Starc Takes Five As Australia Beat Pakistan

Pakistan hasn't beaten Australia even once since 2002, and the five overs that they wasted towards the end of their innings played a major role in their loss at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. On a sluggish wicket, Australia got to the target of 199 with ten deliveries and 4 wickets to spare.

Batting first, Pakistan struggled to get runs on the board and were 50 for 3 , when Asad Shafiq and Misbah Ul Haq started rebuilding the innings. Umar Akmal then gave the much needed momentum to the innings with 52 off 55 balls. However, Mitchell Starc blew away the Pakistani middle and lower order which meant they could only bat 45 overs out of their quota. The score of 198 while less than par could prove to be challenging on the kind of pitch they were playing on. Starc finished with five wickets for 42 runs.

The out of sorts Matthew Wade and David Warner departed early in the chase. The off spinner Mohd Hafeez so often open the bowling once again showed his hold over left handers, as he bowled Warner in the fourth over. The Hussey brothers too could not contribute to the chase and captain Clarke was the only batsman who kept the runs coming. He finally found an ally in George Bailey and the two of them added 50 runs together. When Clarke got dismissed the match was still in the balance as Australia needed 78 runs in 16 overs. New comer Glen Maxwell though gave a good account of himself in a run-a-ball innings of 38. George Bailey kept a cool head even though the difference between runs reqd and ball remaining kept reducing, and guided the team to a win with a score of 57 not out. Saeed Ajmal once again wove a web around the batsmen with 3 wickets for 30 runs.

For his 5 wickets , Starc was declared the man of the match.