Wasim Akram handed the new Pakistan caps to the debutants
Babar Azam was bowled when he played back to Adam Zampa • AFP
Pakistan 203 (Rizwan 44, Naseem 40, Babar 37, Starc 3-33, Cummins 2-39) against Australia
A sizzling spell from Mitchell Starc has put Australia in command at the innings break after Pakistan were bowled out for just 203 in 46.4 overs at the MCG.
Starc took 3 for 33 from 10 overs, including three maidens, to continue his outstanding start to the summer after bagging seven wickets in his only Sheffield Shield outing at the MCG two weeks ago.
Most of Pakistan’s batters, with the exception of Babar Azam who made a classy 37 off 44, were exposed on a fast and bouncy MCG pitch after being sent in having come straight from the low spinning Test pitches of Multan and Rawalpindi last month. New captain Mohammad Rizwan top scored with 44 but took 71 balls to get them while Naseem Shah made an outstanding 40 off 39 with four sixes from No. 9 to ensure Australia was at least chasing more than 200.
Starc and Pat Cummins, fresh and in rhythm ahead of a big summer, put on a show in front of a very pro-Pakistan crowd. Starc’s 140kph thunderbolts accounted for Saim Ayub on debut and Abdullah Shafique.
The pair were opening the batting in ODI cricket for the first time after averaging just 8 as a pair in 12 Test innings together. Their international average dropped to 7.61 when Ayub chopped on trying to drive on the up. Their opening partnerships in international cricket make grim reading: 0, 0, 3, 5, 0, 7, 8, 0, 15, 9, 35, 14 and 3.
Shafique looked like he was batting in a Test match. He defended, ducked and weaved on his way to 12 from 26 before failing to get his bat out of the way of a rising delivery from Starc wide of off as he tried to sway inside it.
Babar and Mohammad Rizwan settled but never accelerated. Babar looked in fine touch and scored with relative freedom compared to his teammates. But Rizwan got bogged down as Starc, Cummins and co bashed away back of a length.
Babar felt the pinch of the slow-moving scoreboard. He tried to create a scoring option off the back foot to Adam Zampa but picked the wrong length and lost his off stump.
Cummins welcomed Kamran Ghulam to Australia with a brute of a delivery. The whites of his eyes popped as Cummins’ 142.7kph bouncer reared at his throat. He got his hands up in time but could only glove it to Josh Inglis.
Rizwan’s sluggish rearguard began to pick up steam when he hooked Starc into the stands at fine leg. But he fell to Marnus Labuschagne. Australia were all smiles when Rizwan tried to sweep a wide leg break only to get a top edge onto his helmet that popped up to Inglis. Most of Australia’s joy came from Labuschagne succeeding with his legspin, having endlessly bowled medium pace in Shield cricket recently to the frustration of Australia’s team hierarchy.
Some late hitting from Naseem, Shaheen Afridi, and Irfan Khan, in the mould of the man who had presented his debut cap in Wasim Akram, lifted Pakistan from a dire position at 117 for 6 to 203.
Naseem and Shaheen showed the type of intent that Pakistan’s top order could have used, launching five sixes between them after the entire top seven had contributed one, before Shaheen was castled by Starc for 24 off 19.
Irfan Khan showed a steady head but unsteady feet when he slipped on the pitch attempting a hesitant single only to be run out by inches for 22.
Naseem then benefitted from Cummins’ decision not to bowl more of Aaron Hardie at the death. The allrounder only bowled four overs, possibly to save his workload for later in the series when Starc and Cummins may rest. Naseem feasted on spin, launching Zampa into the stands twice and Maxwell once. But Naseem also launched Abbott over deep midwicket. He holed out to mid-off to end the innings.
Australia’s chase will begin with a new opening pair as Matt Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk get the chase to push their case to be the long-term ODI opener alongside Travis Head when he returns from paternity leave.
Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
