Arid Date Fanciers,
Thinking that Dubai might not be MJ Clarke's favourite destination.
Haven't heard of or seen hide nor hair of the bloke for five months.
What has the skipper been up to in an exceptionally long break in an increasingly crowded cricket calender?
Probably been lunching well and then up on the work bench freshening up his chronic case of Shaggers Back.
If you weren't overly busy, wouldn't you live the high life if you were him?
But, obviously, he hasn't been spending enough time in the nets.
Nice work in the 1st innings, falling for the three-card trick to be caught in the leg trap for 2 off 13 balls, and then backed that up with a 2nd innings fail, simply not hitting some fairly ordinary spin bowling to find himself plumb for 3 off 9 balls.
Two fingers from the Bamford's.
Oops.
The report card would have been marked "can do better".
Oh well.
At least, in keeping with Ol' Emirates tradition, there's been no one at the ground to witness the debacle...a sea of empty blue seats.
They'd get more at a Shield match.
Just like at Mark Waugh's farewell test match, only The Man and His Dog, a handful of journo's, and the ground staff were there to see the miserable demise.
In a joint obsessed with money, no doubt the Dubai cricket authorities would have marked down the gate takings as "negligable" and you'd have to wonder if they would have sold many dry corporate boxes, with the weather reliably described as "farkin' hot".
The beer for the team probably came in through the Diplomatic Bag, let alone a bottle of Tanqueray.
Not exactly the best preparation you could imagine for an Strayan summer, without the benefit of hindsight.
We'll find out when they get home, and the day the selectors see common sense.
At least Pup had the decency and sense to take full responsiblity for the debacle - he knows well enough that the buck stops here, at the top - and refused to blame the coach or his players, saying the only difficulties appeared to be "the conditions" and a "lack of match practice".
Well, maybe, while everyone was at a loose end, they should have organised to play a couple of five-day practice matches...you know, Michael Clarke's XI v Brad Haddin's XI...Probables v Possibles...at somewhere like Alice Springs, in the desert on a rough track, that sort of thing, before they went to Arabia?
Play it like winning and losing mattered, but bend the rules for maximum time in the middle.
Did anyone think of it?
If not, why not?
At this time of year, it's all about horses for courses, isn't it?
Pakistan 454 and 2/286 dec; Australia 303 and 216.
Pakistan won by 221 runs.
