Key events
11th over: Pakistan 58-0 (Saim 23, Abdullah 27) Here comes Cummins… and there goes Cummins! That is SIX! The bowler tried to switch it up by coming around the wicket but Saim was more than ready. He goes on one leg and cracks him up, up… and OVER! Big SIX by the 22-year-old from Karachi and that takes Pakistan past fifty. Saim takes him for a single from the next and Abdullah drives for three runs from the fourth. A Saim single from the last makes it an 11-run over from Pat Cummins. That’s a sentence we don’t get to type too often…
10th over: Pakistan 47-0 (Saim 15, Abdullah 24) More bad luck for Hazlewood. He pushed a quicker ball through on Abdullah Shafique and the batter took the bait and swung hard. But he misjudged the pace and bunted it back down the ground where it fell just short of Cummins at mid-on. Next bvall he middles though. WHACK! goes Abdullah, down the ground for FOUR. That hurt Hazlewood but he gives it a rueful clap. The big man from Bendemeer doesn’t clap the next one though as Abdullah opens his shoulders and carves a glorious FOUR. Pakistan are flying!
9th over: Pakistan 39-0 (Saim 15, Abdullah 16) Cummins returns. And finally his miserly run of nine dot balls is broken as Abdullah swings him square for a single. And that screws his figures even further, as Saim advances and attacks, lofting the Australian captain over the infield and into the Adelaide Oval picket fence for a fine boundary. Australia in some trouble!
8th over: Pakistan 34-0 (Saim 11, Abdullah 15) Here comes Josh Reginald Hazlewood for a fourth over. He’s bowled beautifully but unluckily so far. Overthrows have blighted his figures. And here we go again, as Saim inside edges a single from the first delivery. Hazlewood, a bit frustrated now, angles the next one in at a quicker pace. But Abdullah cuts it for two and scampers a single from the next. Hazlewood beats Saim’s inside edge again on the fifth and BANG! drives for four from the last. Nice shot! Another good over for the visitors and another ill-fortuned one for Hazlewood who likely needs a spell.
7th over: Pakistan 26-0 (Saim 7, Abdullah 12) Captain Pat has seen enough and takes the ball himself from Mitchell Starc. Pakistan are scoring at five-per-over here and the game is fast running away from Australia. What can the skipper conjure here? A maiden! Much needed by Australia too.
6th over: Pakistan 26-0 (Saim 7, Abdullah 12) Almost an edge by Abdullah! Even Hazlewood, normally a cool character, had to shake his head incredulously at that. He’d threw the wobble seam delivery in first ball and it very nearly got him a wicket. And now there’s almost a runout as Abdullah, unnerved by that close shave, defends and runs a suicidal single… but the Fraser-McGurk throw is wide and Cummins isn’t backing up on that line and it races away for another FIVE. More free runs for Pakistan.
5th over: Pakistan 20-0 (Saim 7, Abdullah 6) Here comes Starc for his third. He was superb in game one, snaring three wickets at regular intervals to constantly keep Pakistan in check. Abdullah has a swish at the second but it flashes past the bat. Finally Abdullah gets off strike with a flick off the pad for a legbye. Saim skips down to the last and tries to wallop it over midwicket but Starc swings it away and there’s no run. Good over from biug Mitch, just the single run from it.
4th over: Pakistan 19-0 (Saim 7, Abdullah 6) Hazlewood is bending his back but Abudllah catches the inside edge to the first delivery and steals a single. Ayub has a big swing at the third but doesn’t get much timber on it. Catch? No, it’s a sand wedge chip that sails over the bowler and outpaces the fielders at mid-on and mid-off. Pakistan run two.
3rd over: Pakistan 16-0 (Saim 4, Abdullah 6) Starc’s second over was going beautifully, with a touch of swing evident on the third ball and beating Abudllah’s outside edge on the fourth. The fifth ball is a shocker – too wide for wicketkeeper Inglis – and runs to the boundary for FIVE WIDES. Strong start by Pakistan.
2nd over: Pakistan 10-0 (Saim 4, Abdullah 5) It will be the Bendemeer Bullet taking the second over for Australia. Josh Hazlewood missed game one but there’s no rust evident on the amiable 33-year-old today. His first three balls to Saim Ayub are on a lovely length and the batter is wary, defending each before playing and missing at the fourth. Saim gets a leading edge to the fifth, glancing through gully for a single. Abdullah gets a single from the last.
