close
Tuesday March 19, 2024

Australia need patience to succeed in UAE: Paine

By Agencies
September 20, 2018

SYDNEY: Australian skipper Tim Paine believes that absorbing pressure and willingness to play long will be the key when they face Pakistan in the two-match Test series starting October 7 in UAE.

“I think games traditionally take a long time in the UAE so we have to be really patient,” Paine told Cricket Australia (CA) website on Wednesday.“We have spoken about partnerships and patience and pressure, which is going to be a real key over there,” he said.“Games sort of drag along for three or four days and it can happen really quickly on day five. So, it is about having your team in a position to strike late in the game.”

“We know traditionally that they are long, low-scoring days and it takes time to score your runs. You just have to grind it out. So, we are going over there with that at the front of our minds,” said Paine.

Playing without experienced players David Warner and Steve Smith, Australia’s new look team have a daunting task ahead. Pakistan have lost just six of their 21 Tests played in UAE.“We are going to have to play really hard, tough cricket particularly from the batting side. And then in the heat over there, it’s the same for our bowlers. It’s going to be about patience, trying to wear them down and being in a position late in the game where we can make a move,” he said.

The wicket-keeper batsman also talked about managing his strike bowler Mitchell Starc.Starc will have a heavy workload, with bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins out with injuries.“We have to be really careful with all our quicks over there,” Paine said.“It’s going to be over 40 degrees and really high humidity so we’re going to have to be clever about how we use our bowlers,” he added.