You raise a very valid point Rachael, Pakistan seems to have an aversion to blooding batsmen who are past a certain age. a lot of guys get thrown in at the deep end very inexperienced and it's a case of sink or swim. When I see Strauss batting I'm amazed that this guy took so long to make the test team. He is so composed and correct it's unfathomable he wasn't making big runs earlier in his career. I'll be interested to see if Farhat keeps his place in the next match or whether Yasir hameed comes in. Both are great stroke players, both are equally as likely to get out when set as they are at the beginning of an innings.

Beny, Pakistani batsmen are very bad at leaving the ball outside their off stump. They can get away with it in Pakistan but were always going to hit trouble in Perth. I keep banging on about Taufeeq Umar, but he is absolutely brilliant at it which is unusual for a Pakistani opener. Against South Africa (both home and away) he was prepared to go scoreless for the first 15 overs so long as he was still there when the shine was off. After that he would reap the pay off. Very unusual discipline for a Pakistani batsmen...which isn't to say he didn't have a flawless technique. He got bowled round his legs a couple of times when he started to shuffle across his stumps too far, but his application and grit were a big feature against SA.