Australia wrap up Pakistan ODI series 4-1
PHOTO: AFP
After setting an imposing total of 369-7, thanks to a record opening partnership of 284 between David Warner and Travis Head, the Australians bowled Pakistan out for 312.
Pakistan's Babar Azam scored 100 and Sharjeel Khan a quickfire 79, but the home side were always in control and celebrated Australia Day in style with a convincing win.
'Pakistan can defeat Australia in dead rubber'
Warner and Head earlier got Australia away to a superb start, with Warner particularly damaging as he smashed the Pakistan attack to all parts of the ground.
Warner blasted 179 and Head 128 on their way to an opening stand of 284, a new Australian record for any wicket in ODIs.
Both batsmen made their highest scores in one-day internationals, with Head also recording his maiden international century.
After losing the toss and being asked to bowl first, the Pakistanis almost got the perfect start when Mohammad Amir enticed an edge from Warner with his first ball.
Decision on Azhar’s captaincy will be taken after Australia ODIs, says Shaharyar
But a diving Azhar Ali at first slip couldn't hold onto a difficult chance and Warner was soon in full flight.
He brought up his 50 from 34 balls and his 100 from 78 including 11 fours and two massive sixes. His 150 came from only 107 deliveries with 17 boundaries and three sixes.
Head was far more circumspect but once the ball stopped swinging after just four overs, he began to look more and more comfortable.
On a flat pitch that offered nothing to the bowlers, the Australians were untroubled until Warner began to cramp, restricting his movements.
Warner eventually fell when he swatted a short ball from Junaid Khan to Babar at point with the score on 284.
Australia were headed for a score well over 400 when Warner and Head were in full flight but Pakistan fought back with some late wickets to restrict them to 369.
Pakistan's chase started badly when Azhar fell leg before to Mitchell Starc for 10, but Sharjeel and Babar took up the attack and moved the score to 140 before the big hitting Sharjeel mistimed a pull shot and skied a catch to wicketkeeper Matthew Wade.
Babar began to pick up the pace and reached 100 from 107 balls, however, soon after bringing up his fourth ODI century he holed out to Head at mid-on.
Shoaib Malik retired hurt when he was hit on the arm by a Pat Cummins short ball and despite a defiant 46 from Umar Akmal which took the visitors past 300 runs, Pakistan ultimately fell short.
Australia XI
Warner, Head, Smith (c), Handscomb, Maxwell, Wade (wk), Faulkner, Starc, Cummins, Zampa, Hazlewood.
Pakistan XI
Azhar (c), Sharjeel, Babar, Hafeez, Malik, Akmal, Rizwan (wk), Amir, Wahab, Junaid, Hasan.
PAK 312-9 (49 overs)
Starc.
PAK 312-8 (49 overs)
Zampa.
PAK 304-7 (48 overs)
Nine off the over.
Starc.
PAK 295-7 (47 overs)
Six off the over.
Faulkner.
PAK 283-7 (46 overs)
Just three off the over.
Starc.
PAK 286-7 (45 overs)
Hasan Ali is the new man in.
Faulkner.
PAK 279-6 (44 overs)
Wahab Riaz is the new batsman.
Cummins.
PAK 272-5 (43 overs)
Thirteen off the over, another good one for Pakistan.
Josh Hazlewood to continue.
PAK 259-5 (42 overs)
Nine off the over. A good one for Pakistan, but its not good enough as the team needs more than 12 runs per over.
Pat Cummins to continue.
PAK 250-5 (41 overs)
Just four off the over.
Josh Hazlewood to continue.
PAK 246-5 (40 overs)
Eight and a wicket off the over.
Pat Cummins to start his new spell.
PAK 238-4 (39 overs)
Twelve off the over.
Josh Hazlewood to continue.
PAK 226-4 (38 overs)
Four off the over.
James Faulkner to continue.
PAK 222-4 (37 overs)
Just five runs and a wicket off the over.
Josh Hazlewood to start new spell.
PAK 217-3 (36 overs)
Just four off the over.
James Faulkner to continue.
PAK 203-3 (35 overs)
Just four off the over.
Pat Cummins to continue.
PAK 199-3 (34 overs)
Just six off the over.
James Faulkner to start his new spell.
PAK 193-3 (33 overs)
Just six off the over.
Pat Cummins to continue.
PAK 187-3 (32 overs)
Just six off the over.
Josh Hazlewood to continue.
PAK 181-3 (31 overs)
Just six off the over.