1st over: Pakistan 8-0 (Saim 3, Abdullah 4) Nice shot to get Pakistan under way from Saim Ayub. He gets two from the first Mitchell Starc delivery as Aaron Hardie misfields at square leg. Poor work from the allrounder there, lets hope it doesn’t set the tone for Australia in the field. They were rusty in game one too. Saim slices a single from the fifth which brings Abdullah Shafique on strike and it’s a nice start for him too. He leans forward and caresses it through covers for a glorious FOUR.
Thanks Martin! What an action-packed second stanza we have in front of us tonight – a 163-run frenzy in which Pakistan will be hellbent on squaring the series. If they can do so, backing up their brilliance with the ball with some biffo with the bat, then this victory could double in power. Why? The home side are opting to rest a host of stars for the upcoming Test series against India so it’ll be an understrength home side in game three. But first Pakistan have got to win… and here comes ball one of their innings!
Australia will have their work cut out for them in the second innings but we have learned, in this format at least, that these are the times when they deliver their very best work.
Pakistan showed the way with their four-pronged pace attack and the home side will now turn to their ever-threatening trio of Cummins-Hazlewood-Starc to do much the same.
Thanks for following until now, Angus Fontaine will take over from here and guide you through the second innings from Adelaide Oval. Catch you again on Sunday!
Australia all out for 163
Australia have been restricted to their lowest total against Pakistan in their 60 ODIs – all out for 163 as Haris Rauf claims a five-for, Shaheen Shah Afridi finishes with three scalps, and Mohammad Rizwan completes six catches behind the stumps.
Shaheen (3/26) finishes what he started after two early wickets, this time cleaning up Zampa (18) to close out the innings as the Australian plays onto his stumps.
Rauf again did the damage to the middle order with 5/29 and was a menace throughout, while Pakistan relied on their four pacers to send down 32 of the 35 overs it took to skittle a disappointing Australia.
Steve Smith top-scored for the home side with 35 from 48 balls but no other Australians were able to cash in on a decent start with seven batters dismissed on a score in the teens.
34th over: Australia 161-9 (Zampa 5, Hazlewood 0) DROP! DROP! REVIEW! SIX! Rizwan has six catches to his name but even after making up plenty of ground to get to a skied ball off Zampa he grasses a simple catch. His gloves are all over the place by the time the ball arrives and the Pakistan skipper misses the chance to become the first keeper to take seven catches in an ODI. Zampa is dropped again when Shaheen races around the boundary to get to a lofty pull shot but, just as he did earlier in the innings, then spills the ball into the rope. Pakistan appeal for another caught behind as Zampa encourages Rizwan to use their review, which he kindly does without a hint of success. The Australia spinner then blasts just his second six in his 105th ODI as he hoicks Naseem over the rope.
That over might’ve been worth the price of admission – or perhaps just a streaming subscription – all on its own.
33rd over: Australia 147-9 (Zampa 5, Hazlewood 0) Zampa turns the strike over immediately with a nudge to square leg then Hazlewood holds out Shaheen without threatening to add to the scoring.
32nd over: Australia 146-9 (Zampa 4, Hazlewood 0) Cummins is unable to lead the fightback this time as Rauf gets the better of the Australian captain and claims his second five-wicket haul in ODIs. The 31-year-old almost has a sixth scalp with a deadly yorker to Hazlewood but the No 11 digs it out.
WICKET! Cummins c Rizwan b Rauf 13 (Australia 146-9)
Rauf and Rizwan strike again as Cummins blazes away at a shorter ball but can only get a feather touch as it sails past. The Australia skipper sends the decision up stairs for a review but it doesn’t take long to confirm there is a spike. Rauf has his five-for and Rizwan becomes just the second Pakistan keeper to collect six catches in an ODI.
31st over: Australia 145-8 (Cummins 13, Zampa 3) SIX! Cummins smacks Naseem back over his head with a monster shot that clears the fence. The Australia skipper tries much the same from the next ball but can’t time it as sweetly and has to settle for two runs after a lengthy review decides the ball was just kept in play – that looked like a clear boundary to me! The over started with an early shout for lbw as Zampa has a swing and a miss but the ball was tracking down leg.
30th over: Australia 132-8 (Cummins 2, Zampa 2) Rauf is steaming in as the pacer chases just a second five-wicket haul in his 39th ODI. Zampa scrambles to the safety of the non-striker’s end with a glance for one as Cummins then sees Australia through to drinks and an opportunity to reset.
