The Summer of cricket arrives and it is Australia vs Pakistan at Perth Stadium to kick it all off. Australia destroyed the Pakistan outfit that last toured here in 2019 and the Pakistanis will be hoping they can at least be more competitive this time around. Australia are coming off the World Test Championship and World Cup wins in 2023 and are arguably the best team in the world currently. The touring team will have their backs up against the wall early but hopefully it is an exciting series. We will give you the predicted elevens for each team and take you through the most important players and match ups.
![](https://themocksports.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image-9-1024x576.png)
AUSTRALIA PREDICTED STARTING ELEVEN:
1. David Warner
2. Usman Khawaja
3. Marnus Labuschagne
4. Steven Smith
5. Travis Head
6. Cameron Green
7. Alex Carey
8. Mitchell Starc
9. Patrick Cummins
10. Nathan Lyon
11. Josh Hazlewood
TEAM OVERVIEW:
The Australians are a relatively settled eleven and the only major selection decision is whether the selectors stick with Cameron Green or go with Mitchell Marsh who is coming off a brilliant World Cup campaign. I think with his height, speed, and therefore bounce, Green will be selected. The Pakistani batsmen might find him to difficult to deal with whereas Marsh has a lot of sameness to the likes of Hazlewood with the ball.
The only other selection bolter there could be is that of Lance Morris being selected on his home deck. He is an incredibly quick bowler who is usually clocking 150kms an hour and that will be the type of batsmen that Pakistan will struggle to deal with. The only bowler that could go out for him is Josh Hazlewood, but he has a terrific record against Pakistan which should see him start the summer.
KEY PLAYERS:
DAVID WARNER
Warner has been poor for about three years now but this is his retirement summer and if he can recapture his old form, I think it will put Pakistan right on the back foot and make it incredibly hard for them to win the game from the outset. Australia’s weakness is still the top three and it is why Warner is such an important player in this team. If he can score a run a ball forty on the first morning of the test match if Australia bat first, he will dull the strike bowlers of Pakistan (and they really fall away after their two fast bowlers) and get the Aussies off to a good start.
STEVEN SMITH
We all now how good this man is but he has had a down year in 2023 considering his lofty expectations. He has averaged forty-three in eleven test matches this calendar year compared to fifty-eight and fifty-three in 2022 and 2021 and that is a noticeable decrease considering the three batsmen the Australians rely on the most are Smith, Labuschagne, and Head. If he can find some form heading into 2024 we know that he will go big and score 100s and that could be enough to get the Australians over the line.
CAMERON GREEN
Green is going to be very important – particularly if the Australians don’t get early wickets with the ball. Nathan Lyon might struggle out West in what isn’t known to be a spinners pitch and conditions and the only different option the Australians have is Green as he just provides a different angle and bounce than the rest of the Australian bowlers bar Mitchell Starc. Pakistan are used to their conditions (and occasionally English conditions) which generally don’t bounce and it is more swing focused. This pitch will be bouncy and hard and Green may be the Australian bowler who can use that to his advantage to get a few wickets when he rolls the arm over.
JOSH HAZLEWOOD
Hazlewood has a brilliant record against Pakistan averaging twenty-three which is his best statistics against any country bar the West Indies. He was brilliant against them in Australia last time they toured here and Pakistan’s best batsmen in Babar Azam really struggles to face him. Azam’s wicket alone is huge and if he can get him cheaply in most innings it will go a long way to the Australian’s being able to restrain the Pakistan total. The extra bounce of this pitch might see him be able to catch the edge more than usual and if he can do that it will go a long way to Australia winning the match and series.
![](https://themocksports.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image-10-1024x576.png)
PAKISTAN PREDICTED ELEVEN:
1. Shan Masood
2. Abdullah Shafique
3. Imam Ul-Haq
4. Babar Azam
5. Saud Shakeel
6. Mohammad Rizwan
7. Sajid Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf
9. Noman Ali
10. Hasan Ali
11. Shaheen Afridi
TEAM OVERVIEW:
The Pakistani batting order is settled and will take place the way that we have predicted it, I think. The wicketkeeper position is probably the only 50/50 call but I think they will stick with the tried Rizwan.
The bowling line up is the intriguing one come 12pm tomorrow. I think they will play the two spinners in Sajid Khan and Noman Ali as that is their strength and the two strike fast bowlers are locked in and seem to be Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi. Faheem Ashraf’s position is the wide open one. It will be a close selection call between he and Mir Hamza but I think Ashraf is the safe pick and touring teams will generally lean that way in their first match of a series. Both players are definitely the weak links of the bowling line ups and the bowlers that Australia might try and target.
KEY PLAYERS:
BABAR AZAM
Azam is arguably Pakistan’s best batsmen. He has struggled against this Australian bowling attack to this point in his career but he still does average forty-seven in test cricket and has a rock solid technique which can and has stood up to most pace attacks in world cricket. If he can get his eye in early it means he will bat for a long time and make a big score which generally leads to Pakistan putting on big scores.
SAUD SHAKEEL
He is one of world crickets best emerging young batsmen averaging eighty-seven in thirteen test match innings after averaging fifty-three in first class cricket and at number five he could be a massive thorn in the Australian’s sides throughout this test match. His technique is brilliant and he plays well off the back foot which is what you need in Australia and at the age of twenty-eight I think he is about to hit the peak of his powers. He has dominated two of the better pace attacks in the world in England and New Zealand (all but at home) recently and there is no reason he can’t have a terrific series in Australia.
SHAHEEN AFRIDI AND HASAN ALI
Afridi is the key man to this Pakistani bowling attack with an average of twenty-five and he is much more experienced now than when he came here last time. The Perth Stadium will suit his bowling style and he and Hasan Ali must take wickets early because if they don’t, the main weakness of this Pakistan outfit is their bowling depth. I think they will play the two spinners as they are two of their better players/Australia can struggle against spinners but on this pitch, they could potentially struggle and Faheem Ashraf might struggle to both get wickets and keep his economy rate down over this series. If these two don’t strike and get the majority of the wickets, Australia could get their eye in and put on some massive totals.
PREDICTION
Pakistan are a better outfit now than what they were the last time they came here but the same can be said for the Australians. Both teams have star power that can cause the other problems but the depth in the Australian line up will be the difference. There will be no relent for the Pakistani batsmen like there will be for the Australians and I just can’t see them putting on big scores against Australia on unfamiliar pitches.
Australia should be winning this series 3-0.