Pakistan have arranged an additional two-day warm-up game before their second Test against Australia in Melbourne.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.
Following their heavy defeat against Australia in the first Test in Perth, Pakistan have hastily arranged a second warm-up game sandwiched between the first and second Tests.
Originally not in the itinerary, Pakistan will now play a two-day warm-up match against Victoria XI at the Junction Oval in Melbourne between December 22-23.
Pakistan head coach Mohammad Hafeez said the added warm-up fixture was arranged since Pakistan wanted to have more match practice under their belt: “That was something extra we added into the schedule because it wasn’t there earlier. We wanted to have more practice rather than only one practice game.”
The two-day encounter against Victoria won’t classify as a first-class game, unlike the warm-up game against the Prime Minister’s XI that Pakistan played before the first Test. Hafeez said that this will give them an opportunity to field more than 11 players and give everyone game time.
“That had first-class status, so we couldn’t give all the bowlers the chance to have a feel. That’s the reason we wanted to have this practice game, so more guys could get a feel of a match scenario; we felt that would work well. We will definitely plan accordingly. All the players should use those two days to make themselves more familiar with the situations and the conditions.”
Hafeez had criticised the surface that was on offer for Pakistan’s first warm-up game. He said that Pakistan have requested Cricket Australia to provide conditions similar to what will be on offer at the MCG for the upcoming warm-up fixture.
“The conditions we get fall under Cricket Australia’s domain,” Hafeez said. “We have requested similar conditions to the Test match so that our players can take advantage of these conditions.
“This game was not part of the tour but I wanted our players to have match-scenario style practice. We’re grateful to CA for accepting our request and providing this facility. We will try to learn from this in the most effective possible way.”
The Victoria XI will be led by Peter Handscomb and will include players not involved in the ongoing Big Bash League as of now.
This development comes after Pakistan were trounced by Australia at the Optus Stadium in Perth by 360 runs. While Pakistan had shown some fight with the bat in the first innings, scoring 271 in response to Australia’s 487, they capitulated in the second, getting bowled out for 89 in a chase of 450.
The second Test of the series will be a Boxing Day Test starting on December 26 in Melbourne.
