Sport

Australia v Pakistan: first Test, day one – live!

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The anthems are done, the teams are out in the middle, and we’re nearly ready to go.





Teams

Pakistan have left out Mohammad Abbas? What madness is this? He towelled up Australia in the UAE last year, seaming the ball even on a Dubai road. He could have been wonderful in Brisbane. Mind you, Shaheen Shah Afridi isn’t too bad himself, and Imran Khan (the new version) took a lot of wickets against Australia A.

Pakistan
Shan Masood
Azhar Ali *
Haris Sohail
Babar Azam
Asad Shafiq
Iftikhar Ahmed
Mohammad Rizwan +
Yasir Shah
Shaheen Afridi
Imran Khan
Naseem Shah

Australia
Joe Burns
David Warner
Marnus Labuschagne
Steve Smith
Travis Head
Matthew Wade
Tim Paine * +
Pat Cummins
Mitch Starc
Nathan Lyon
Josh Hazlewood





Pakistan win the toss and will bat

The first little advantage for Pakistan. A lot of bowling sides have started with hope at the Gabba and watched it quickly disappear. So if the visitors can avoid any early problems, they can set themselves up for the day. Azhar Ali has no hesitation in making his choice.





Preamble

Geoff Lemon

It’s cricket, it’s cricket time. You know when I’m wearing my cricket socks, that means it’s cricket time.

Look, I could write you a long and considered preamble about how nice it is that Test match season has rolled around again, and how long it’s been, and what it signifies to those involved, and the relative chances of the teams lining up. But… I already did that, in an article last night. Here you go.

source: theguardian.com