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With the Ashes safely secured in the Winter, the Australian summer of cricket effectively kicks off with Pakistan playing a couple of test matches.
We'll take our look at how these games shape up as Australia looks for some new blood in rebuilding their team.
AUSTRALIA V PAKISTAN
First Test
21-25 November 2019 @ The Gabba
That beautiful sound of leather on willow, which lights up a hot summer, is about to resonate once more.
The footy is over, the Spring Carnival winds up and now the Summer of Cricket begins with the proper stuff at the effective spiritual home of Australian Cricket.
Brisbane's Woolloongabba has been a safe place to be for Australian cricketers for a very long time – 31 years in fact without a defeat since the Windies gave them a hiding via the likes of Marshall and Ambrose, Walsh and Patterson.
The consistency of bounce, for the batsman as well as for both pace and spin, provides a good cricket pitch but it generally then degenerates making results possible.
That has served Australia well. It delivers the quickies the ability to challenge the batsman with the short stuff, swinging and seaming it too.
Shane Warne himself indicated the Gabba was his favourite surface as the ball did turn but for a leggy, it bounced as well as bringing the bat/pads into play where the likes of Boon and Mark Waugh cleaned up.
What this Summer offers is Australia a chance to look to the future.
It is a must. There has been a sameness about the batting for some time. There has also been a decline in the standard of techniques which the major concern.
England exploited it as best they could. Jimmy Anderson's injury curtailed their full capacity to achieve the ultimate outcome but they still drew the series.
So many times batsman were hit on the pads or had their castle knocked over. Bat angles were poor and then Jofra Archer made some back foot play look uneasy.
Associated with that, Australia's DRS application was appalling. It seems weird that you need to address an external element to the play but they consistently got it wrong.
It definitely cost them the Leeds test with the late lbw unchallengeable. There needs to be a more circumspect approach while fielding and better understanding while batting.
How many times Stuart Broad had lbws given from around the wicket was amazing. Many of those were missing or at best clipping.
But once given, the batsman should challenge any of those delivered from wide the crease unless patently 'salmon trout'. If it comes back as Umpire's Call, you haven't wasted a referral even if you have to walk. It doesn't harm those who follow.
Can they stay there long enough to need a referral or two? Had Steve Smith not played in England, the series would have run half as long.
Whoever is in the final selected line-up cannot afford to begin every innings from two steps back of the crease.
The biggest opening partnership in England was … 18!!! Only twice did the third wicket fall AFTER reaching 100.
Palpably that is unsustainable. Add to that, that Pakistan has an all-round attack with Yasir Shah more able to winkle the middle and late order out better than England's spinners could.
It is such a shame Will Pucovski decided not to play (assuming he was selected) due to his personal issues. The prevalence of the mental impact in sport, in life really, is a cacophony that grows exponentially these days.
Inherent in this matter is the well-being of these players long term. No sane person could/should be levelling criticism at them for taking any time away. Compassion is not a hard human trait to offer.
The upshot is Pucovski has sadly going to miss what would highly likely have been his Test Debut.
Australia needs to be seeing multiple kids beginning their careers who were born in the late 1990s. There is not much point sticking with the tried who've been marking time for a while.
Shield cricket just has to develop the 19-23yos much more over the next two years. Keep selecting them, giving them confidence and holding the line with them.
A quick glance at the Shield Stats for only the first few rounds is a concerning and puzzling portrayal of the state of the nation.
Of the Top 10 Runscorers so far, there are two from the test team, five more over 30 and very unfortunately Nic Maddinson another on leave.
Only Marcus Harris, now Test-vanquished, and South Australia's Henry Hunt, of Cowra vintage, are those well shy of their 30th year.
Revitalisation is not just an aspirational thought bubble. It must be put into practice – AND NOW.
The bowlers pick themselves, especially now James Pattinson's horrible error of judgement was exposed. Suspension is the only way to place accountability on such an action.
As for Pakistan, they last played in Brisbane just three years ago in what was a day/night test and it was a cracking game.
Chasing 490, the tourists fell 40 short courtesy of a brilliant hundred by Asad Shafiq who was complemented by good tail end support.
He, along with Babar Azam, played in that game and have come into this match off the back of strong centuries in the A-Game in Perth.
But the post-mortem from that preliminary was more about the speed and skill emanating from the young pace attack.
Shaheen Afridi and the 16yo Naseem Shah could pose a few issues not just this series but well into the future.
We thought Pat Cummins was a great story taking the new ball in Johannesburg as an 18yo and winning Man Of The Match but this prodigy would beat him by many months.
The cricketing world lost a genius of a bowler in the form of Abdul Qadir two months back. Spinning is obviously critical on the sub-continent and in his memory, he fashioned some celebrated leggies and glorious googlies.
But Pakistan is at is most formidable when their speedsters are firing.
Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan and Shoaib Akhtar scared and scarred batsman with fast leg-cutters and tailing yorkers. Many a cricket boot has red lacquer embed in it from a swerving missile.
Can the new breed take that mantle and make their own names? Brisbane is a great place to show it off. Confidence is something touring teams need in spades. India had it last season and it was a forerunner to success.
While this Pakistan group has transitioned from a team that had Younis and Misbah dominated for 17 years, it can still be brittle.
They do meet a strong bowling attack so must not lose early wickets. You'll have a sense of their prospects early if their dismissals are knicked off. If Paine and the cordon are in the action it spells 'danger, danger Will Robinson.'
Playing at home offers an in-built advantage to the Aussies. But this won't be easy. Can Warner return to his domestic best away from a known nemesis? Will Labuschagne show England was no fluke? Could the middle order coalesce around their mastermind.
The law of averages says Steve Smith cannot continue Bradmanesque. But that is almost irrelevant to him.
Have a fancy any lefties might cause Australia trouble. Those in England plus the around the wicket line of attack cramped Aussie left-handed batsman. It was no surprise the only two to survive long periods were the right-handers. What they'd give for Mohammad Amir.
Australia should still win but we're not anticipating debacles.
Thinking Labuschagne has started the season off in the same manner he left England and can score runs again in this series.
Suggested First Test First Innings Bets: Marnus Labuschagne – To Score A Fifty @ $2.50
