Good solid Test cricket from Ricky Ponting and his men

Ricky Ponting is many things to his outfit: captain, mentor, leading batsman and above all, master tactician. He leads by example, as his fluent fifty showed on the first day of the first Test at MCG. He backs his team-mates, exemplified by the constant faith exhibited towards Shane Watson and Michael Hussey; he eggs the younger players on with countless exhortations. And he is a supreme strategist, as revealed by his decision to declare Australia’s innings halfway through the second day, with the hosts on 454-5.

Another captain might have decided to pile on the runs, to push the total completely beyond the beleaguered Pakistan team’s reach, to bat through to the end of the second day, to finish with a total in excess of 550, or, maybe, even 600. Instead, Ponting chose to give his young bowling unit half a day extra to target the paper-thin Pakistan batting line-up. And, in doing so, he has led his opponents to believe they are still in with a chance in this match – a fact they wouldn’t even have considered an option after the first day’s play.

Picking up the gauntlet is Mohammad Yousuf, unruffled in his now hopefully permanent role as leader of squad that, with their recent troubled past, have always wavered between mediocre and average displays in the field; with a moment or two of sheer brilliance thrown in for good measure. As does his counterpart in this match, Yousuf represents everything that counts to his young team: an elegant batsman without peer, a calming presence in the field, leading by sheer belief in his own ability. And, most importantly, he brings a quiet, undemonstrative aspect to the captaincy – something sadly lacking in his immediate predecessor.

And Yousuf’s tactical acumen showed in the morning session as the overnight pair of Michael Hussey and Nathan Hauritz – the one: an established batsman of considerable class; the other: a tail-ender cum night-watchman displaying batting skills seemingly beyond his station – were hemmed in by watertight fields. Pakistan’s team-talk from the evening before had obviously helped as the bowlers stuck to their lines and the fielders tried (because ‘tried’ is the operative word in the face of the usual dropped catch and the inexplicable fielding lapse) to improve on their first day’s performance. But the pressure was always going to lift as the day wore on.

Thereafter, as the left-handed opening pair of Salman Butt and Imran Farhat ground their way through a stand that ate up valuable overs – but only just over twelve of them – in racking up 26 for the first wicket, eyebrows were obviously raised by those who have been fed an unwholesome diet of the slap-dash variety of cricket made popular by the glut of one-day and Twenty20 cricket. This was good solid Test cricket: an old-fashioned contest between bat and ball in different conditions from the first day; under some cloud cover, the ball seamed and swung. The basic job of any opening pair is to see off the new ball: Salman and Farhat did their bit, as did Faisal Iqbal, questionable though his presence might be at number three.

The loss of Yousuf, after a typically measured 22, off the penultimate ball of the day might, however, have tipped the scales even more in Australia’s favour, with Pakistan on 109 for 4. It now falls on a young, teenaged pair to display their commitment to their team’s cause on the third morning. How they do so will be crucial to the future outcome of this match – and, maybe, even for Pakistan cricket itself.