Australia plunge into unknown as cricket’s resurrection in Pakistan continues

It was no surprise that, half an hour after the end of training was due, Steve Smith was the last man standing. Two days before Australia’s first Test match in Pakistan since 1998, the centre-wicket practice at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium that had been teeming with players saw their numbers dissipate through that spring afternoon. For a time Smith alternated batting with Usman Khawaja, facing Ashton Agar’s left-arm orthodox. Eventually, inevitably, it was just Smith, and one baseball-mitted coach throwing down ersatz spin. Just Smith in the Australian net, at least. On the far side of the same wicket square, having likewise outlasted his teammates, a couple of toilers bowled to Babar Azam.

The symbolism was plain. On either side, shot for shot, each matched the other for assiduousness. The two who lead the batting for their teams, the two carrying most responsibility. Babar is a classical stylist who can play at modernity’s frantic tempo, and has risen to captain the side. He is also a metaphor for cricket’s resurrection in his country: after three years of a record far too modest for his gifts, he peeled off three centuries in consecutive matches as soon as Tests returned to Pakistan.

Smith may not be the force he once was, but the defining aspect of his career has been the way he takes on new frontiers. Touring India in 2017, a place where Australia had been bereft of success, he dragged his team along with three centuries, narrowly missing a series win after taking it down to the last match. Touring England in 2019 the same scenario played out to the letter. He has been parlously short of Test cricket since then, but perhaps this tour to somewhere all but brand new could rouse that adventuring spirit again.

Certainly