MELBOURNE: Australia will not decide on the makeup of their attack for the second Test against Pakistan until seeing the pitch but their intelligence on Karachi has them leaning toward playing two spinners, interim head coach Andrew McDonald said.
Australia were frustrated on a lifeless wicket at Rawalpindi, where their three seamers and spinner Nathan Lyon produced only four wickets during the drawn series-opener.
“If we get what we expect from the intell that we have then there’s a likely chance we’ll look at two spinners,” McDonald told reporters ahead of Saturday’s second Test in the three-match series.
“If the surface dictates another way of doing it, then it could be three (spinners) or could be back to one spinner.
“It probably lends itself …. to a two-spin venue.”
Australia have legspinner Mitchell Swepson and left-arm spinner Ashton Agar in reserve in their squad.
Lyon bowled 78 overs in the Rawalpindi run-feast, claiming 1-236, but McDonald said the veteran spinner would be fine with the quick turnaround between Tests.
“There wasn’t a lot on offer for the quicks or the spinners,” he said of the first Test pitch.
“He bounced in and out of some plans … I look forward to him fronting up in Karachi.”
McDonald stopped short of criticising Rawalpindi but was hopeful Karachi’s surface would deteriorate to allow the game to speed up on the final days.
“I think we’ll get a totally different surface come Karachi which will present different opportunities for different tactics,” he said.
“Clearly (Rawalpindi) was in favour of the batters … The groundsman, he’ll know what he was trying to achieve from the surface.
“I’m not sure that he entirely achieved that. So he’ll probably reflect on that, that’s his area to reflect on.”
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