Doolan helps Australia take score out of the equation against Pakistan A

The batsman boarded the Australia team bus with his kit-bag, and a place in next week’s first Test match all but assured after a century that helped the visitors close Day 2 adrift of Pakistan's total by 32 runs.

Alex Doolan staked claim for the No 3 spot in the Australia line-up with his hundred yesterday. Francois Nel / Getty Images

SHARJAH // Alex Doolan boarded the Australia team bus with his kit bag, an almost life-size model of R2D2, and a place in next week’s first Test match all but assured after yesterday’s century against Pakistan A.

The Tasmanian did not quite cement his place in team with his three-Test debut against South Africa earlier this year.

He is supposedly duelling Phil Hughes for the No 3 line-up spot for the series against Pakistan.

However, he is surely a shoo-in now, after an easy-paced ton against a testing Pakistan A team on the second day of a warm-up friendly. It also earned him possession of the team mascot – the replica Star Wars droid. “I think it’s good to be scoring runs at any point in time and to get a hundred in any game is a good achievement and bodes well for the rest of the tour,” Doolan said.

“My goal going in was to spend a bit of time out in the middle, take the score out of the equation and just bat. I was really pleased to spend a long period of time out in the sun and getting used to the conditions.”

Given that goats and chickens regularly graze the outfield here, spectators at Sharjah Cricket Stadium are used to odd sights.

So the fact that Doolan walked out of the ground with R2D2 was no more peculiar, then, than the sight of David Warner walking around the boundary at tea time.

The injured batsman was presumably keeping check of the distance while walking numerous laps of the field. Log enough miles and he might persuade those who matter that he is fit enough to keep his place when the Test begins in Dubai.

Pakistan have the bigger questions to answer ahead of the Test series, though, not least because they have four mainline seam bowlers missing – Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz and Mohammed Irfan.

Still, perhaps their brightest performer was Karamat Ali, a leg-spinner who enjoyed a promising return to a ground he graced in age-group cricket last winter.

The teenager from Lahore was on the Pakistan under-19 side that played a tri-series against UAE and England, the Asia Cup and the U19 World Cup here over the winter. Clearly, this was a considerable step up, against the No 2 Test side in the world.

At the start of one over, he was smacked over the stand and into Sharjah’s rush-hour traffic by Mitchell Johnson. Yet, a few balls later, Karamat won the battle as he had Johnson adjudged lbw.

Follow us on Twitter at SprtNationalUAE