Pat Cummins to start his new spell.
PAK 175-3 (30 overs)
Twelve off the over. A good one for Pakistan.
Josh Hazlewood to start his new spell.
PAK 163-3 (29 overs)
Eleven off the over.
Starc to start his new over.
PAK 152-3 (28 overs)
Seven off the over.
Zampa.
PAK 145-3 (27 overs)
Shoaib Malik is the new batsman in.
Starc.
PAK 145-2 (26 overs)
Five from the over.
Zampa.
PAK 140-2 (25 overs)
Just a single and a wicket off the over.
Mitchell Starc to start his new spell.
PAK 139-1 (24 overs)
Just five off the over.
Adam Zampa to start his new over.
PAK 134-1 (23 overs)
Just three off the over.
James Faulkner to start his new over.
Fourteen off the over. A good one for Pakistan.
Adam Zampa to continue.
PAK 117-1 (21 overs)
Just four off the over.
James Faulkner to start his new over.
PAK 113-1 (20 overs)
Just six off the over.
Adam Zampa to continue.
PAK 107-1 (19 overs)
Nine off the over.
Travis Head to continue.
PAK 98-1 (18 overs)
Just five off the over.
Adam Zampa to continue.
PAK 93-1 (17 overs)
Just four off the over.
Travis Head to start his first over of the day.
Eight off the over. A good one for Pakistan.
Adam Zampa to continue.
PAK 81-1 (15 overs)
Eight off the over. A good one for Pakistan.
Pat Cummins to continue.
PAK 73-1 (14 overs)
Just three off the over.
Adam Zampa to start his first over.
PAK 70-1 (13 overs)
Six off the over.
Pat Cummins to continue.
PAK 64-1 (12 overs)
Ten off the over, a good one for Pakistan.
James Faulkner to continue.
PAK 54-1 (11 overs)
Just four off the over.
Pat Cummins to continue.
PAK 50-1 (10 overs)
Just six off the over.
James Faulkner to start his first over of the day.
PAK 44-1 (9 overs)
Just three off the over.
Pat Cummins to start his first over of the day.
PAK 41-1 (8 overs)
Eleven off the over, a good one for Pakistan.
Josh Hazlewood to continue.
Six off the over. Seems like Pakistan is chasing 270, and not 370. Someone needs to wake these boys up.
Mitchell Starc to continue.
PAK 24-1 (6 overs)
Just two off the over.
Josh Hazlewood to continue.
PAK 22-1 (5 overs)
Just three off the over.
Mitchell Starc to continue.
PAK 19-1 (4 overs)
Eight off the over. A good one for Pakistan.
Josh Hazlewood to continue.
PAK 11-1 (3 overs)
Just five off the over and a wicket.
FOUR! Azhar hits Pakistan's first boundary of the day.
Mitchell Starc to continue.
PAK 6-0 (2 overs)
Just one off Hazlewood's first over.
Josh Hazlewood to start his first over of the day.
PAK 5-0 (1 over)
Just five off the over.
So it's captain Azhar Ali and Sharjeel Khan to open for Pakistan, whereas it's Mitchell Starc to start for Australia.
So that's it every one for the first half. We will be back in about half-an-hour time for Pakistan's reply.
AUS 369-7 (50 overs)
Seven off the final over.
Mohammad Amir to start final over of the innings.
AUS 362-6 (49 overs)
Eleven off the over. Hasan finished with figures of 9-0-100-2.
Hasan Ali to start his new over.
AUS 351-6 (48 overs)
Seven and a wicket off the over.
Wahab Riaz to start his new over.
AUS 344-5 (47 overs)
Nine runs and two wicket off the over.
Hasan Ali to start his new over.
AUS 335-3 (46 overs)
Ten off the over. Another good one for the hosts.
FOUR! Wade smashed one between deep midwicket and mid-on for a boundary.
Wahab Riaz to continue.
AUS 325-3 (45 overs)
Seven runs and a wicket off the over.
Mohammad Amir to continue.
AUS 318-2 (44 overs)
Eighteen off the over. It's another expensive one.
FOURx2! First it was Maxwell, and now it's Head. Australia are moving along very nice.
Wahab Riaz to start his new spell.
AUS 300-2 (43 overs)
Eleven off the over.
Mohammad Amir to start his new spell.
AUS 289-2 (42 overs)
Ten runs and two wickets off the over.
Junaid Khan to continue.
AUS 279-0 (41 overs)
10 off the over.
Mohammad Hafeez to continue.
