KARACHI: After their struggles in Rawalpindi, Australia are in no mood of looking up to their specialist batters as secondary spin bowling options again.

So much so, they’ll be crowning Mitchell Swepson with the Baggy Green when they take on hosts Pakistan in the second Test here at the National Stadium on Saturday, making him the first specialist leg-spinner to play for Australia since Bryce McGain in a one-off Test against South Africa in 2009.

Australian batters Marnus Labushagne, Travis Head and Steve Smith were forced to bowl 47 overs in the drawn first Test at Rawalpindi, while the visitors main spin bowler Nathan Lyon bowled nearly 80 overs when it dawned skipper Pat Cummins that the Pindi Stadium pitch had virtually nothing for the pacers.

With the dry nature of the NSK square, Swepson is not only expected to share the workload with Lyon, but also get wickets — something Australia struggled to do in Rawalpindi — on a historically favourable surface for spinners.

“The wicket over here looks a bit drier, historically a bit friendlier for the spinners,” skipper Cummins said during an online press conference on Friday. “Particularly, a wrist spinner of Swepo’s quality gives us a balance, gives us the opportunity to take 20 wickets.”

With Swepson coming in place of fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, Australia will be relying on the reverse swing to cover for the shortage of pace.

Cummins said he expected the ball to reverse as early as by the end of the first day, making their bowling attack more effective than it was in Rawalpindi.

“This square is a lot drier, it also rained a bit in Rawalpindi due to which the ball got quite soft and damp at times,” said the pacer. “It [reverse swing] will be a much bigger factor here and probably pretty early on as well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the ball reversing on day one.”

Slow-left arm spinner Nauman Ali bagged six wickets in the first Test, helping Pakistan bowl out Australia, in a match that saw only 14 wickets fall.

Cummins was wary of the threat Nauman posed in the second Test, but said ‘untraditional’ shots by his batters were more of a reason for them losing wickets easily.

“I thought he bowled well in the first match, equally I thought our batters had their plans and played really well,” said Cummins. “Quite a few of those wickets were probably non-traditional ways that the batters got out.”

Nauman and off-spinner Sajid Khan will once again look to hurt the visitors with Pakistan expected to further strengthen their bowling attack.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam, while conceding that he has finalised the first eleven, decided to not reveal it.

However, the home side is expected to bring back strike pacer Hasan Ali and all-rounder Faheem Ashraf, who were ruled out of the first Test due to injuries.

“It has been decided. I wouldn’t reveal the final eleven right now but with Hasan and Faheem back we’ll surely consider them,” he said during the pre-match presser.

Pakistan plundered 728 runs in Rawalpindi, with top-order batters Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique and Azhar Ali scoring hundreds — the former getting tons in each innings — while Nauman stood out with the ball.

The first Test, however, ended without a result with the Pindi Stadium getting one demerit point by the International Cricket Council due to its placid nature.

Babar did not hesitate to claim that Pakistan showed utter dominance over the Australians in the first Test and that they will try to carry it forward.

“The momentum is with us and we dominated the last Test thanks to good individual performances by the batters as well as from the bowlers,” he said. “We got their 10 wickets and Nauman Ali got six. We’re looking to take this forward in the Karachi Test.”

Babar said Pakistan had only one goal going into the first Test and that was winning it. The skipper went on to say Pakistan could have gone on to win the match had it not been for rain and bad light.

“The Test Championship points are crucial for us and as captain and as a team we only aimed to win the match,’ he said.

“It was unfortunate that we did not get a result despite batters and bowlers both performing well, taking wickets and scoring hundreds.

“The rain too was one of the reasons for the match to end without a result.”

The Karachi pitch, Babar said, looked like one that would give both teams the chance to stay in the game.

“The pitch looks like a sporting one,” he said. “No matter how the pitch is, you’ve to make effort to score runs and take wickets. Performing against a team like Australia is not easy.”

Agencies add: Swepson first toured with Australia’s Test side five years ago and has consistently been Lyon’s spin deputy in the past few years, but has not been able to make the final XI.

The Queenslander, who has played seven Twenty20 Internationals, has taken 154 wickets in 51 first-class games at an average of 33.45, but three of his four five-wicket hauls came in three successive Sheffield Shield domestic first-class games in late 2020.

His inclusion is poignant because it comes a week after legendary Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne died of a suspected heart attack in Thailand.

“He’s pumped and to be honest we’re all pumped for Swepo,” said Cummins. “It’s been a long time running drinks over the last couple of years, but he’s absolutely ready. He’s been a huge part of the squad, even though he hasn’t been playing. So we’re really excited to see him get a chance.”

Cummins acknowledged the Warne link.

“I think all spinners have a close affinity with Warnie and he inspired everyone,” said Cummins.

Babar said his batsman will do their homework on the debutant Swepson.

“We have not seen him bowl much but will watch his videos and plan accordingly,” said Babar.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2022