Was it a disastrous day for Pakistan? Think again

The sun shines brilliantly as the fans begin to trickle in. Australia and Pakistan are put through their paces one last time before it all begins. Before the start of what's been branded the "West Test", there's an Indigenous welcome ceremony, which Hasan Ali takes to with characteristic enthusiasm, launching into his own dance routine with the freedom of a man who's recently found out he doesn't have to bowl today.

Shan Masood loses the toss, Shaheen Shah Afridi sends the first ball down leg. He's searching for swing that never arrives, and it's eased into the onside. Two balls later, his captain fumbles at mid-off to concede a cheap single. It may have proved a blessing in disguise with Afridi getting Usman Khawaja to nick off each of the next two balls. But they both fly through the slips for four, the first over goes for 14. David Warner soon brings up a 41-ball half-century. Khawaja's dropped at the other end.

Warner's found it so comfortable he talks at length in the post-match press conference about Pakistan's lengths, and how he doesn't believe they're consistent enough to hit one spot. He expresses surprise they went around the wicket so early to him, saying the wobbly movement the pacers were getting from over the wicket would have made playing them much harder.

As things stand, it isn't hard. When lunch is called, Australia have sped along to 117 for 0. Another Pakistan tour of Australia has begun.

The gap between glorious triumph and ignominious disaster for Pakistan is a bit like a road trip between Perth and Australia's east coast - long, and somewhat empty. If you're not on one side, you're on the other, because if you're not on either side, you're in the middle of nowhere.

And Pakistan have not had a great day. Warner scored his obligatory hundred against his favourite opposition, his sixth in 12 Test matches, Sarfaraz Ahmed missed the obligatory chances. Pakistan's slightly outlandish strategy of death by medium pace bowling went just about as well as you might have imagined, and Australia sped along to a first-innings total that is already beginning to approach impregnable territory on a strip that will likely speed up over the next two days.

But then again, if anyone tries to tell you this was a disaster, be envious of them because they're probably much younger than you. The bar for cricketing catastrophe in Australia is so high even Pakistan would struggle to scale it, and this doesn't even come close. This Pakistan side is redolent of a roadside diner, and you don't come into one expecting Michelin Star cuisine.

And though Pakistan finish second-best, they have avoided the worst. On day one, of the seven times Australia have batted first in a Test match against Pakistan at home this century, only twice have Pakistan taken more than the five wickets they have felled here. On the entire 2019 tour, they only managed 13.

Severely limited by injuries to their best bowlers, there wasn't really a bowling combination within the squad fancied to take 20 wickets, even if the one they eventually went with was slightly wet behind the ears. Throw in the slight early misfortune for Afridi, and the opportunities a profligate Pakistan spurned at crucial times, and it's something of a wonder the hosts aren't over the hill and far away already.

And that's partially because Pakistan, denuded of the incandescent brilliance of Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf's extreme pace have had to resort to less sexy ways of taking wickets. It's perhaps handy, then, that in Masood, they have a less sexy captain, someone who understands how to make do in the absence of generational talent. Afridi has just removed Khawaja, but you can only turn to him so much in temperatures this high, the knee brace he still wears a reminder of his fragility. So, post lunch, as Perth threatens a continuation of Brisbane and Adelaide 2019, Masood has the smarts to be pragmatic.

The field spreads out, Faheem Ashraf is a bit more economical than he previously was, hitting the length that guarantees containment so reliably. When he hits that spot, he concedes just two runs off 32 deliveries, and the scoring rate begins to be pegged back. With Faheem finding ways of nipping the ball around, as he somehow tends to do whatever the conditions, there's more than just economy to be had; one that comes in traps Marnus Labuschagne plumb in front, and Pakistan begin to chip away.

You can only do so much with a deck of cards that doesn't have many kings or aces, and all Masood can do for much of the day is shuffle between the three medium-paced jacks he has, or the even more modest numerical offering of Agha Salman. Khurram Shahzad does as well as can be expected; the nick he draws to give him Steven Smith's wicket is the least he deserves. But the wobble seam he employs so effectively isn't bringing the returns quick enough, and as the shadows lengthen and the lights begin to flicker on, Masood dials down the glamour one more notch.

More men head out into catching positions on the boundary behind square and Pakistan resort to the ungainliest tactic of all. Aamer Jamal, the least effective of the quicks until then, begins to bang them in. At his pace, with Australia having crossed 300 for 3, there's little threat and little pressure. That allows a touch of complacency to kick in, and Travis Head plays another swashbuckling cut. Masood has placed the field well, and it goes straight down the fly slip's throat.

Of the 24 balls Jamal bowls in that late burst, 18 land short of a length. It doesn't come cheap; Australia score comfortably over a run-a-ball against him on that length. But Pakistan have only got a hammer, so they have to continue nailing them in. Even when Warner top-edges one over the keeper for a six, Masood comes over to Jamal, and he sticks to the short stuff.

Two deliveries later, he has his reward. Warner, positively insouciant by now, insists on hooking into an area that Pakistan are manning with four fielders. This time there's a bottom edge to fine leg. Imam-ul-Haq is usually on the other end of these dismissals; this time, he takes the catch.

It's fairly basic and functional, and with the headstart Warner's provided Australia, probably won't be enough in the end. But Pakistan, like Masood, are just about hanging on. They might leave empty-handed, but there is no disaster here. And on a tour where Pakistan may have to bask in the little wins, they found a scrap to feed off in Perth.