Clarke believes the team that takes full advantage of the spin-friendly conditions will end up winning the series

Despite the heat and humidity of the United Arab Emirates, along matches finishing at 2am, Australia captain Michael Clarke is more concerned about the threat posed by the Pakistan spin bowlers, led by Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez.

Clarke is concerned about his team’s chances of winning on a spin-friendly pitch against Pakistan, who currently have some of the best spinners in all of the cricketing world.

“Whoever bowls spin the best and whoever plays spin the best will win the series. Whether it is attacking or defending, the way our spinners bowl is going to be crucial to us having success. It doesn’t mean they take all the wickets, as we’ve seen, the Australian way is, for a long time, fast bowlers have had success all around the world. I see this series being no different but I do believe our spinners are going to play a huge part in us taking 10 wickets in every game,” Clarke said.

Australia pace bowler Mitchell Starc, who took five wickets during the first ODI against Pakistan, stated that he had underestimated the intensity of the late night heat.

“I don’t think we thought too much about the humidity. We thought it was going to be a dry heat. As we’ve seen, it’s more the sweat factor that is going to play a part and the dew as well. Both balls towards the end were quite hard to hold onto. You wipe yourself down with a towel and you’re already sweating again. In the end, the bowlers did quite well to control that ball,” Starc said.