Tim Paine admits current team "completely the opposite" of former great Aussie teams

“And I think teams around the world are probably recognising that if they can just keep at us, keep at us, keep at us these collapses are happening.

“When you give them a sniff of that they are always in the game and always feel like they are not far away.

“Great Australian teams of the past have been completely the opposite of that.”

“It was hard to get players out and the next guy comes in and it starts all over again.

“We know as a batting group and as a team we’re certainly a long way off the finished product.”

Paine said it was “bitterly disappointing” that Australia had failed to capitalise when they had Pakistan on the ropes on day one at 57-5.

“We had some momentum from the first Test,” he said. “We started really well here, and then (with Pakistan) at five for 57 it all went a bit pear shaped to be honest, all over the field.

“So it’s hard to swallow. I’d loved to go back to that lunch break (on the first day) and come back out and start again but we weren’t up for it. We weren’t able to sustain it for long enough.

“We came here to win this series and we did okay in the first Test and showed at least some fight.

“We showed the style and the brand of cricket we want to play in the second innings and then to come out and do that this Test it’s like taking one step forward and two steps back. It’s really frustrating.”

Quizzed over whether Australia’s batting issues were due to a failure of tactics, technique or mental strength Paine identified batting collapses as endemic not just for the Baggy Greens but for the entire country.

“There’s no doubt this has been happening for too long for the Australian cricket team,” he said. “Not just the Test team but domestically as well.

“There’s a lot of batting collapses. A lot it can be technical, some guys can be mental and others will be tactical or your plans not being right for certain bowlers.

“There’s no shying away from the fact that we have a lot of work to do on our batting and it’s this team and throughout the whole country. We keep having these collapses and we keep talking about it.”

The Australian keeper also said his team had prepared well to deal with Pakistan pacer Mohammad Abbas, who finished with the stunning figures of 17 wickets at just 10.58 for the series, but failed to follow through on their plans.

“I think guys knew what they were going to get from Mohammad Abbas,” he said. “He hasn’t changed. All the footage we’ve seen from him he bowls pretty much the same day in day out.

“There’s no doubt he’s highly skilled and he doesn’t miss the spot too much.”

Australia must now prepare for a four-Test home series against India which begins at Adelaide Oval on December 6.

With the Baggy Green currently at a low ebb, Virat Kohli’s side will be primed for a rare series victory Down Under.

Paine said there was all to play for now before that first Test with many spots up for grabs in the depleted Australian batting line-up, especially after the failures of Marsh brothers Shaun and Mitch and the injury to Usman Khawaja -one of the few Aussie batsmen to emerge with their reputation intact from the series.

“We get to go home now and I think there’s four rounds of Shield cricket for all of us to go back and hopefully score a lot of runs,” he said.

“It’s a pretty exciting time to be a batsman around Shield cricket at the moment if you’re scoring hundreds, there’s no doubt about that.

“There’s opportunity for everyone and the batting group that are here are also a part of that.”