29th over: Australia 131-8 (Cummins 2, Zampa 1) Naseem joins the party with a much-deserved first wicket as Starc edges behind, then almost has two in as many balls as Adam Zampa gets an inside edge to very nearly take out his own stumps. Somehow the ball crosses the front of the stumps and misses leg.
WICKET! Starc c Rizwan b Naseem 1 (Australia 130-8)
Naseem gets his reward and Rizwan has his own five-for from behind the stumps. Starc drives at a delivery that pitches back of a length and angles away. A thick edge lands in Rizwan’s gloves and the Pakistan quick is ecstatic.
28th over: Australia 130-7 (Cummins 2, Starc 1) Rauf gets Pakistan into Australia’s bowlers within 30 overs with the crucial wicket of Maxwell. The tourists are on top and Australia need their captain to drag them to safety, ideally with a little help from the ever-dangerous Starc, once again.
WICKET! Maxwell b Rauf 16 (Australia 129-7)
Maxwell chops on and once again Rauf is the destroyer. The delivery heads outside off but Maxwell wants to drag it back across his body to the on side. An inside edge instead sends it crashing into his stumps. Maxwell’s head goes back in disbelief but there is no doubt we’re seeing a special spell from Rauf.
27th over: Australia 126-6 (Maxwell 14, Cummins 1) Cummins is almost gone before he gets going as Naseem moves the ball narrowly away from both the outside edge and the off stump.
26th over: Australia 123-6 (Maxwell 13, Cummins 1) Rauf is once again the star of the show and has three for 23 from five overs. Australia will be happy to see the back of him, but the Pakistan quick has enough overs left to perhaps still rip through the hosts.
WICKET! Hardie c Rizwan b Rauf 14 (Australia 121-6)
Rauf has his tail up and starts wide of the bowling crease to angle a quicker ball into Hardie. The Australian plays with a straight bat and didn’t do much wrong, but a touch of movement off the seam catches an edge and Rizwan has his fourth catch of the innings.
25th over: Australia 120-5 (Hardie 13, Maxwell 11) Naseem Shah returns to the attack and gives the Australians little room to move. Hardie finds a single at square leg and Maxwell adds another with a tip and run just wide of the bowler.
24th over: Australia 118-5 (Hardie 12, Maxwell 10) SIX! Maxwell pulls out a reverse sweep and thunders the ball over what was once deep point. Ayub only pitched that fractionally full but the Australian made him pay full price.
23rd over: Australia 111-5 (Hardie 11, Maxwell 4) Hasnain is pitching the ball back of a length, keeping the Australians playing with caution. Maxwell looks the most comfortable already, finding two runs at backward point but is fortunate not to get more on a swipe to deep square leg that falls short of the fielder.
22nd over: Australia 106-5 (Hardie 10, Maxwell 1) Saim Ayub keeps the pressure on Australia until Hardie finds three runs with a nudge to fine leg. Maxwell smacks his first look at the youngster away to deep cover, and how the Australian powerhouse handles the spinner from here will go a long way to determining the target set for Pakistan.
21st over: Australia 101-5 (Hardie 6, Maxwell 0) Pakistan are right into the middle order now with Smith back in the sheds. Smith’s innings is over after looking comfortable using the bounce to cut away for a boundary that brought up Australia’s 100, surviving a lbw review, and then nicking off from much the same cut shot a second time around. The No 3 was almost out one ball earlier when smacked on the pads as Hasnain cut a delivery back across the batter, only for the review to go with the umpire’s call when the ball was on line to tickle the top of leg.
WICKET! Smith c Rizwan b Hasnain 35 (Australia 101-5)
Smith barely survives an lbw review and is out next ball flashing at a wide ball from the Pakistan quick. There was barely any footwork from the Australian and a thick edge flies through to the keeper.
20th over: Australia 95-4 (Smith 30, Hardie 3) Pakistan turn to spin for the first time in the innings – and in the series – as Saim Ayub is thrown the ball. Ayub beats Hardie’s outside edge with a leg-spinner early in the over before Australia pick up a couple of easy singles. A tidy first ODI over from the 22-year-old in his second international in the format.
19th over: Australia 93-4 (Smith 29, Hardie 3) Pakistan continue with the four-pronged pace attack as Hasnain is back with ball in hand. Smith can’t find a way past the quick as a superb drive goes too straight and thunders into Hasnain hands as he tumbles over in his follow through.
