On the eve of the first game a letter from the Lahore High Court was last night handed to Australia's team manager Steve Bernard, requesting the attendance of various players at the judicial hearing into allegations of match fixing and betting against some members of the Pakistan side.
Bernard wryly dismissed the timing of the missive from Mr Justice Malik Muhammad Qayyum as ``a massive coincidence''. It arrived at an unwelcome moment, just as the Australian tour selectors were sitting down to choose their team.
The selectors came up with two major surprises, with Tasmania's Colin Miller making his Test debut, at 34, bowling a mixture of fast-medium and off-spin, and Darren Lehmann replacing Ricky Ponting.
Mark Taylor, as captain, and Mark Waugh, as one who claimed he was offered bribery money, were both named in the judge's letter. So too was Shane Warne - at home recovering from his shoulder operation and Tim May, now retired, having asserted he would never visit Pakistan again.
Waugh said that he was reluctant to go to court to give evidence in Lahore at this time. He said: ``I am trying to block it all out and concentrate on the cricket.''
Waugh added: ``It is disappointing that such controversies are happening in cricket around the world.
``There are obviously some problems in the game in Pakistan, which have to be sorted out. The International Cricket Council seem to me the logical body to conduct such investigations. It is fairly obvious that they should take more of a hand in the matter.''
Wasim Akram, one of the players under suspicion from the inquiry, said he wanted a meeting with the chairman of the Pakistan Board to find out what was going on.
He said: ``If there is a fair and square hearing into the allegations, then I will go along with that, but how could the judge in the preliminary enquiry implicate me when I was not even in the country to answer him.''
Wasim is likely to give evidence to the judicial enquiry next week, but even if Taylor and Mark Waugh also agree to testify they face a considerable logistical problem reaching Lahore on any Saturday in the tour, as they would be required.
Pakistan (probable): *Aamir Sohail, Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Salim Malik, Mohammad Wasim or Yousuf Yohanna, +Moin Khan, Azhar Mahmood, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Mushtaq Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq.
Australia: *MA Taylor, MJ Slater, JL Langer, ME Waugh, SR Waugh, DS Lehmann, +IA Healey, SCG McGill, CR Miller, GD McGrath, DW Fleming.