I think you will find Langer was a big one for fielding and catching practice before play Freeze so it would be fair to say Cummins, Smith, Warner & co probably dont want to do it and McDonald wouldnt enforce it at all…what is the old saying- “catches win matches”! 
Yeah maybe BH, though pretty sure during JL coaching tenure, Aust dropped a fair few catches from time to time…all those guys you mentioned have pretty safe hands, just one of those days…but yeah if it makes all the JL lovers feel better, yep McDonald was the reason for Australia dropping all those catches, by not enforcing JL’s fielding drills before play.
Haha I am not a JL “lover” as you describe it Freeze, I just despise the process/way the players went about removing the coach because he was too hard on them…soft as butter type stuff…no wonder they struggle to bowl sides out on Day 4 & 5 when the going gets a bit tough recently- Headingley (2019), Sydney (21), Brisbane (21), Sydney (22), Karachi (22).
[quote=“ArkRoyal post=217777 userid=1915”]Bease Yep, they have had trouble as you suggested would happen. What is wrong with enforcing the ‘follow-on’?
We were flattered a bit in Pakistan’s first innings, two wickets having fallen to ‘run-outs’
Lyon is getting hit down the ground for ‘one’ every over, even as one batsman has made a double during the tactic. Is this good captaincy?
[/quote]
AR take out that Pakistani 1st Innings at Karachi so far in this series across the other 3 Innings we have taken 11 wickets for 1171 runs.
Now other than Azhar Ali & Babar Azam that batting line up is hardly what you would call world class.
It has to be said when our bowlers dont have the conditions on their terms they really do struggle to take wickets, yes there was some piss poor catching as well.
But we will continue to pick Gary The Goat Lyon, Starc etc and expect to get a result!!! 
After Lyon took those 2 wickets in the 159th over and the new ball was taken, I think 8 of the remaining overs should of been bowled by Cummins and Starc. The Pakistan tail would be a lot less comfortable against the quicks with a new cherry in their hands. And yes, the follow on should have been enforced.
BH, considering 4 of those 5 examples you highlighted of the bowling being “soft as butter type stuff”, were actually under Langer’s watch…I’m not sure how you can then think the players outed Langer for him being too hard…perhaps they just got sick of his angry ant antics…who knows?..except the players of course..
Considering since Steve Waughs retirement, on 32 occasions that Australia had the opportunity to enforce the follow on, its only happened 7 times apparently…
Same team announced. I suspect the Australians blew a real opportunity to win a test in Pakistan and it may be difficult for the same group to lift themselves again. Thats why I think a few fresh faces in the bowling attack ( Hazlewood, Boland or Agar) may have been useful. Cummins would be hoping to win the toss to give the bowlers an extra day or so rest.
What’s that saying about if you keep doing the same, you get the same result? As mikeh said, a couple of new faces may have freshened them up. Win this one and it’ll be a good result. Draw or lose and it’ll be a very poor tour.
Interesting that Pakistan change up their bowling attack and is rewarded with 2 wickets…got a feeling if Australia get rolled for under 300, they will be chasing their tails big time…fingers crossed Green bats long and gets that maiden test ton…ditto Carey too…
Cummins & co know best guys… 
Disappointing first day, the batsman allowed the Pakistanis to keep control of the scoring rate and they prized out wickets when Australia threatened to take the initiative. Khawaja played beautifully again although he would be disappointed again to miss out on a century with a poor shot. Smith was solid but his technique is no longer bulletproof as it was in 2017 - 2019. That walk across the wicket occasionally finds him in trouble as per what happened yesterday. Warner is close to the end of his test career IMO. He has scored only 160 runs in 10 test innings since the Adelaide ashes test and he has a number of vulnerabilities that the bowlers are preying on. So too Labuschagne who seems to have been worked out by the opposition. Head seems to be poking and prodding around in this series which is in contrast to the fearless way he played against England in the ashes, I think he should go back to the latter method.
Green and Carey need to push on today, they both looked good late last night. As Freezin said it is a great opportunity for Cam to get a maiden test century if he can negotiate the first hour of play.
At least 400 is needed to make sure that the advantage of winning the toss is not wasted.
