- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
An ending and a beginning
- Updated: January 2, 2017
Match facts
January 3-7, 2017 Start time 1030 local (2330 GMT)
Big Picture
Sydney’s Test match has the duality of starting the year but ending the series. Pakistan’s captain Misbah-ul-Haq has certainly been thinking about ending at the start of 2017, even if he’s now retreated somewhat from the openness he offered in the aftermath of the Melbourne defeat. By contrast, Australia would like the end of this series to be the start of the next assignment, as the squad selection for the SCG made patently clear. That being said, the captain Steven Smith isn’t exactly eager to place both eyes on the looming tour of India and its myriad challenges: a clean sweep of Pakistan, having spent much of the past six months pondering defeats rather than victories, would be a welcome outcome.
Having spent four Test matches without an allrounder, Australia have returned to Darren Lehmann’s favoured formula, this time with Hilton Cartwright on debut rather than Mitchell Marsh on spec. Cartwright is a batsman first and a bowler later; the question remains whether Smith will fully trust someone who didn’t bowl a single ball at the SCG when he visited for a Sheffield Shield fixture earlier in the season. Instead the match was dominated by spinners – Steve O’Keefe, Will Somerville and Ashton Agar shared no fewer than 27 wickets between them. Agar has not been included in the XI, but can feel relatively secure of his place on the plane to India. Smith and Lehmann will be looking for signs that two quicks, two spinners and Cartwright can do a strong job this week. Also that neither Mitchell Starc nor Josh Hazlewood fall prey to overwork.
Pakistan arrived in Australia with plenty of optimism, and had it somewhat bolstered by a resilient display in Brisbane. But the collapse of the team on the final day in Melbourne, after rain had made the draw by far the more likely result, raised plenty of old …
