Australia yesterday seized the advantage on the opening day of the first Test when they bowled Pakistan out for 240 just before stumps at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia.
After the visitors resisted stubbornly in the first session, reaching 57 for no wicket at lunch, pace trio Mitchell Starc (4-52), Josh Hazlewood (2-46) and Pat Cummins (3-60) tore through the Pakistan batting order to put the hosts in charge at the close of play.
Australia seized the initiative after lunch when they took five wickets for just 19 runs, reducing Pakistan from 75-0 to 94-5.
Photo: AFP
The pacemen then struck again late in the day, with 16-year-old debutant Naseem Shah just squeezing out Starc’s hat-trick ball.
“It was quite a welcome to Test cricket wasn’t it?” Hazlewood said, adding that the fast bowlers had enjoyed the extra bounce at the Gabba.
“The way we fought back in the second session was perfect. We probably bowled too short in the first session, but we got better as the day went on. It was a pretty good comeback, I thought,” Hazlewood said.
Pakistan were rescued from complete disaster by Asad Shafiq who played a lone hand, scoring 76 well-made runs.
Shafiq came to the crease with his side 75-2, then saw Haris Sohail (1) and Baba Azar (1) fall for the addition of only two runs.
However, good partnerships of 49 between Shafiq and Mohammed Rizwan, who made 37, and then 84 with Yasir Shah (26) enabled the visitors to achieve a respectable score.
“I knew that if we could build a good partnership, it could help the team,” Shafiq said. “We didn’t reach the total we wanted, but still we got a respectable total and with the bowling unit we’ve got, we will put up a very good fight.”
Rizwan, who was counter-attacking fearlessly, fell controversially with Cummins appearing to have just overstepped the mark, only for TV umpire Michael Gough to give the benefit of the doubt to the bowler.
Yasir batted bravely, but when the Australians took the second new ball, Pakistan’s resistance was all but over.
The visitors had frustrated the Australian pace attack in the first session, going into lunch at 57-0, with openers Azhar Ali and Shan Masood unbeaten on 28 and 21 respectively.
The pair began to open up after the break with some sparkling attacking shots, but Hazlewood and Cummins at last found their length and began to turn the screws.
The pressure began to tell and with the score on 75, Masood waved at a Cummins delivery outside off stump and edged to Steve Smith at second slip.
Azhar went the next ball when he edged Hazlewood to Joe Burns at first slip, before Sohail and Azam both fell to poor shots.
When Nathan Lyon had Iftikhar Ahmed caught at bat-pad for 7, Pakistan were reeling at 94-5 before Shafiq and Rizwan steadied the ship in the half-hour before tea.
Pakistan earlier won the toss and chose to bat on a hot and humid morning.
Azhar and Masood began cautiously against the Australian pace duo of Starc and Hazlewood, who bowled quickly without really troubling the Pakistan openers.
The visitors crawled to 33 at the first drinks break and took almost two hours to reach 50, bringing up the half-century opening stand with a Masood boundary through square leg in the penultimate over before lunch.
FIFA on Friday blamed the empty seats during the FIFA World Cup match between South Korea and the Czech Republic in Guadalajara, Mexico, on fans who watched from the concourses. There were many visible empty spots at the 45,664-capacity Guadalajara Stadium, with sections in the middle of the stands showing many unoccupied spaces and with other empty seats scattered around the venue. The announced attendance was 44,985 — including FIFA president Gianni Infantino. “Official attendance figures reflect the number of tickets scanned and spectators present within the stadium footprint, rather than visual assessments of seating occupancy at any given moment
Japan captain Wataru Endo on Thursday was ruled out of the FIFA World Cup with injury and announced his international retirement, three days before his team’s opener against the Netherlands. The Liverpool midfielder pulled out of the tournament after failing to recover from a foot injury and was replaced in Japan’s squad by Shuto Machino. The 33-year-old Endo said on social media that he was “frustrated” at not being able to play, but backed his team to impress in Group F, where they face the Netherlands, Tunisia and Sweden. “There will definitely come a time in the future when Japan win the World
A rotting body was found on Friday in the trunk of a car parked near the stadium where Iran’s FIFA World Cup team is training in Mexico. The gruesome discovery came with games under way in the tournament, which is being jointly hosted by Mexico, the US and Canada. Reporters watched as police in Tijuana opened the trunk of the gray Toyota SUV, which had California plates, in the parking lot of a supermarket directly across from the Caliente Stadium, where Team Melli are training as they prepare for three games in the US. Specialists in white protective suits worked
About 100 people gathered at a bar in Taipei to watch the FIFA World Cup start in Mexico, despite the early hour of 3am yesterday. All seats had been reserved before the game started, said a clerk at the Brass Monkey, a bar in Taipei where customers can watch live sports broadcasts. The Group A clash between Mexico and South Africa drew supporters from multiple continents to the venue. For Misael Alanis, a Mexican student who has lived in Taiwan for two-and-a-half years, the atmosphere was just as important as the game itself. “There are a lot of Mexicans here and you can tell
RSS