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Pakistan's show of fighting spirit against Australia is good news for everybody

Malcolm Knox
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Pakistan's mid-match revival in Brisbane has added an estimated 10,000 ticket sales to Boxing Day in Melbourne, and interest in the New Year's Test match in Sydney also grew with each hour the tourists were able to prolong the struggle. Cricket Australia has budgeted for a loss-making summer, but a competitive Pakistan can limit the damage as well as providing Steve Smith's team with an authentic test of their progress.

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Pakistan alive as Shafiq hits century

Pakistan threaten an impossible chase after two Steve Smith dropped catches and a superb century from Asad Shafiq.

If any shoulders were slumping after Pakistan's first-innings capitulation on Friday night, they belonged to those with an interest in a keenly-fought Test series. As last year's audiences for the Frank Worrell Trophy series showed, there are limits to how much even Australians like a winner. One-sided Test cricket makes uninteresting Test cricket, and last year's crowds quickly turned their attention to the Big Bash League.

The BBL's outreach slows no sign of abating, if an attendance of 10,000 at the Melbourne Stars' family day over the weekend is any guide. CA will maintain that Test and BBL cricket are not competing with or cannibalising each other, but uninspiring Test cricket in Sydney and Melbourne for a third straight year (two years ago, the Australia-India series was hard-fought but diminished as a spectacle by bowlers' graveyards at the MCG and SCG) would heighten the contrast between the drabness of the day's cricket and the vibrancy of the night's.

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Pakistan's dismal display on Thursday and Friday prompted forebodings of the here-we-go-again variety. On Saturday and Sunday, however, there that went again. With some assistance from Australia's decision not to enforce the follow-on, Pakistan were able to regroup and use Saturday as a day to accelerate their progress in coming to grips with Australian conditions.

On Sunday afternoon, as Azhar Ali and Younis Khan extended the fight, Pakistan's overall sense of mission was revived. In the long night, Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed ensured that they would go to Melbourne in good form. Pakistan, who only lost four wickets in daylight hours throughout the match, will travel south, to more favourable conditions, with a sense that they are on an upswing.

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None will feel more so than Asad Shafiq, the doughty little number six who put on 47 with Sarfraz, 92 with Mohammed Amir and 66 with Wahab Riaz on his way to his tenth Test century when the batting was at its most difficult. Every time Australia thought the house of cards was finally falling down, Asad and his partners built it up again. The extra half-hour requested by Smith also went in Pakistan's favour. Instead of Australia picking up three wickets to win, Pakistan got 51 runs closer to their ultimate target, losing only Wahab, and enabling Asad to celebrate a richly-deserved milestone.

He was dropped by Smith, and throughout the day Pakistan enjoyed some luck, with edges travelling over, short of and to the side of the Australian catchers, but nobody could dispute that it was luck past its due date. Previously, every 50 percenter and plenty of 75 and even 90 percenters had gone against Pakistan in this match. On Sunday, there were enough anxious moments to require medication, but as the rain swirled and the night lengthened, more and more it was the Australians whose faces tightened and whose heart rates quickened.

The top-order men Azhar and Younis, like the good Test batsmen they are, made the most of their fortune. Azhar's patience through a 270-minute vigil had a symbolic importance, showing that he, like his opening partner Sami Aslam, is made of resistant material. When he found the ball to attack, his driving on both sides of the wicket was delightful. At one point, Smith placed Nic Maddinson as close to the pitch at short mid-on as is legally permitted, yet Azhar still managed to thread the needle with the most difficult and elegant of shots.

For the veteran Younis, a nervous start preceded a determined middle. Sixteen runs in his previous five Test innings had brought a public inquiry from coach Mickey Arthur. Whether that was politically wise is debatable, but it had the desired effect, with Younis raging against the dying of the light. Once he relaxed, he stopped plunging onto the front foot and played his way back towards, if not yet into, his best form.

Pakistan owe it to nobody but themselves and their supporters, but their improvement will be gratefully received in Australia. Through the irregularity of their visits here in recent years, on top of their inability to play at home, they have fallen off the top of the list of cricket drawcards. But they used to be a popular, 'personality' team here.

Between 1972 and 1983, Pakistan toured Australia for Test series no fewer than five times. They were almost as much a staple of Australian summers as the West Indies. Since then, they had only toured here another five times in 33 years, with this being their first visit in seven years. Pakistan deserve better than that, but they have been asked to earn it, against challenges faced by no other cricket nation.

A strong Pakistan is good for world cricket. Over the weekend in Brisbane they began to earn back the credit and respect they used to have as a matter of custom on Australian soil, and they may still produce something memorable on this tour. If they can keep improving, everyone in cricket, not just Pakistan's supporters, will have reason to rejoice.

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