Australia:
10 – David Warner – 335 not out – It’s hard to give this anything less than 10/10. Pushing past the 200 barrier takes a great mental strength, and then to keep going to 300 is really hard. It’s easy to slip up. This is especially difficult batting first in the first innings, but he managed it. Realistically, had Tim Paine not declared on him, he could easily have broken Brian Lara’s world record of 400. Given that the match was over with a day to spare, they could have afforded an extra hour or two to give him a chance at that record, but the team was more important than a personal record.
9 – Marnus Labuschagne – 162 – Back to back centuries, both over 150, is incredible for a player this early in his career, as his first two test centuries, and suddenly his test batting average is over 50, instead of sitting on 30. He is certainly in some great form.
9 – Mitchell Starc – 6/66 & 1/47 – It was great to see Mitchell Starc back in tip-top form. Bad luck for James Pattinson, who is just outside of the test side, and no longer looks a chance to replace Starc, but good news for Starc, who was great here. He couldn’t make the breakthroughs in the second innings, but he went a long way towards winning the match.
8 – Matthew Wade – 38 not out – He was not out so in theory could have gotten a 10, but the score was sub-50 so the questions weren’t asked about whether he could maintain his concentration.
8 – Nathan Lyon – 0/65 & 5/69 – To come back in the second innings, as Lyon did, was incredible. Not only did he struggle in the first innings but he struggled in the entire first test, but came back with a 5 wicket haul right when Australia needed it, the mark of a great player.
7 – Josh Hazlewood – 1/48 & 3/63 – A bit below his absolute best, he was solid rather than incredible. He was still pretty good.
6 – Pat Cummins – 3/83 & 0/45 – Not quite the level expected of the world’s number 1 test bowler, but not too bad just the same.
6 – Steve Smith – 36 – Way below his best, but he wasn’t really needed, and perhaps lost some concentration.
6 – Tim Paine – 5ct/1ct – Didn’t bat, but still took 6 catches, including 5 in the first innings, and did enough to keep his spot for the New Zealand series at least.
5 – Travis Head – Did not bat or bowl, take any catches or effect any runouts. He gets 5 because that’s the starting point. What a cruisy match! Such a pity that his position in the side is on the line and, if Michael Neser or James Pattinson were to squeeze into this side against New Zealand, then Head is the man most likely to make way.
2 – Joe Burns – 4 – The one and only failure for the side, Burns got a great ball from Shaheen Afridi and edged it behind. I’m sure that, had he batted a second time, he would have made amends for this failure. Just the same, it is a failure.
Pakistan:
8 – Shaheen Shah Afridi – 3/88 – He bowled wonderfully well, and got all 3 wickets to fall, which is pretty incredible really. He gave Pakistan some hope for a while too.
7 – Yasir Shah – 0/197, 113 & 13 – It was great to get a test century, but he ruined that by conceding 197 runs without taking a wicket, not even that of his “bunny” Steve Smith. Maybe Warner and Labuschagne were batting so well that they were untouchable, but more was expected of him.
7 – Babar Azam – 97 & 8 – Another great performance from Babar Azam shows his arrival on the test scene, to match his great record in ODIs and T20Is, and it was great to see him go back to back. Such a pity that he missed his test century.
7 – Mohammad Rizwan – 2 ct (out of 3 wickets), 0 & 45 – To take 2 catches of the 3 wickets to fall was pretty good, as Rizwan continued his great wicket keeping effort. He backed it up with a solid 45 in the second innings too.
6 – Shan Masood – 19 & 68 – A second innings half-century showed some kind of fight, and perhaps he is a long-term opener. Perhaps.
5 – Asad Shafiq – 9 & 57 – It was nice to have a bit of fight with a half-century but his first innings failure ruined it.
3 – Iftikhar Ahmed – 10 & 27, 0/75 – Should not be in the test team. Should not be in the test team. Why was he in the test team?
2 – Azhar Ali – 9 & 9 – A double failure here was disappointing from the captain.
1 – Mohammad Abbas – 0/100 – His much anticipated return from his surprising first test omission was disappointing to the extreme.
1 – Mohammad Musa – 0/114 – The debutant replaced another debutant, which seemed to be more about trying out new players than anything else, and he didn’t look test level.
0 – Imam-ul-Haq – 2 & 0 – While I could have given him 1 point for his 2 runs, I decided not to. He was awful. He is a better player than this.
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