AUS 269-0 (40 overs)
Just two off the over.
Junaid Khan to continue.
AUS 267-0 (39 overs)
Six off the over.
Mohammad Hafeez to start his new spell.
AUS 261-0 (38 overs)
Fourteen off the over, and another expensive one from the youngster.
SIX! Slow ball, and Warner launches it into stands over midwicket.
Hasan Ali to continue.
AUS 247-0 (37 overs)
Just three off the over.
Junaid Khan to start new spell.
AUS 244-0 (36 overs)
Just five off the over.
Wahab Riaz to continue.
AUS 239-0 (35 overs)
Eighteen off the over. Hasan Ali's figure so far 6-0-66-0, and we don't know why Azhar Ali keeps bowling him.
Hasan Ali to continue.
AUS 221-0 (34 overs)
Seven off the over.
Wahab Riaz to continue.
AUS 214-0 (33 overs)
Seven off the over.
Hasan Ali to continue.
AUS 207-0 (32 overs)
Just three off the over.
Wahab Riaz to start his new spell.
AUS 204-0 (31 overs)
Nine off the over.
Hasan Ali to start his new spell.
AUS 195-0 (30 overs)
Eight off the over.
Amir to continue.
AUS 187-0 (29 overs)
Twelve off Malik's fourth over.
FOUR! Warner goes over mid on for the second boundary of the over.
Malik to continue.
AUS 175-0 (28 overs)
Eleven off the over. Another bad over for Pakistan.
Mohammad Amir to start his new spel.
AUS 164-0 (27 overs)
Ten runs off the over.
Malik to continue.
AUS 154-0 (26 overs)
Just five off the over.
Junaid Khan to continue.
AUS 149-0 (25 overs)
Just three off the over.
Malik to continue.
AUS 146-0 (24 overs)
Seven off the over. Another expensive one from Junaid.
Junaid Khan to continue.
AUS 139-0 (23 overs)
Just two off the over.
Shoaib Malik to start his first over of the day.
AUS 137-0 (22 overs)
Eight off the over.
Junaid Khan to start his new spell of the day.
AUS 129-0 (21 overs)
Eleven off the over, another expensive one from Hasan Ali, who is clearly having an off day.
Hasan Ali to start his new spell.
AUS 118-0 (20 overs)
Eight off the over. An expensive over for team Pakistan.
Wahab Riaz to continue.
AUS 110-0 (19 overs)
Thirteen off the over, another good one for the hosts.
Mohammad Hafeez to continue.
AUS 97-0 (18 overs)
Just five off the over.
Wahab Riaz to continue.
AUS 92-0 (17 overs)
Just one off the over.
Mohammad Hafeez to continue.
AUS 91-0 (16 overs)
Just two off the over.
Wahab Riaz to start his second over of the day.
AUS 89-0 (15 overs)
Five off the over.
Mohammad Hafeez to continue.
AUS 84-0 (14 overs)
Just two off the over. Good start from Wahab Riaz.
Wahab Riaz to start his first over of the day.
AUS 82-0 (13 overs)
Just three off the over.
Mohammad Hafeez to continue.
AUS 79-0 (12 overs)
Seven off the over, another expensive over from Hasan.
Hasan Ali to continue.
AUS 72-0 (11 overs)
Five off the over.
So it's spin time, and Azhar Ali bring in veteran Mohammad Hafeez, who replace Mohammad Amir.
AUS 67-0 (10 overs)
14 off the over, a very expensive start for young Hasan Ali.
Hasan Ali to start his first over of the day.
AUS 53-0 (9 overs)
Five off the over.
Amir to continue.
AUS 48-0 (8 overs)
Seven off the over, another good one for the hosts.
Junaid to continue.
AUS 41-0 (7 overs)
Nine off the over, a good one for Australia.
Amir to continue.
AUS 32-0 (6 overs)
Just four off the over.
Junaid Khan to continue.
AUS 28-0 (5 overs)
Amir to continue.
AUS 19-0 (4 overs)
Junaid to continue.
AUS 11-0 (3 overs)
Three runs from the over.
Amir to continue.
AUS 8-0 (2 overs)
Seven from the over.
Junaid Khan to bowl from the other end.
AUS 1-0 (1 over)
Travis Head and David Warner are on the pitch for Australia.
Mohammad Amir to begin the bowling attack for Pakistan.
Toss: The news is that Australian captain Steve Smith won the toss for the fifth time in the series, and decided to bat first.