Big picture: Pakistan's year-long gap amid chaos
Australia's top-order bat-off in Tests is front and centre. But before India arrive for the much-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the men's international season begins with a white-ball tour by Pakistan. That includes three ODIs and T20Is each, and starts in Melbourne on Monday.
For the hosts, this provides the majority of their preparation for the Champions Trophy, with just a one-off game in Sri Lanka to follow in February. They remain largely settled in the format, barring the retirement of David Warner since the ODI World Cup, and are coming off a 3-2 victory in England in September.
Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head are missing the series against Pakistan on paternity leave, and Cameron Green is injured. But otherwise, the main names will be on show - at least for parts of the series - as the fast bowlers, in particular, continue to be managed ahead of the Tests. The big three, including Pat Cummins, who remains the ODI captain even though he hasn't played a game since the World Cup final, are expected to feature in two out of the three matches.
Despite the dwindling significance of bilateral ODIs, it still feels extraordinary that Pakistan have not played a game since their last outing of the World Cup nearly a year ago (so the form guide below is pretty irrelevant). Don't for one minute, though, think that that means any lack of drama. Despite not facing a ball in ODIs during this time, Babar Azam resigned as captain, returned, and then resigned again.
Having been dropped during the Test series against England, he's back for this tour, along with Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah, while Mohammad Rizwan has been handed the captaincy - at least for this week - as they try to put a side together that can compete in a home Champions Trophy.
White-ball coach Gary Kirsten is also gone without having had an ODI during his brief tenure. Jason Gillespie has been handed the job on an interim basis for this tour, creating an unexpected chance to come up against his home nation. It may be something of a trail run, given no coach has been named for the Zimbabwe tour which follows, although it's understood to be unlikely that Gillespie will be offered the role full-time - and whether he would want it is another question entirely. A few weeks ago, though, it appeared he may be the first coach out of the door, until Sajid Khan and Noman Ali got to work on England.
Form guide
(Last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia: WLLWW
Pakistan: LWWLL
In the spotlight: Jake Fraser-McGurk and Kamran Ghulam
Want another bat-off? Matt Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk have a chance to stake a claim to be Travis Head's partner at the Champions Trophy. Fraser-McGurk made his international debut in the two ODIs he played against West Indies earlier this year, where he cracked 41 off 23 balls across two innings. He didn't feature against England, but will now likely have all three games of this series to show his skills in the longer white-ball format. Fraser-McGurk has only played one game this season, a 50-over outing for South Australia, having been left out of the early Sheffield Shield rounds. But Pakistan have a strong pace attack, and could give his technique a working over.
It sent a jolt through Pakistan cricket when Babar was omitted after the opening Test against England, but his replacement Kamran Ghulam started in grand style with a century on debut in Multan. He has a single ODI cap to his name, but that came as a concussion substitute against New Zealand last year when he replaced Haris Sohail after Pakistan's batting innings was complete, and he wasn't required to bowl. So, in effect, a game against Australia would be the proper start.
Team news: Hardie included
Cummins confirmed his first team of the season. Josh Hazlewood (Sheffield Shield) and Cooper Connolly (Australia A) are not available for the opening match. Lance Morris has been added as fast-bowling cover. Aaron Hardie impressed in England, and may have earned an opportunity slightly higher in the order.
Australia: 1 Matt Short, 2 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Josh Inglis (wk), 5 Marnus Labuschagne, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Aaron Hardie, 8 Sean Abbott, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Adam Zampa
Irfan Khan will make his ODI debut in the middle order while Pakistan have included four frontline fast bowlers. Mohammad Rizwan was listed at No. 4
Pakistan: 1 Saim Ayub, 2 Abdullah Shafique, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 5 Kamran Ghulam, 6 Salman Ali Agha, 7 Irfan Khan, 8 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Mohammad Hasnain
Pitch and conditions
The pitch for the Sheffield Shield match last month had considerable help for the quicks, and it's still relatively early season in Melbourne. The forecast is for a cool and an overcast day, but it's due to stay dry.
Stats and trivia
Glenn Maxwell needs 66 runs to reach 4000 in ODIs. Maxwell's strike rate of 126 is way higher than any of the 20 Australia batters to have scored at least 3500 runs in ODIs, with Warner's 97 the next best.
Babar needs one more century to equal Saeed Anwar's record for the most ODI hundreds for Pakistan.
Pakistan have beaten Australia only twice in the last 13 ODIs between the two sides, with both those wins coming in a home series in 2022.
Overall, Australia have a 10-4 win record against Pakistan at the MCG
Quotes
"It's a great way to kind of kick into the summer. Some of the young guys, seeing what they're made of as they're kind of starting out their international careers. And then in the longer-term context, we've got Champions Trophy coming up, which always has a good link into that."
Pat Cummins ahead of the start of the home summer
"We don't want to prove anything. We'll just play normal cricket. We will try our best to play against these guys. Yes, Australia is a good side, and they are in home conditions. Only one thing they have is the benefit of a home crowd."
Mohammad Rizwan
