The inside knowledge in opposite camps

In a modern era where video material can be shared with the simple click of a smartphone's send button - just ask Tinashe Panyangara about that - the surreptitious spy is going the same way as the sub-300 first-innings total. But Pakistan and Zimbabwe are two teams who've always enjoyed a bit of the old school so it's hardly surprising their 'secret' weapons are in their dressing rooms.

Grant Flower, a man as Zimbabwean as they get, is Pakistan's batting coach while Dav Whatmore, the man who led Pakistan through one of their more consistent periods, is Zimbabwe's head coach. You may not find two men more different involved in such different outfits trying to achieve the same thing.

Whatmore is a teddy-bear of a man who offers players support through a wealth of experience across continents, conditions and cultures. Flower is a person you'd rather shake hands with than hug, if only so you can see for yourself what fingers that have been broken 14 times - by his own count - look like. Whatmore is the favourite uncle, Flower the class nerd. Between them, they have infused two limp outfits, who claimed to be frustrated by a string of poor results, with enthusiasm. But now they need results.

Flower had a few when Pakistan's batsmen repaid him with nine centuries and a Test series win against Australia. Afterwards Younis Khan - who scored three centuries in that series - said it would be "unfair not to mention" Flower's role in their success. "He worked very hard with all the batsmen. Grant was the key to our improved batting performances - he has played a role in changing our attitude towards batting," Younis said.

Ahmed Shehzad echoed the praise a few days later. He said Flower had helped Pakistan's batsmen "raise the bar" through hard work. Pakistan are more easily linked to unpredictability than industriousness but Flower began to change that notion by bringing to them the only method he knows to be foolproof: if you lose, train; if you win, train harder.

When Brendan Taylor, a beneficiary of Flower's tireless work ethic, saw the compliments, he chimed in with one of his own on Twitter. He posted a message saying Zimbabwe were "lucky" to have had Flower as their batting coach for three years. "Great guy, great coach," Taylor said.

At that point, Zimbabwe were in the midst of sinking to an all-time low. They were on tour in Bangladesh, a series in which they lost every match they played, and their unhappiness under a strict disciplinary regime was obvious. They returned home embarrassed and in need of uplifting. Few in world cricket are capable of the latter as much as Whatmore.

Having spent the bulk of his coaching career under the pressures only cricket in the subcontinent can subject someone to, Whatmore knows how to separate the very-serious from the not-so-serious. He knows when it's time to panic and when there has just been an exaggeration, and he knew that Zimbabwe's issues were exaggerated by the panic.

From the moment his interest in the job was made public, Whatmore was calm. He used words like "sincerity" and "genuineness" to explain the Zimbabwe Cricket administration, words that have long been considered antonyms for an organisation drowning in debt and drama. He injected a sense of belief into players who had no reason to trust even themselves. He allowed them to just be, in every sense, even by letting them play football warm-ups although it gives him the heebie-jeebies for fear someone will break something.

"Dav has brought a lot of positives into the team and everyone is comfortable, everyone just wants to express themselves and play the best cricket that they're capable of," Chigumbura said.

From the distance of the opposition dugout, Flower will know that if Zimbabwe play to potential, they could be too much for Pakistan. He was part of Zimbabwean teams that beat Pakistan, both as a player and as a coach. From that same vantage point, Whatmore will know that even if Pakistan don't play to potential, they could be too much for Zimbabwe. He saw that himself when he was in charge of them.

What both men know about the other's team is enough to prepare their own sides to win but to actually win, both Zimbabwe and Pakistan will need more than just inside knowledge. They'll need some old-school grit and guts and the Gabba will bear witness to who has more.