Watch Australia Fall of wickets

Australia Fall of Wickets

Sometimes it is this simple: you spin, you win. It is how Pakistan laid the foundations for their six-wicket victory to level the five-match series at one apiece, a win made all the more meaningful for the tourists as it marked their first triumph of an otherwise dreadful trip.

For the briefest moment in their pursuit of Australia’s ropey 220, their chase stalled. On 140 Babar Azam picked out third man, before the man he shared a partnership of 72 with for the second wicket, stand-in skipper Mohommad Hafeez, was caught swinging wildly two runs later.

But after 17 years in the international game Shoaib Malik has a fair idea how to shut down a fightback from a fielding team: quick runs. Clobbering a slew of offside boundaries against the home quicks, then depositing Josh Hazlewood over the rope back over his head, the required rate reduced to a cruise. He was still there on 42 when the job was done with 14 balls to spare.

Earlier, Mitchell Starc gave Australia the chance to start their defence in perfect fashion when winning the edge of Hafeez with the fourth ball of the first over, but Smith was unable to pouch the straightforward chance at slip.

It continued the theme of their afternoon batting, Smith’s men suffocated by the trio of tweaks deployed by Hafeez after the top order was routed by his seam department. Imad Wasim (2-37) continued his tidy Brisbane form, pinning down successive Australian batsmen with crafty variations of pace and angle, then just enough spin.

Hafeez burned through his own 10 overs for 45, with Shoaib also turned to; 24 of their 49 overs delivered by the slow men. Leaving out specialist leg spinner Adam Zampa, by contrast, Smith was unable to fully benefit from a two-paced surface suited to turn, young all-rounder Travis Head given just the one over when the game there to be won (going for 11) before returning to Plan A.

Much of the scrutiny for Australia’s loss will fall on the shoulders of the man who had the most to celebrate this morning when named in the Test squad for India, Mitchell Marsh. Shuffled to No4 after Chris Lynn missed out due to a neck injury, he shoveled his first ball into the hands of short cover, giving Mohommad Amir Pakistan’s third wicket in the space of 10 runs to reduce Australia to 41-3.

Not long before, Usman Khawaja threatened to capitalize on his return to the team, thrice clipping with ease. So it wasn’t surprising when David Warner (16) was first to go, scratchy from the outset, nicking Junaid Khan. It was, however, when Khawaja (17) met the same end to his next over, miscalculating a glide into the hands of the cordon before Marsh’s indiscretion.

Consolidation came in three parts, each less compelling than the one before it. Head’s tryst with Steve Smith showed promise. He drove off both feet and pulled with authority before against the flow of play becoming the third Australian to edge behind on 29 when Hashan Ali found an extra yard.

Glenn Maxwell latched onto an early cover drive, pinged a reverse sweep and lofted a six. Like Head, the signs were sound. That was until he ran down the wicket to Imad before missing the ball and losing his stumps on 23. It is the sort of dismissal that fuels his detractors.

Smith’s next partner was Matt Wade, Friday’s man of the moment. On the back of that, and Smith’s last month, it was right to expect an explosion at some point from the pair. But it never eventuated, neither able to get on top of Imad nor Hafeez in tandem.

After reaching his half century (in 91 balls) Smith tried to change gears, but only succeeded in chopping Imad on for 60. An over later, Wade was beaten for a lack of spin from Shoaib, sliding through his gate. Amir’s short ball did the final damage, beating Pat Cummins and then James Faulkner to end the innings 10 balls early and well short of runs.

In reply, after Hafeez’s chance he batted with control alongside Sharjeel Khan, who defied his reputation to do likewise. Nothing outrageous was required; they just needed to bat overs. After 10 of them, they were 36 without loss, and in the box seat.

Putting the foot down, Hafeez pulled Cummins before sweeping and lofting Head in consecutive overs, reducing the required rate to below the current run rate for the first time after 14 overs. When Sharjeel (29) did fall, edging Faulkner, it gave Australia their incision. But Babar’s picture-perfect on-drive minutes reinforced that the job was going to getting no easier.

The seam quartet of Starc (2/45), Hazlewood (0/32) Cummins (0/48) and Faulkner (2/35) all bowled service ably, and in the case of Starc and Cummins with serious pace, but it mattered little with so few runs to play with.
 
The series moves to Perth on Thursday and then to Sydney next Sunday before concluding in Adelaide on Australia Day.