Hosts easily chase down target of 265 with five overs to spare with Peter Handscomb contributing 82.

By Abdullah Ansari (19th January, 2017)

Toss: Australia won the toss and chose to field.

Teams:

Australia: DA Warner, UT Khawaja, SPD Smith (c), PSP Handscomb, TM Head, GJ Maxwell, MS Wade, JP Faulkner, PJ Cummins, JR Hazlewood, B Stanlake.

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan.

Pakistan Innings

Pakistan went in with an unchanged lineup and Sharjeel took on the role of the aggressor straight away. In the fourth over, he took the attack to Stanlake, taking 20 off his over with a six and three fours. However, Hazlewood struck the first blow from the other end, trapping Hafeez LBW with a full, inswinging delivery that the batsman completely missed. The scoring slowed down as Australia bowled tighter lines with Babar playing a slew of dot balls at the start of his knock. Just 14 runs came after the 4th over, until the 10th. Babar couldn't quite middle the ball either and relied on inside edges for a couple of boundaries. Sharjeel looked to take the attack to the part-timer Travis Head, hitting him for three boundaries to get to his fifty but he perished on the next ball, cutting one onto his stumps. Shafiq came in and struggled but he didn't last long as he tried to play a big shot against the part-timer but only succeeded in giving a catch to the fielder at point.

Babar got a lifeline as Faulkner dropped a difficult return catch while Malik brought some momentum to the innings as he hit Head for a six and looked to rotate the strike on a regular basis. Babar also hit Head for a four to get a move on in his knock after a quiet period. He soon got to 1000 ODI runs, equalling the record for the fastest batsman to get to the mark, in just 21 innings. Malik was soon dismissed, becomes Stanlake's first wicket in international cricket as he pushed at one unconvincingly and was caught behind for 39. Umar survived a chance on just his 5th delivery as he tried to play a big shot but Wade missed the stumping chance. He struggled to rotate the strike with Babar taking the lead in the partnership as he hit his first six off Head after crossing fifty. He gave another tough chance to Cummins in his follow through but the bowler couldn't hang on. Babar continued looking for boundaries and that resulted in his dismissal for 84 as he was caught in the deep. Umar hit one six off Faulkner but was then dismissed by Hazlewood, caught behind for 39. The innings came to a bit of a stop thereafter as Imad was dismissed by Cummins, looking to get a move on. Rizwan and Amir played out the last couple of overs but couldn't really put the foot on the pedal as Pakistan finished at 263/7 with just 50 off the last ten overs.

Fall Of Wickets

1-36 (Mohammad Hafeez, 4.1 ov)
2-85 (Sharjeel Khan, 15.6 ov)
3-99 (Asad Shafiq, 19.6 ov)
4-162 (Shoaib Malik, 30.3 ov)
5-222 (Babar Azam, 42.1 ov)
6-244 (Umar Akmal, 45.3 ov)
7-246 (Imad Wasim, 46.1 ov)

Australia Innings

Hafeez opened the bowling for Pakistan in the Australian chase - he just bowled two overs with Junaid taking over after that, bowling in tandem with Amir. Junaid went for runs first up but Amir swung the new ball from the other end, troubling Warner in particular. The flow of runs was stemmed a little and it was Junaid who got the breakthrough in the 9th over as Warner poked at one outside off and was caught behind. Amir backed it up in the next over as Khawaja went after a wide delivery after some tight bowling and edged it to Rizwan behind the stumps. Junaid thought he had Handscomb caught in the slips in his next over but the batsman got a reprieve thanks to a big no-ball. Hafeez bowled Amir for an extended spell as he realised the importance of wickets with Smith still at the crease. Handscomb had another reprieve as Nawaz shelled a catch but replays showed that Junaid had over-stepped as well, once again. The batsmen immediately looked more at ease against the change bowlers with Smith taking 13 off Imad's first over. He looked to attack the spinners while Handscomb took a bit longer to settle down.

Smith soon brought up a fifty as Hafeez was forced to try different bowling combinations with the partnership becoming ominous. None of the spinners proved to be effective, for a change as Pakistan struggled to control the runs in the middle overs. Imad and Malik were expensive while Hafeez went for lesser runs but couldn't get the breakthrough. Handscomb brought up a patient fifty and the runs began to flow. Junaid was brought back into the attack but the attempt to get a wicket bore no fruit. Handscomb finally fell a few overs later after surpassing his previous highest score in List A cricket as he fell to a Hasan Ali bouncer for 82. Smith motored along as he brought up a superb hundred off just 97 balls and with Head's help, chased down the target with five overs remaining.

Fall Of Wickets

1-44 (Warner, 8.6 ov)
2-45 (Khawaja, 9.4 ov)
3-228 (Handscomb, 39.1 ov)

Match Summary:

A comprehensive seven-wicket win for Australia. Pakistan's total was below par and they were very poor after the 30th over, failing to push on after a solid base had been set. The opening bowlers were aggressive and looked for wickets but the game fell away as soon as Smith and Handscomb started taking on the Pakistan spinners. Pakistan have a few weak links with the likes of Shafiq standing out as non-performers. With the next two matches at Sydney and Adelaide, the visitors will be hopeful of competing but will need to up their game to stop Australia from running away with the series.

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