"We Can Expose Them" - Steve Smith, Andrew McDonald Reveal Australia's Plans To Exploit Pakistan's Vulnerability At Perth

Former Australian skipper Steve Smith is anticipating a tough and challenging time for Pakistani batters as Australia gears up to face them in a three-match Test series with the first starting on December 14 in Perth.

Smith expressed his hopes for pace and bounce from the Perth deck as he believes that the conditions may provide early seam movement and will get flatter as the game progresses.

“I assume it’ll have some decent pace and bounce, which it normally does here. I think there’s a little bit of grass on it … so there may be a bit of seam movement early on and it will probably get a bit flatter as the game goes on. (There) maybe some cracks if the heat stays. We will wait and see and play it by ear each day.”

“It’s something we will try and exploit, I suppose. We look at the wickets we played on in Pakistan and the wickets there didn’t have much pace and bounce, they were very slow, and coming to somewhere where potentially sub-continent players don’t receive as much … bounce, (so) that is something we try to exploit and get those wickets behind the wicket with catches. That usually comes into play quite a bit, so hopefully the boys can get that this week,” Smith was quoted as saying by Fox Sports.

Australia Coach Says They Will Surprise Pakistan With A Bouncy Deck

Meanwhile, Australia’s coach Andrew McDonald feels that since Pakistan had been practicing on surfaces with a lower bounce in Canberra, he hopes to expose them on a bouncy Perth pitch, exploiting their potential vulnerability.

“They’re coming from lower surfaces (Canberra) in their prep – so hopefully we can expose them on a bouncy surface,” McDonald said. “No doubt, that’s an advantage.”

Pakistan faced the Prime Minister’s XI in a warm-up match in Canberra where their new Test captain Shan Masood scored a terrific double century but other than him the Pakistani batting order failed to impress. Matt Renshaw from PM XI scored a brilliant century marking his name in the contention for being Australia’s new top-order batter in red-ball cricket.

Pakistan will face Australia in a three-match Test series commencing on December 14 at Perth. The second Test will be played in Melbourne from 26th December and then they will move to Sydney for the third Test which will be played after the New Year celebrations.

Shan Masood will be leading the Pakistan team for the first time and he will look to start his captaincy stint with a win against Australia. However, Australia will not be an easy opponent for Pakistan and the World Champions will not miss a chance to dominate on their home turf.