Australia’s undoing in the recent ODI series against Pakistan was masterminded by two of their own who were not even supposed to be there.
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Former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie was handed a two-year deal to be Pakistan’s Test coach in April but just when he thought he could kick his feet up and relax after dismantling Bazball, the 49-year-old was thrust into the white ball gig.
South African great Gary Kirsten quit as ODI and T20I boss on the eve of the Australian tour in mysterious circumstances as he offered no public statement, so reports circulated that he was unhappy with the Pakistan Cricket Board taking selection out of the coaches’ hands.
Gillespie had seemingly been stung by that decision during the Test series against England as he made comments that his role his purely about “match day strategy” after high profile players Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah were dropped following the first Test.
That call came after Gillespie had asked for stability following Pakistan’s 2-0 home Test series loss to Bangladesh, but despite the disagreements he has persisted, and was the logical choice to step in to replace Kirsten, albeit on an interim basis.
“The Pakistan job is a week-to-week proposition,“ Gillespie’s former teammate Mark Waugh told Fox Cricket.
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“After the first Test loss to England, they sacked the selectors and changed the whole team without his consultation, and then they went back to the drawing board and produced spinning wickets.
“It wouldn’t be the easiest job in the world, being the Pakistan coach.”
Gillespie was already going to be at each of the ODIs as he was due to commentate the games for ABC Radio.
So, instead of sharing his thoughts on how best to dismantle the reigning World Cup winners on the air, he did it in the Pakistan dressing room.
He also did it with the support of a close confidant.
Former Australian coach Tim Nielsen is Gillespie’s side kick as Pakistan’s high-performance coach, and the two South Australians are taking their past experiences with them.
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With Gillespie being a fiery quick in a former life and Nielsen leading Australia to a T20 World Cup final in 2010 with a pace battery of Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes, it was little surprise that their plans centred upon fire and brimstone.
The four-pronged pace attack of Afridi, Shah, Haris Rauf and Mohammad Hasnian were hungry and eager to prove any doubters wrong – particularly the first two after they were dumped from the Test side.
The coaches played on that superbly, and the quicks were used with lethal effect by new white ball captain Mohammad Rizwan.
“He’s got a great demeanour, Dizzy. He’s really calm with the players and respectful. He keeps it simple, doesn’t overcomplicate things,” Waugh said.
“Being a great fast bowler himself, I think he’d be a big advantage for their fast bowling guys coming through with the technical side and also tactics as well.”
It was a throwback to the last time Pakistan claimed a series victory on Australian soil in 2002 – a strange three-match series that was played in June with two matches under the roof at Docklands in Melbourne, before the final game at the Gabba.
The Rawalpindi express, Shoaib Akhtar, was player of the series 22 years ago and his five-wicket haul in Brisbane is regarding by Shane Watson – who was playing his 7th ODI – as the fastest spell he ever faced, while veterans Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis swung the white Kookaburra around corners.
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Akram watched on from the Fox Cricket commentary box in awe this time around.
Rauf’s 10 wickets in the series – including a five-for at the Adelaide Oval – will be revered in Pakistan as one of their finest overseas performances in years – up there with Akhtar’s efforts.
Afridi was back to his best with eight wickets across the three games after injuries had hampered his pace in recent times, while Shah reminded everyone why he was highly praised when he burst onto the scene with a Test debut at the Gabba as a 16-year-old five years ago.
They made their intentions clear in defeat in Melbourne.
Having only put 203 on the board, Pakistan’s fast bowlers gave the Australians hell.
Pat Cummins saved the day once again with 32 not out off 31 balls as Australia limped home with two wickets in hand, but Gillespie’s side had drawn a line in the sand that they were not going to be pushovers.
Australia’s run chase at the MCG lasted only 33.3 overs so there was no bothering with a fifth bowler, Rizwan just rotated the quicks to let them inflict as many scars on the green and gold batting line-up as possible.
It worked a charm as their electricity carried onto Adelaide and Perth where they bowled Australia out for 163 and 140 respectively.
Australia re-spun their side for the decider – to allow the Test players to shift their focus to the red ball – but that should take no gloss over what Gillespie’s side have achieved.
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Their fast bowlers tamed the likes of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne as well as the largely unproven top order used in Perth, and Gillespie admitted in the aftermath that they felt disrespected by the Australians, and that was a huge motivator for them.
“What we saw in this series is our bowling exposed some flaws in the Australian batting,” Gillespie told The Age.
“I’m sure the Australians will look to right some wrongs and improve some things. That’s what good players and good teams do, you learn and adjust and adapt and be ready for the next challenge.
“To be honest I pretty much saw no promotion of our one-day series by Cricket Australia, which was a bit of a surprise. It’s pretty obvious that they’re prioritising the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series against India, because I saw no promotion of this series.”
While Australia has come under fire for a perceived deprioritisation of the ODI series, Gillespie is not taking any international cricket for granted.
It has been a near 15-year journey to score a coaching gig of an international team that has taken him down the path less travelled.
In 2010, he took up an opportunity in Zimbabwe to get the ball rolling on his coaching journey and a year later he was a bowling coach in the Indian Premier League before taking over as a head coach of English county Yorkshire.
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Gillespie’s time at Headingley was incredibly fruitful with back-to-back first division titles and the likes of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow progressing to the England side.
He returned home to coach the Adelaide Strikers after Yorkshire fell short of winning a three-peat, but later had stints in Papua New Guinea and a return to county cricket with Sussex.
His home state of South Australia came calling in 2020, and all the while he was a perennial bridesmaid for international jobs.
He was put forward for the England gig on numerous occasions but Trevor Bayliss, Chris Silverwood and Brendon McCullum were chosen instead.
Likewise for Australia when Justin Langer took over from Darren Lehmann in the aftermath of the Sandpaper debacle.
Those setbacks have made Gillespie hungry for success, but his array of experiences have given him the tools to thrive around the world.
The Test series win against England was built off a polar opposite approach to the ODI series in Australia.
Spin to win on pitches dried out by heaters and fans, and scarified by local curators, undid the attacking approach of Bazball.
While several of Australia’s batters had spent a lot of time T20 slapping this year and Pakistan showed that they were not ready for prodigious swing, seam movement and steep bounce.
Pakistan’s successful implementation of varying tactics under Gillespie also once again make them an imposing prospect.
With a Test tour of South Africa and the ICC’s secondary ODI tournament, the Champions Trophy, to be played in their own backyard in the coming months, it will be fascinating to see whether they can continue on their winning ways.
They are often the Jekyll and Hyde of world cricket, and it was less than a month that they were in crisis.
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When England piled on the runs on a road in Multan it had been three and a half years since they had won a Test match at home, and they were feeling the affects of regular administrative turnover, captaincy changes and having five different coaches in the space of two years.
One thing that will not help is the reports out of Pakistan that Gillespie does not want the white ball role on a permanent basis.
The PCB are reportedly eager to give it to him and hoped he would follow in McCullum’s lead by taking on total responsibility for the national side, but he does want to be away from home for almost the entire year.
Regardless, Gillespie has laid the foundations for further success by Pakistan, while also posing a few more questions about Australia’s much-discussed batting line-up prior to the much-anticipated five-Test series against India.
The next task at hand, however, is a T20 series against Australia starting on Thursday.
AUSTRALIA VS PAKISTON T20 SERIES
November 14: Gabba, 7.00pm AEDT
November 16: SCG: 7.00pm AEDT
November 18: Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 7.00pm AEDT
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