Australia beat Pakistan by 57 runs in fifth one-day international – as it happened

26 Jan 201706.42 EST

Adam Collins

Australia win the series 4-1.

It was always destined to be so after the hosts tallied 369 with the bat; the number one side in the world know how to shut these games down. And while the Pakistan visitors did show resistance - namely through Babar with a fine 100 and Sharjeel a resourceful 79 - they were always well behind the required rate and never truly in the contest.

For Australia, Starc was outstanding with 4/42, wickets in each of his three spells. He added to this with an excellent athletic take down at third man while resting. If not for Shoaib retiring hurt early and not coming out to bat at nine down, it’s likely he would have ended up with five.

The supporting cast all played a role. Hazlewood, Zampa and Faulkner will all bowl worse for better, but all ended up in the book. While Cummins 2/60 reinforced his standing as a crucial member of Australia’s white-ball team, as he has throughout the eight ODIs this summer.

And that was the last of them. Three-zip against the Black Caps before Christmas, four-one to smash the Pakistanis after, there’s every reason for Steve Smith’s side to feel supremely confident heading into the Champions Trophy mid-year. As for Pakistan, after the better part of three months in the country their awful tour has finally come to an end, just one win to show for their troubles.

And that’s enough from me tonight. Thanks for your company on the OBO. We’ll be back on the tools with the T20s from India later in the week and the BBL Final on Saturday. Until then.

That’s what Starc was searching for last over, a fourth wicket. He gets it in classic Mitch Starc fashion, the on-target yorker from around the wickets; middle stump flying. With Shoaib retired hurt, it is nine out/all out tonight. So that’s it. Back with some final thoughts in a tic.

After popping him over the fence at cow corner to start Zampa’s last over, Hasan tried it again later in the set and found himself half way down as Wade did the rest. Good composure from the legspinner, who deserved to also get his name in the book.

48th over: Pakistan 304-7 (Wahab 16, Hasan 6). Chasing 370. Starc still has a five wicket bag on the shelf here. But isn’t helped by Zampa who is unable to get his hands underneath a Wahab flay to deep point. Next? A top edge that just clears the circle, and in turn Handscomb. Starc is understandably frustrated not to add to his three earlier wickets - no justice after taking such a brilliant catch himself half an hour ago - but he’ll be okay. 12 balls to go. Not a bad effort from Pakistan, I should add, to get over 300 in this chase. They never truly put it away. Don’t mind that. TV tells us it is their second highest score in Australia ever in an ODI as well.

47th over: Pakistan 295-7 (Wahab 9, Hasan 5). Chasing 370. Six Faulkner deliveries. Six singles from the Pakistan bowlers attempting to clear the rope, but only finding sweepers. It is what it is when the required rate is beyond 25 an over.

46th over: Pakistan 289-7 (Wahab 6, Hasan 2). Chasing 370. Starc is charging back to his mark after each ball - must have somewhere to be. Actually, they’re running behind schedule, so helping his captain out here so not to get a fine. He misses the off-stump of Wahab by centimetres when beating him from around the wicket, and he continues to do through the over. Way too good in this contest. A thrash gets him one to third man with the penultimate ball, exposing Hasan. He retains the strike, edging to third man himself via Wade’s glove. Dreary cricket.

45th over: Pakistan 286-7 (Wahab 5, Hasan 0). Chasing 370. With Shoaib very unlikely to bat again tonight, it’s effectively two wickets to go for Pakistan now. Starc has the ball in his hand for the next over, with a habit of ending innings in a hurry.

Faulkner gets his name in the book courtesy of an Ian Harvey back of the hand slower ball. A big top edge from Amir goes high in the air, taken my Maxwell inside the circle at cover.

44th over: Pakistan 279-6 (Amir 15, Wahab 1). Chasing 370. The new man Wahab off the mark with a nice square drive for a single, retaining the strike. That’s Cummins finished with 2/60 from his ten. Another good night from him. Fireworks have started in the adjoining Adelaide Parklands, encouraging the inevitable “... and fireworks also in the middle” line from the TV commentary.

