MITCHELL JOHNSON: Resting Test stars Pat Cummins. Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc was the right call for ODI team

The team that Australia fielded in Perth on Sunday did not look much like Australia’s best team and neither did they play like it.

But the loss gave us an insight into what the team we take to the next World Cup in 2027 may look like.

That’s why I didn’t have a huge problem with our Test players sitting out of the deciding one-day international against Pakistan.

While it is disappointing that senior players Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood didn’t suit up, it was a great opportunity to get some fresh faces in and put them to the test under a bit of pressure.

Cooper Connolly and Spencer Johnson got their chance, while Josh Inglis captained his country for the first time, albeit in a match he would rather forget as Australia got rolled by eight wickets after being bowled out for 140.

Inglis, Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa were the only members of last year’s victorious World Cup final side to play in Perth.

The series loss will teach the next generation players valuable lessons on how to bounce back.

Appointing Inglis, 29, as skipper for Sunday’s match and the Twenty20 games this week is confirmation that the selectors see him being a big part of the Aussies’ set up.

One-day cricket is a great pathway towards Test cricket. The good thing for Inglis is he has shown many different skills so far and the fact the selectors trust him in this role shows that he is firmly in their thoughts.

And if he can take the white-ball captaincy, why not the vacant Test opening spot? I don’t think I would have discounted Inglis from that race so quickly, particularly if they are happy to try another non-specialist opener in Nathan McSweeney.

It would have helped round out Inglis’ skills and grown his game even more, getting him some games and allowing him to feel comfortable at Test level while Alex Carey still has the gloves. Inglis is in great form with the bat and would complement Usman Khawaja nicely.

Back to the one-dayers, and while it’s always nice to see Australia’s best team on the park, the reality of international cricket these days is we will see more teams become specialised purely because of the amount of cricket being played.

Many of Australia’s current senior players won’t make it to the next 50-over World Cup, still three years away, to defend their title.

Australia’s Twenty20 side needs to become more specialised to that format and that has to be the way forward. So it’s not a bad thing that we will get to see some of the Big Bash League’s best performers against Pakistan in the three T20 games while the Test players prepare for the Border-Gavaskar series.

With all the focus on the upcoming Test series against India, the one-dayers against Pakistan have been very interesting with the visitors more than competitive.

Pakistan went after Australia with both ball and then bat on Friday to record a comprehensive victory despite not even bothering with a warm-up match.

I don’t think Australia have necessarily taken Pakistan lightly but it is certainly rare to see the Aussies thrashed on home soil in back to back matches as they were in Adelaide and Perth.

Most of the Australian batsmen have seen plenty of Haris Rauf in the Big Bash League but he’s simply been too good for them in the one-dayers.

We all know collapses happen in cricket and are hard to stop as the batting team when an in-form bowler gets his tail up.

In the end, the quicker you identify you are in a collapse the better. The key is to try to slow the game down, take a bit more time by marking your crease and not rushing about and being caught up in the moment.

Having that awareness is crucial in those situations as the bowlers will want to keep the momentum going and move the game at a fast pace with their adrenaline up.

Depending on where you are at in the game, you may have time to soak up a few balls or even overs with dot balls or a single here and there.

Trying to rotate the strike is a good way to go about it as it takes some of that rhythm away from the bowler, especially if it is a right and left-handed batting pair.

Personally, I always liked to at least get one warm-up game after landing in a new country to get a feel for the conditions, pitch, weather and so on, but Pakistan showed that it’s not a necessity in today’s game.

The downside to the new packed international calendar is no more tour games, which were a great opportunity for domestic players from the host nation to play against international players and get an insight into what it’s like to go up against the best.