4 half centuries, not one converted. I fear that may be the story of this test. As well as Green and Carey batted they got out when they had the Pakistan attack at their mercy and 450 was achievable. Pakistan looked very comfortable batting despite the slow run rate and I was wondering if Boland may have been a bit more of a threat than Starc who was all over the shop.
Unless Australia can take a early wickets tomorrow it may be a long hard day for them.
The Australian batsmen’s inability to convert half-centuries into centuries this series has been a worry, Mike.
We’ve scored just one century (Usman Khawaja 160) and 10 half-centuries, including four dismissals in the 90s.
Most unlike him but Steve Smith has scored half-centuries in all three of his innings without going on to three figures.
While the pitches have been hard work for the bowlers, they haven’t been conducive to bold strokeplay (plus the Pakistan bowlers have performed well).
I agree that Scott Boland should’ve got a game at some stage during this series.
Even from the Pakistan innings so far you can see the Australians are desperate for a breakthrough. They have burnt two reviews already with poor calls. They realise that 391 is a below par score on that wicket and that Pakistan will be in front this time tomorrow unless the bowlers can make inroads. Lyon and Starc look tired and don’t seem to be troubling the batsmen. Pakistan also showed the benefit of bringing in fresh bowlers with the 19 year old Naseem cracking open the Australian tail yesterday to restrict the score. Apart from one freak afternoon when the ball was reversing massively, the current bowlers have been unable to remove any of the top or middle order in the 3 tests. Why then did the selectors not give Hazlewood, Boland or Agar a go at it?. In the relatively successful away tour in England in 2019, they were able to rotate and bring back fresh bowlers for each test and that was a significant part of their success. The conditions in Pakistan are far harsher than those in England so you would think that this policy would be more important there. It makes me wonder who is actually running the show since Langer left.
The honeymoon is over for Cummins who is now finding out about the realities of captaining a team that is at best middle of the road and was made to look good by a completely dysfunctional English team.
Spot on Mike.
It is quite unbelievable they went in with same bowlers who could only take 7 wickets between them on Day 4 & 5 only 4 days before this Test started.
But as I posted earlier Cummins knows best…apparently!!!
BH no different to that GABBA test v India a few years back…I guess it’s what team mates do…back each other unconditionally …Starc apparently is the only bowler who can reverse it, plus he is a leftie…so he gets the nod…and always will…even though he won’t reverse it at all in this test match…I wish Jye Richardson wasn’t made out of jello…really could do with his skiddy bowling in Pakistan.
Finally the bowlers getting some wickets and WA pummelled the bastard Viccos - turning out to be a better night after all
Quite happy to put up my hand and say I was proved wrong. For some reason the ball started tailing after tea and carnage was the result. One thing I will say about Starc, once he gets on a roll he is irrepressible, especially against lower order batsmen. Cummins grabbed that incredible caught and bowled against the run of play and Pakistan lost 8 for 50 from there.
Australia now have a chance to bat for 2 and a half sessions tomorrow and try and push to a lead of around 300. Still a lot of work to do if they want to come away with a series victory
You got to laugh, most folk think Starc is more cold then hot, yet like Lyon is well respected within the playing group, so never gets dropped…totally agree mikeh, when on song, Starc is a match winner…just doesn’t do it often enough. As for Paddy, one can never fault his workhorse ethic and of course his ability to know better then most of us armchair cricketing experts…great effort by both bowlers and once again Pakistan self implodes.
in an ideal world, Warner will return to form with a quick fire 100, with Uzzie continuing his stellar form with another 50+ score. Aust bat for say 4 hours or so, get a lead of 350+, then put the Pakistan openers in for a testing 15 overs or so. Eventually one of the Australian fielders is going to hold on to a Babar catch early on in his innings, whilst Babar has batted well, geez he has had some luck early on in his innings. Hopefully it runs out in the Pakistan 2nd innings, though commonsense says, Australia will do their very best no doubt, to keep Pakistan in the game.
this one of the most generous declarations you’ll ever see - less than 3 an over and it could bite them on the arse big time unless a heap of wickets fall quickly
bloody hell it’ll be a huge task to get the win now