That ends that, a conventional edge behind when Akmal got low in the crease to try and force a Cummins full ball behind point. He smashed the first ball over long-off to encourage Waqar on the TV call - and fair play to them for going as hard as they can to the end here - but the wicket will put an end to that with only the bowlers remaining.

43rd over: Pakistan 272-5 (Akmal 42, Amir 14). Chasing 370. Amir has taken a few balls to get his eye in, but when Hazlewood gives him something to hit outside the off-stump he’s made enough room for himself to clobber it over cover for four. Then to end the over he gets a big chunk of one out to cow corner, standing tall, and it goes the whole way. Real stand and delivery stuff. 1/74 from Hazlewood’s ten overs, the most expensive he’s been in this series and possibly ever?

42nd over: Pakistan 259-5 (Akmal 41, Amir 2). Chasing 370. Akmal doesn’t need much encouragement to crack on regardless of the scoreboard equation, pulling Cummins through midwicket then steering a wide/low full toss to the third man boundary. But three other dots in there too, so with nine from it they’re still well short of the notional required rate - now at 14. The crowd 26,000. This was a fixture that used to routinely sell-out. But I won’t go on about it.

41st over: Pakistan 250-5 (Akmal 32, Amir 2). Chasing 370. Hazlewood keeps the new combination to four singles from the last four balls, Amir beaten by the first ball he faced. 250 up in 41 overs. In another world, where they are batting first, this isn’t a bad spot to be. But not when chasing 370.

Last ball of the 40th over and that’s a magnificent catch from Starc at third man charging in from the rope and timing his dive perfectly. He wasn’t sure that he had taken it low, but the TV umpire confirmed that he had. After taking three himself earlier on he could be forgiven for letting that land a metre in front. Not him.

Has Starc taken one of the catches of the summer? We’re going upstairs to find out. Stand by.

39th over: Pakistan 238-4 (Akmal 25, Rizwan 3). Chasing 370. Well, they need 12 and over and that’s what they got here, Akmal twice taking Hazlewood to the rope. The first was via a perfectly placed pull shot, splitting the legside sweepers. To the fifth ball he did it off the front foot, clipping over mid-on, the fielder up inside the ring. Clever batting.

38th over: Pakistan 226-4 (Akmal 15, Rizwan 2). Chasing 370. Faulkner into his seventh now, and not for the first time tonight is let down by his field - namely, Peter Handscomb putting down Akmal at long on. Not the easiest chance of all time, but got both hands to it so should have completed the catch. Had a dirty night out there. Two runs a ball needed from here.

37th over: Pakistan 222-4 (Akmal 13, Rizwan 0). Chasing 370. The defining trait of Hazlewood’s over was the swing he generated there with the older ball. He twice beat Babar preceding the leading edge that brought his downfall.

After bringing up his fourth ODI ton to begin the over with a tuck into the legside, a few balls later his leading edge was won by Hazlewood, the innings over without adding to the century A big fist on 100 showed that this meant a bit to him, as is understandable after such a poor Test series, making only 66 in his six hits in the longer format. 107 balls for the milestone this evening, displaying some wonderful early strokeplay down the ground before turning the board over with more fluency than those he has batted with through these middle overs. Well played.

36th over: Pakistan 217-3 (Babar 99, Akmal 11). Chasing 370. Just when the dreary rot was setting in Babar has done very nicely to take Faulkner for three boundaries on the spin - cutting past point, tucking by fine leg then steering a change of place to backward point. Really clever the final one in particular. A single taken to the last ball, and he’s one away from a hundred all of a sudden. 14 from the over.

35th over: Pakistan 203-3 (Babar 86, Akmal 10). Chasing 370. Mark Taylor on the TV noting that Smith can move another fielding outside the circle after the 40th over so they may as well have a crack now. I admire his optimism. Ian Chappell adds that they have scored on boundary in half an hour. Cummins doesn’t let them take that advice, only allowing four singles from his over. It’s over 11 an over needed now.

Rohan Connolly on the Umar Akmal incident a couple overs back.

