Australia skittled Pakistan on a treacherous Perth pitch to document a thumping 360-run victory within the first check inside 4 days with Nathan Lyon reaching the elusive landmark of 500 check wickets on Sunday.
Pakistan was blown away for 89 all out in 30.2 overs within the last session on Day 4 for its fifteenth consecutive check defeat in Australia after the house group arrange a frightening 450-run goal when it declared its second innings at 233-5 round half an hour after lunch.
“Great start to the summer, everything fell into place,” Australia captain Pat Cummins mentioned on the presentation ceremony. “We’ve played a lot of cricket, so the build-up was very chilled and relaxed. No hiccups this week, it’s all gone to the plan.”
Pakistan’s top-order batters crumbled towards the relentless tempo of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and captain Pat Cummins on a wicket that had variable bounce with loads of batters taking physique blows.
Hazlewood and Starc snared six wickets between them, whereas Cummins properly setup former Pakistan captain Babar Azam (14) earlier than discovering the skin fringe of his bat because the guests had no reply to Australia’s nippy quick bowling.
Lyon reached the 500-wicket landmark when he efficiently went for a leg earlier than wicket referral towards Faheem Ashraf and was embraced by his teammates. The off-spinner raised the ball to the applause of the Perth crowd as he turned the third Australian bowler after the late Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath to hitch the unique membership of eight gamers.
“I was pretty confident about it,” Lyon mentioned of the referral. “Everyone said the height was ok, it was just whether it was sliding down leg. Thankfully it was three reds.”
Lyon mentioned the match victory doubled his delight at reaching the landmark.
“It’s something I’m pretty proud of,” he mentioned. “As a young kid growing up in country New South Wales, 500 wickets is a long way away. A lot of hard work but something I’m very proud about. 500 wickets is pretty amazing but to do it here and contribute to an impressive team win makes it better.”
Lyon then clear bowled Aamer Jamal in the identical over off a supply that bounced no increased than ankle top to complete with 2-18 in his memorable check match.
“(To get) 500 test wickets, over a decade, in all conditions, he just finds a way,” mentioned Cummins in reward of Lyon, who was making a comeback after his calf damage throughout the Ashes sequence. “He’s been stewing on it for six months with his injury.”
Pakistan slumped to 17-3 inside the primary seven overs of its daunting run-chase. Opener Abdullah Shafique fell caught behind to an excellent Starc supply within the first over because the leftarm quick bowler acquired his two hundredth check wicket at residence.
Captain Shan Masood may make solely 2 earlier than he performed a unfastened drive off Hazlewood and Imam-ul-Haq was pinned leg earlier than wicket by Starc with one other gem of a supply that got here sharply into the left-hander.
Hazlewood rapidly folded Pakistan’s fragile batting by having top-scorer Saud Shakeel (24) leg earlier than wicket and dismissing No. 11 batter Khurram Shahzad off successive deliveries.
Earlier, Usman Khawaja fell in need of his century earlier than he holed out for 90 towards out of kinds Shaheen Shah Afridi as Australia appeared for fast runs after lunch. Afridi had a disappointing begin to the sequence as Pakistan’s premier quick bowler returned with match figures of 2-176 off his 45.2 overs.
Left-handed Khawaja and Mitchell Marsh, who remained unbeaten on 63, shared a run-a-ball 126 with Marsh scoring his second successive half century at his residence floor.
Resuming Sunday at 84-2, Australia misplaced Steven Smith and Travis Head within the first hour of the day as Pakistan’s bowlers took benefit of the difficult wicket and motion provided by the deterioriating Perth pitch to steadily hassle Australia’s batters.
After Smith and Marnus Labuschagne took painful blows on Day 3, Khawaja and Marsh additionally obtained nasty hits because the Aussies did their greatest to maintain their wickets, and our bodies, intact in a spicy morning session.
Khawaja reached his half century off 151 balls and Marsh lifted the hosts’ scoring price with some beautiful drives on each side of the wicket as Pakistan was sloppy within the area with captain Shan Masood dropping a regulation catch of Marsh at mid-off when the batter was on 23.
Debutant quick bowler Khurram Shahzad, who took each the Australian wickets to fall on Saturday, continued his superb begin to check cricket by getting Smith (45) leg earlier than wicket to cut back Australia to 87-3. It was the second time within the match Shahzad had captured Australia’s premier batter.
Fellow debutant Aamer Jamal, who took 6-111 in Australia’s first innings of 487, acquired Head for the second time as Australia’s one-day worldwide World Cup star holed out to Imam-ul-Haq at mid-off for 14.
“We could have batted a bit quicker (in the first innings), missed on 60-70 runs,” mentioned Masood in reference to Pakistan’s first innings effort of 271 in 101.5 overs. “A lot of positive things to take forward. It’s never easy when you play two debutants but thought they were very mature. They bowled really well, on another day could have got more wickets.”
The two debutant quick bowlers – Jamal and Shahzad — claimed 12 of the 15 wickets within the recreation dominated by some aggressive Australian batting in each innings.
The second check of the three-match sequence begins on Boxing Day at Melbourne, with Sydney internet hosting the third check from January 3 to 7.
Source web site: sportstar.thehindu.com
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