Australia's top order may have failed in the first ODI against Pakistan in Brisbane, but Matthew Wade's ton played a huge role in helping the home side emerge victorious by 92 runs and take 1-0 lead on Friday (January 13). Besides Wade, their fast bowlers, including James Faulkner and Pat Cummins, also picked important wickets to help Australia start the series on a high.
Also read: World Cricket schedule 2017
Chasing 269 runs to win, Pakistan were expected to reach the target, since they have some quality batsmen in their ranks. Their openers Azhar Ali and Sharjeel Khan played some cautious cricket at the start as they knew the importance of saving their wickets. To some extent, they were successful, but James Faulkner took the wicket of Khan in the ninth over, and they never really recovered from there.
Though the Pakistanis were not required to score huge runs, they lost wickets at regular intervals, which led to their downfall. Australian pacers, primarily Faulkner who took four wickets, troubled Pakistan batsmen in Brisbane.
Babar Azam top-scored for Pakistan, with 33 runs, but the poor performance of the Men in Green with the bat in the second innings led to their defeat.
Earlier during the day, Australia got off to a poor start, with players like David Warner, Steve Smith and Chris Lynn getting out in the first 10 overs of the first innings. They were tottering at 52 for the loss of three wickets, which became worse as batsman Travis Head was dismissed by Imad Wasim, score reading 67 for four.
The home team were in desperate need of a partnership to score at least 230 runs. Then Glen Maxwell and Wade played some solid cricket to come back into the game gradually.
The duo was involved in a partnership of 82 runs, with Maxwell showing his skills with the bat. He scored 56-ball 60, which put Australia in a good position. With Wade completing his maiden ton in the last ball of the first innings, the wicket-keeper played an important role in helping Australia score 268 runs, which proved enough for them to take a 1-0 lead in the ODI series.
Scores: Australia: 268 in 50 overs.
Pakistan: 176 all out in 42.4 overs.
Result: Australia won by 92 runs.
Series result: Australia lead 1-0.
Bowling: Pakistan: Mohammad Amir 10-0-54-2; Mohammad Hafeez 7-0-23-0; Hasan Ali 9-0-65-3; Wahab Riaz 6-0-42-0; Imad Wasim 10-0-35-2; Mohammad Nawaz 8-0-48-1.
Australia - Mitchell Starc 8-0-34-2; Billy Stanlake 3-0-13-0; James Faulkner 7-1-32-4; Pat Cummins 8.4-0-33-3; Travis Head 10-0-28-0; Mitchell Marsh 6-0-27-1.
Fall of wickets: Australia: 1-13, Warner (4.3 ov); 2-13, Smith (4.4 ov); 3-52, Lynn (9.2 ov); 4-67, Head (12.6 ov); 5-78, Marsh (16.2 ov); 6-160, Maxwell (30.6 ov); 7-170, Faulkner (33.6 ov); 8-212, Cummins (42.5 ov); 9-235, Starc (45.4 ov)
Pakistan: 1-38, Sharjeel Khan (8.1 ov);1-39*, Azhar Ali, retired not out (8.4 ov); 2-47, Mohammad Hafeez (10.1 ov); 3-79, Umar Akmal (16.5 ov); 4-109, Babar Azam (25.5 ov); 5-129, Mohammad Rizwan (30.1 ov); 6-133, Mohammad Nawaz (32.5 ov); 7-158, Imad Wasim (38.3 ov); 8-163, Azhar Ali (39.6 ov); 9-171, Mohammad Amir (41.4 ov);10-176, Wahab Riaz (42.4 ov).
