Aussies ready for Abbas

TIM Paine insists his team is ready to deal with Mohammad Abbas after the Pakistan seamer made a mockery of Australia’s batting in the UAE last year.

Abbas has been jettisoned back into Pakistan’s side for today’s second Test at the Adelaide Oval, with the pink ball under lights likely to aid his movement.

The right-armer ran through Australia the last time the two teams met, taking 17 wickets at 10.58 as Pakistan swept the two-match series.

Abbas is not as fast as other modern-day quicks but his ability to move the ball can trouble Australia and has left it susceptible in the past.

“We’re as prepared as he can be without facing him,” skipper Paine said. “We all know what he does, we’ve got a different side than played against him before.

“He’s an exceptional bowler, his record would suggest that. We’ve spoken about him.

“We’ve spoken about the whole team … if we’re not right on top of our game Abbas and the rest of the side can create you problems.”

Australia’s batsmen spent about two hours in the nets on Wednesday night growing accustomed to the pink ball under lights.

Abbas, whose 66 wickets at 18.86 make for the best average of any Pakistani in history, was a controversial omission at the Gabba as the tourists cited concerns over his rhythm.

“He (Abbas) will definitely bring a lot of control … with a bowler of his class you always feel like he has something to offer,” Pakistan captain Azhar Ali said yesterday.

“He has done well in firstclass. He has done well in Test matches.

“He was worked a lot in the last Test on his rhythm and is feeling much better … We are feeling a lot more confident.”

Working in Australia’s favour is that its unchanged team from Brisbane contains only five players who suffered at the hands of Abbas last year.

David Warner and Steve Smith were also not a part of that side while serving 12month bans, and both average more than 60 in Australia.

The Australians are also unbeaten in pink-ball Tests, where quicks Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood rule the roost under lights in terms of world cricket. But they do have other challenges to face.

Namely, they come in the form of keeping their foot on the throat of the tourists after the innings-and-five-run win last week.

Australia has won back-toback Tests once since the start of last year, most recently dropping off following its Ashes win in Manchester with the loss at The Oval.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve had a problem with (being ruthless),” Paine said.

“I would say we haven’t won a lot of cricket games in the past 18 months. But now we’ve got a team together that we’re turning up to Test matches expecting to win.

“One of the things we have spoken about as a group since (The Oval), we’ve just called it winning after winning.

“Making sure we can back up a performance, which we were happy with last week.”