only 3 teams, india in india,srilanka in srilanka and england in england.I think of all the teams at the moment Pakistan has the best chance of beating them at home.The problem in that last series was not Sami ,but what came after sami and shoaib,shoaib and sami knocked over their openers in the first 10 overs in one of the test matches, but after that bowling became easy.razzaq was not good enough to take wickets,kaneria was ineffective and inzamam did'nt paly Rana naveed...and ofcourse the batting was in poor form.and on top of all that shoaib got injured.

7

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

Ok I accept that beating Australia in Australia is near impossible but we have n’t even looked like drawing any games in Australia. We have n’t really given them a good game for a long time. The only test we looked like winning was this game at Hobart in Nov. 1999 (Inzi’s only hundred against Australia)

http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1999-2000/PAK_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/PAK_AUS_T2_18-22NOV1999.html](http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1999-2000/PAK_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/PAK_AUS_T2_18-22NOV1999.html)

England last won the Ashes in Australia under Gatting in 1985-6 and even though they had become a laughing stock in the 90s because of their numerous batting collapses, they somehow always managed to not only draw a few games but also win the odd test in Australia, something we seem hopelessly incapable of.

8

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

IMHO - The reason you gave might be one of the ones because it is tied into what I believe for Pakistan team.
The cause of Pak. alone failing on Aussie conditions is mutlifold:

  1. Lack of experience of Aussie conditions. We send our players to play in England - or lets say English counties invite foreign players and we get experience on their pitches. Hence our results in England tell it all. And I am referring to our trend in England not our recent series.
    Can our players play in Aussies provincial (territorial) sides ? Is it allowed? Why are they not invited?

  2. Aussies beat others most of the time in Australia becuase there training regimen is good on mental toughness. They outplan and outplay through a determined focus of the “whole” team not 1 or 2 players. Also I have not (in the last 10-15 years) heard since I have followed cricket is that they ever had in an “internal” discipline issue. The whole team rallies behind the “thinking” captains and work like machines!
    Even when we had captains like Imran we had others acting like khalifas in the team.

  3. Our own playing conditions are not even close to theirs. I mean we can have atleast few pitches that are prepared and maintained with grass and formed to have bounce in them. I mean lets get a curator that knows how to make a bouncy and fast pitch like Australia and SA. So that our upcoming players can get a chance of playing on them at home as well. We can’t say 20 cricket is giving our players a chance with the white ball to hit out in the first 15 overs. 20 is bringing up pinch hitters and sloggers only.

  4. Our next coach should be from Australia. When Woolmer wants to leave after WC07, PCB must put their foot down and get someone like Tom Moody for Pakistan. We have to get the inside edge. Woolmer did coach SA but he is not from SA. Our next coach for atleast 4-5 years must be from Kangaroo land.

Probably there are more reasons. This is my 2 cents worth!
:clown:

9

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

^ Yes I agree hiring an Australian coach would be a good move when Woolmer finally calls it quits. Imran Khan used to play in Australian domestic season (Sheffield Shield). I don't know why none of our present players play in Australian domestic games. Whether that's because of convenience (England's only 7.5 hours by air from Pakistan), strong Pakistani community in Britain (so players feel more at home) or better pay in county cricket I don't know. And finally I most certainly agree that we need to have better pitches with more pace and bounce. Infact atleast 50% of our domestic matches should be played on green tops and not the rolled out strips of mud that most of our pitches resemble

10

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

What difference will the Australian coach make. What will be needed is a good coach from anywhere and doesn’t have to be Australian. What difference has Greg Chappel really made to the Indians especially in South Africa where they have been crushed.

Do you honestly think someone like Moody will come and coach Pakistan if he was approached?

However, what may be of benefit and of use is an Australian to run the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, who would help bring new and fresh ideas and run on the similar lines to the Australian academy.

11

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

a new coach won't make any difference.in pakistan captain is the person that everybody has to listen to not the coach.this coach sits behind his laptop all day and does'nt even bother to send a message out in the field when something different is needed to be done.and according to zaheer abass players don't listen to him anyway that includes the captain.

Punjabian di Thread
12

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

They don't even listen to Mr Inzamam?

Yes you are right - new coach as long as Inzi is in charge would make a difference.............

13

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

Inzamam is the one who calls all the shots in Pakistan cricket team.Woolmer does'nt have that much of a say.Its not like the indian team where Greg Chappel is playing more of an active role than Dravid.Inzamams' tactics at times are not the brightest ,but woolmer has to agree with it no matter what and he can;t force inzamam to change anything.

14

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

Actually, I think compared to other teams in world cricket, Pakistan is the one team that does have the talent to pull off a win. Despite that we have performed very poorly. I think it's more of a mental hang up, many times we had them on the mat but were unable to seal the deal. What is required is some aggressive and positive leadership and a stronger self belief.

15

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

We have learned from Woolmer. If someone wants to deny that then let them explain the changes in our team since he came. So we can benefit from a Aussie as well. Lets face it they (Aussies) have something in the cricket world right now that the other countries don't. Why not tap into that and see if we can benefit from it.
I don't disagree with an Aussie being head of the Lahore Academy but that my friend is a difficult option as the country is full of old khalifas who will go berzerk with that idea.

16

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

If you haven’t read… PCB chief has stepped in all affairs now, even who is going to be in squad/team and who isn’t. Shoaib and Asif are barred by chtya Nasim from participating in series against WI :clap:

17

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

Pakistan can never beat Australia in test matches. In fact, Pakistan scores under 200 runs and Australia always make 400 runs. Tell me, when was the last time when Pakistan has beaten Australia in test match? I am watching cricket since 1999 and I never see Australia got beaten by Pakistan in tests.

18

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

Last time Pakistan defeated the Aussies was more then 10 years ago back in 1995, not just that last time Pakistan played a draw with the Aussies was back in 1998. Since then they have played us 9 times and beaten every single time. Pakistan's record agaisnt them was not as dismal as it is now. Before those 9 straight wins Pakistan had won 11 tests agaisnt them and had lost 15. Not a great record but atleast a little respectable now we are still stuck on those 11 wins compared to Australia's 24.

19

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

SuperMe: Pakistan played Australia only 6 matches after 1999. The 2002 series, everyone ran away to different excuses leaving a minnow Pakistan A team enforced into seniors team, got thrashing of lifetime (getting out on 59 than 53).

Anyway, for Pakistan to be of any competition, first we need to bring them home and thrash around like Eng :smiley: … Stop thinking about beating them in Australia :hmmm:

20

Re: Why does Pakistan struggle so badly in Australia?

It wasn’t so bad a series for Pakistan as they were struggling with an opening pair and competitive support bowler for Shoaib Akhter who had handful of own problems (mostly instigated). I wonder why we have to have a discussions over a stale event ?
Next Pak-Aus series could be an interesting encounter and you can discuss all you want.
:hoonh::k: