Australia look to strengthen pace attack for Pakistan tour

Following a thumping of England in the Ashes, Pat Cummins and his team will now prepare for the tour of Pakistan - Cricket Australia's (CA) first since 1998.

Looking ahead to the tour, Australia is looking to strengthen its pace department as 

A pre-tour security clearance was already done which included representatives of CA's security council traveling to Pakistan and vetting the routes, ground security, and more.

Traditionally the sub-continent pitches are spin-friendly. However, looking at the data and keeping Bazid Khan's expert opinion in front - the pacers will play a vital role, a more important one than the spinners.

"We don't have a great deal of information on what sort of wickets to expect," chief selector George Bailey told ABC Tasmania.

"We've looked at a lot of their first-class cricket. Maybe counter intuitively, it seems to favour fast bowling. Pakistan do have a wealth of strong fast bowlers," he added.

"A lot of our subcontinent experience has led to thinking that the spin is going to be quite handy too. We're covering all bases and taking a couple of spinners and a bevy of fast bowlers just to make sure whatever conditions we do get, we're able to adapt," Bailey concluded.

Tour to Pakistan will be Australia's first away Test series since the 2019 Ashes whereas the tours to South Africa and Bangladesh were called off due to Covid-19.