Opener's belligerent hundred helped hosts to pile on 353 even though Hasan Ali picked up a five wicket haul, with Pakistan falling short despite Sharjeel Khan's aggressive 74.

By Abdullah Ansari (22nd January, 2017)

Toss: Australia won the toss and chose to bat.

Teams:

Australia: DA Warner, UT Khawaja, SPD Smith (c), PSP Handscomb, TM Head, GJ Maxwell, MS Wade, MA Starc, PJ Cummins, JR Hazlewood, A Zampa.

Pakistan: Azhar Ali (c), Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan.

Australia Innings

The hosts won the toss for the fourth time in the series and opted to bat with Starc returning while Zampa got a game - Azhar returned to captain, replacing Shafiq in the lineup. Hafeez opened the bowling and the signs were ominous from his second over as Warner took 11 off it. Junaid and Amir bowled a few overs in tandem but couldn't stop the opener as he charged towards a fifty, getting there off just 35 balls. Khawaja struggled to keep up with his rate of scoring but hung around until the change bowlers came on to bowl. Hasan was the one to make the breakthrough as Khawaja went for the big drive and edged behind after making 30 off 49 balls. There was a quiet period with Warner not being able to hit a boundary for an extended period due to some tight bowling but the singles kept coming. Smith while batting on 11 drove one uppishly to backward point but Sharjeel failed to take the catch as the partnership started developing.

The spinners struggled to create any chances, causing runs to leak in the middle overs as Warner got to his hundred off 98 balls. Pakistan took a review for LBW against Smith but Amir's delivery was missing the stumps - two balls later, Imad had Warner hitting one to the mid-off fielder but Hasan dropped the catch. The opener perished to Hasan's bowling as he went after a widish delivery and edged it to Rizwan for 130. Hasan struck again in the same over to remove Smith for 49, trapping him LBW despite a review. There was another drop soon as Maxwell top-edged one off Imad with Hasan missing another chance. Head and Maxwell slowly but surely started the onslaught against the Pakistan bowlers with Azhar also unable to hang on to a very difficult chance as the total surpassed 300. Head was dismissed after getting to his fifty as Malik finally held onto one in the deep off Amir's bowling. 15 runs were taken off Junaid's last over as he finished wicket-less for 82. Hasan got Wade caught at long-on in his last over and then got Maxwell for 78 as Sharjeel took a catch in the deep, resulting in a maiden five-wicket haul for the young pacer as Australia finished at 353/

Fall Of Wickets

1-92 (Khawaja, 17.2 ov)
2-212 (Warner, 35.3 ov)
3-213 (Smith, 35.5 ov)
4-313 (Head, 46.3 ov)
5-339 (Wade, 49.1 ov)
6-353 (Maxwell, 49.6 ov)

Pakistan Innings

Pakistan's chase began decently in terms of runs with Sharjeel getting a couple of fours in the first over. However, Azhar edged one behind off Hazlewood's first over as he drove away from his body and was caught for 7. Babar came at #3 ahead of Hafeez and looked to be positive to accompany Sharjeel who went after the bowling as he usually does. The batsmen kept getting regular boundaries in the first 9 over - however, the next five overs only saw two boundaries and Babar holed out eventually as he tried to slog-sweep and was caught in the deep for 31. Sharjeel brought up a 36-ball fifty and continued attacking the spinners but he fell to Zampa eventually, caught at the boundary for 74 off 47 balls. Hafeez looked to continue his work as he motored along, attacking the spinners but Malik struggled at the other end. Hafeez still managed to keep up the run-rate with Pakistan reaching 165/3 after 25 overs.

Malik's struggles continued and the innings stalled as Zampa strung together a few tight overs with Hafeez struggling as well. The pressure resulted in the breakthrough as Hafeez looked to clear the fielder in the deep but hit it straight to him for a run-a-ball 40. Umar wasn't able to bring any momentum to the innings either while Australia dropped a couple of catches - they weren't too costly, with Malik perishing soon after for 47 off 61 balls as Warner took a stunning catch in the deep. Umar fell to a slower bouncer from Starc as he was easily caught for 11 off 23 balls while Rizwan perished to Zampa's leg-spin - plumb LBW. Amir was caught behind off Cummins while Imad also went after making 25 off 17 balls. Junaid got a golden duck to wrap up the innings for 267 with Australia sealing an 86 run win.

Fall Of Wickets

1-15 (Azhar Ali, 1.6 ov)
2-88 (Babar Azam, 13.6 ov)
3-119 (Sharjeel Khan, 16.5 ov)
4-183 (Mohammad Hafeez, 29.6 ov)
5-215 (Shoaib Malik, 35.5 ov)
6-218 (Umar Akmal, 36.4 ov)
7-245 (Mohammad Rizwan, 40.3 ov)
8-252 (Mohammad Amir, 41.5 ov)
9-267 (Imad Wasim, 43.4 ov)
10-267 (Junaid Khan, 43.5 ov)

Match Summary:

An abysmal performance in the field by Pakistan is likely to have cost them this match. The bowlers, barring Hasan Ali, largely failed to impress and the ground fielding and catching did them no favours with Sharjeel Khan and Hasan Ali both dropping two catches each. The Pakistan chase was off to a good start with the visitors in the game as long as Sharjeel was there. His dismissal was a big blow and while Hafeez sustained the tempo for a bit, Malik got stuck at the crease, eventually resulting in Hafeez throwing his wicket away. Pakistan never looked close to chasing the total after that, and an expected series loss has come to fruition. On to Adelaide - if Pakistan can somehow win the last match, that would certainly help in their efforts to directly qualify for the 2019 World Cup.

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