Congratulations to Smith and the Aussies. Finished with four wins from six outings for the summer - an excellent outcome, especially off the bad start to the summer.
Anyone else think Steve Smith's captaincy, as in field positions, is lacking an element of flair and adventure? With 460 odd runs in the bag, and not enough time for the Pakistanis to score them even if they tried, there was no reason not to set attacking fields during the whole of the fourth innings. But more than not, he set relatively conservative fields, and imo that led to the game being prolonged more than was needed. Still got there in the end, mostly on the back of the swag of runs scored by the Aussie batsmen.
Despite the win and the wickets taken by the spinners, neither of them really stood up to be counted as a match winner in this or the previous tests. O'Keefe is just a trundler, and doesn't create pressure at his end. His wickets more than most were the result of pressure being applied at the other end, and then one very dicey decision for caught behind. Lyon's bowling did apply some pressure but he is not a match winner even on the last day of a test match. Maybe it is a function of the way wickets are being prepared, but whatever, we would be in a heap of trouble if our pace attack wasn't as strong as it is.
We will be in a heap of trouble in India if we rely on the spin of either of these bowlers to take wickets.
