After being sustained by a steady diet of one-day and Twenty20 games, Pakistan served up their most entertaining Test series in recent memory.

It was by no means perfect. The batsmanship wasn’t world class, though Umar Akmal would beg to differ. The athleticism was far from exceptional, with Pakistan’s abysmal fielding featuring for all the wrong reasons. And the leadership on both sides was hardly innovative (the ultra-competitive target given on the last day of the third Test being more a product of Pakistan losing wickets than Mohammad Yousuf throwing down the gauntlet for the New Zealand batsmen).

That said, the sum turned out to be better than most of its parts as two evenly matched sides, usually forgotten in today’s Test match landscape under the shadows cast by ratings giants such as India, Australia, or South Africa, combined to produce an enthralling spectacle.

Pakistan cannot, however, afford the time to reflect on a moderately successful campaign in which they won their first Test in almost three years. In a little less than two weeks they will be thrust into the MCG to face an Australian team desperate to prove they aren’t a spent force in the international arena. Given that the squad which toured New Zealand is practically similar to the one on its way to Australia, it is worth examining the recently concluded series to identify which aspects Pakistan can improve upon and those it can take heart from.

First, the bad.

Coming into the New Zealand series, question marks surrounded the Pakistan batting line-up. At its conclusion, those questions endure.

Salman Butt and Imran Farhat should be applauded for their application in the second innings of the final Test. But one can’t ignore the fact that if it took all the grit and determination they could muster to piece together a painstaking century stand on the flattest pitch in New Zealand, how will they cope with more demanding tracks in Melbourne and Sydney. Both openers fare a good deal better when they shelve their scoring shots, which makes them a liability if the team is trying to set a tone by scoring at a healthy rate. Moreover, the manner of their dismissals brilliantly epitomised the limits of their concentration (and talent), as both fell in quick succession to a batsman who had only picked up a solitary wicket before these two.

Moving on to our middle order, it has become undeniable that the veneer of seniority and experience Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq have cloaked themselves in hides a worrying fragility. Add Faisal Iqbal to the mix, and you’re looking at three batsmen whose techniques are more suspect than Tiger Woods’ personal life. Malik’s exclusion for the third Test has been a long time coming and Misbah’s laboured and ponderous seven runs in his last innings was a stark reminder of the turnaround in his fortunes. Iqbal managed to cash in on a flat track, but the bouncy Australian landscape will not be as generous. Misbah has to go, that is clear. It remains to be seen whether the selectors would revert to Malik or try and be adventurous and opt for the undoubted promise of Fawad Alam.

Lastly, there is no question that we would be flying out of New Zealand with a trophy if our fielding hadn’t let us down so abjectly. The defining moment of the campaign was the image of Farhat spilling Daniel Vettori in the first innings, a blunder which cost us that match and perhaps even the series. Farhat wasn’t the sole culprit though – Malik fluffed consecutive chances in the slip cordon and Umer Gul, a relatively safe fielder, also made a hash of a few attempts. In general, we fielded like amateurs and if you give a side like Australia those kinds of freebies, you may as well step out of Melbourne airport waving a white flag.

But then there was also the good.

It is a testament to Umar Akmal’s prodigious talent that as mediocre as our batting was, his contribution was just as exemplary. Umar used this series as a stage to announce himself to the world and, in my admittedly biased eyes, establish himself as the player to watch in international cricket. Reputations don’t matter to him. History is irrelevant. Convention is overrated. The kid knows he can score runs and has decided he’s not going to waste time in scoring as many as he possibly can.

One of the many impressive aspects about Umar’s performance is his ability to not get overawed by the situation, and the poor kid has been in some tricky situations already in his fledgling career. Be it having to rescue an innings after the senior batsmen have failed; building on a good foundation; having to establish said foundation by coming in at number three; setting a second innings target – Umar has been put through the wringer during this series and has graduated with flying colours.

And now a bigger challenge awaits. One of the most mouth-watering prospects of this Australian summer is the thought of Umar taking on the Australian bowlers. He’s intuitive enough to know that their bowling attack is hardly at its peak so don’t expect him to let up an assault if they allow him to dictate the terms.

The New Zealand series also added credence to the fact that Pakistan may possess the best bowling attack in international cricket today. Asif, Aamir, Gul and Kaneria are a lethal combination and the envy of any fielding captain. They derive their menace not just from their individual talents, but the added potency they gain from being part of a diverse bowling unit. Asif brings movement and control; Aamir brings the fire and aggression; Kaneria provides the guile and variation; and Gul is a bag of tricks unto himself, as capable of searing yorkers as he is of slower off-cutters. Together, they are capable of combining beautifully to regain any ground lost by our batsmen, as evidenced in the first two Tests.

We won’t beat the Australians by out-batting them. God knows Umar can’t do that alone. Neither are we going to frustrate them into making a mistake. If we’re going to make a fist out of this series, we’re going to have to take wickets and luckily we have the bowlers to do it. Mind you, unluckily, we also have a defensive captain who is very capable of neutering our bowlers with timid field settings. Watching Yousuf struggle with his conservative instincts will be another feature of the upcoming Test series. Let’s hope he restricts that conservatism to the prayer-room.

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