Michael Clarke’s all-round performance helped his team give Pakistan a dose of their own medicine as Australia won the third day-night international by 27 runs at Abu Dhabi Stadium on Monday.
The 28-year-old hit a fighting 66 to anchor an otherwise struggling Australian innings that helped them reach 198-7 in their allotted 50 overs before claiming 3-15 to bowl Pakistan out for 171 in 47.1 overs.
Clarke’s brilliant bowling — which saw Pakistan lose their 10 wickets in the space of 76 runs — steered his team to a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
Pakistan won the first match by four wickets, while Australia clinched the second by six wickets — both played in Dubai last week.
The remaining two matches will be played in Abu Dhabi on Friday and Monday. The only Twenty20 match is scheduled for Dubai on May 7.
Shoaib Malik (30) and Sohail Tanvir (11) added 22 for the eighth wicket to raise hopes of Pakistan’s win before both were dismissed on the same score of 170.
Clarke and Nathan Hauritz got two wickets each off successive deliveries as Pakistan, approaching the target with openers Salman Butt (48) and Ahmed Shahzad (40) and having put 95 for the first wicket in 22 overs, lost four wickets in the space of 12 runs.
Off-spinner Hauritz (2-25) struck with the first ball of the 23 over, forcing an edge off Butt’s bat for a smart low catch in the slip. Butt hit seven boundaries during his 77-ball knock.
The very next ball, Younus Khan spooned a catch to mid-on off a ball that stopped on him. Two overs later, Clarke dismissed Misbah-ul-Haq (9), caught at long-on and as the batsmen crossed, Clarke bowled Shahzad with a straight delivery. Shahzad, playing only his second match, hit five boundaries off 61 balls.
Clarke sent Shahid Afridi back in his third over, leaving Pakistan at 123-5. He credited Hauritz as the man who opened the doors for the team.
“As a bowler I am okay, but I think Hauritz provided the breakthrough and later I took three wickets,” said Clarke, who also completed 50 one-day wickets in the match.
Pakistan captain Younus Khan blamed poor batting for the defeat.
“We need to learn this from Australia — how they did not give up on the event after putting a low total and forced a win by taking wicket,” he said.
Earlier, it was Clarke the batsman who hit a valiant 66 during an innings-building phase after Australia, who won the toss and batted, were made to struggle for runs by some accurate Pakistani bowling.
Clarke, who hit eight boundaries during his 93-ball knock, added 54 for the fifth wicket with Callum Ferguson (41) and 46 for the third wicket with opener Brad Haddin (26).
Clarke, who managed just 4 and 39 in the first two matches, anchored the innings Australia had lost after two early wickets with James Hopes (15) and Shane Watson (0).
Malik removed Haddin, while leg-spinner Afridi had the dangerous Andrew Symonds for seven.
Clarke and Ferguson took the score to 145 by the 39th over when Clarke gave a return catch to Afridi to end Australia’s hopes of a big total.
Ferguson hit four boundaries during his 68-ball knock.
Paceman Umar Gul returned with the best figures with 3-38, while Afridi took 2-31. Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, reported for suspect bowling action on Sunday, failed to get a wicket.
Both Australia and Pakistan made two changes each, with Pakistan resting Shoaib Akhtar, who played the two matches despite a high fever.
Also See: Raja, Boycott call on ICC to legalize ‘art of doosra’
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but