34th over: Pakistan 199-3 (Babar 83, Akmal 9). Chasing 370. James Faulkner is back to replace Cummins and immediately hits Akmal in the groin. In keeping with the practice, we all had a good laugh. Later in the over he’s successful in chipping over square leg for four, which brings a smile to his face as well. Nice. One again, six from it - the third over in a row where that’s the result.

33rd over: Pakistan 187-3 (Babar 79, Akmal 2). Chasing 370. This is what critics of ODI cricket cite when trying to run it down - the last hour of ODIs when the result is a foregone conclusion. It sells the format short when holding this up as the standard, but it’s true that no one enjoys this much. The best case scenario from a spectator perspective is that Pakistan have a real dip and lose a bunch of wickets. But Babar has that aforementioned ton within his grasp here, so we shouldn’t expect that. Meanwhile, six scored from Hazlewood’s over. Just as you’d expect.

32nd over: Pakistan 187-3 (Babar 79, Akmal 2). Chasing 370. The final ball of the previous over would have ended Umar Akmal’s stay immediately had Cummins hit the stumps in his follow through after collecting cleanly, the new man nervously adopting the hit-and-run approach. Anyway, he survived. Hazlewood again from the southern end. And very little to report, the batsmen picking out the sweepers, the bowling side relaxed about that. And with that, the run rare required climbs above ten.

Sensibly, Shoaib Malik has retired hurt. It doesn’t look good.

31st over: Pakistan 181-3 (Babar 75, Shoaib 10). Chasing 370. Cummins is back and immediately making life difficult for the Pakistanis. It has to hurt Shoaib when smashed on the forearm - the wrist even. The Australians ask the question, but there is no glove there. Six from it to this point - the penultimate delivery - when they call a premature drinks break one ball before the end of the over so Shoaib can receive some medical assistance. Let’s hope he hasn’t broken it; what an awful way to end the tour.

30th over: Pakistan 175-3 (Babar 70, Shoaib 10). Chasing 370. It won’t have an effect on the final outcome of this game, but Babar is on for a ton here and that’s not for nothing. His wonderful clip from Hazlewood’s third ball back into the attack clears the rope at midwicket. Brilliant timing and raw power. Shoaib tries to get into the act with a hook shot to end the over, but doesn’t get enough of it to go the journey - two scored.

29th over: Pakistan 163-3 (Babar 63, Shoaib 5). Chasing 370. Starc stays on, for good reason. He’s let down by Handscomb on the rope at cover, letting one go through his legs. You don’t expect to see that from Peter Perfect. Babar and Shoaib get back into some sort of groove by the end of the over, taking Starc fine then straight for series of singles without much risk. They take on Warner at mid-off on the final ball, but he doesn’t hit the stumps, but I don’t he ever has? Feels bad to say unkind things about Warner at the moment. So let’s balance out it by reminding those who may not have seen that he hit his sixth hundred in 11 innings earlier today (and second on the spin), 179 to be precise.

28th over: Pakistan 152-3 (Babar 57, Shoaib 1). Chasing 370. Clever shot from Babar to begin Zampa’s over. Marginally overpitched, his feet were ready to go almost inside-out through cover and find the rope. But that didn’t deter the leggie, who keeps putting it on the dancefloor. He beats the new man Shoaib, past his outside edge, with the last ball of the over. As Ian Healy observes on the telly, he’s bowled a lot better than the 0-53 he has to his name from seven overs.

27th over: Pakistan 145-3 (Babar 51, Shoaib 0). Chasing 370. You don’t see many wicket maidens at this stage of such an ODI. That’s exactly what Starc has delivered his captain here. Perfect result getting him back into the attack, his two overs nabbing two-for-one. Have that.

It was good captaincy from Smith to bring on Starc, and good again to retain a slip. He’s in there himself when Hafeez gives some conventional catching practice, pushing at a full delivery without getting to the pitch. Easy as you like. And with the required run rate now closer to 10 than it is nine, well, I think we all know how this is going to play out.

26th over: Pakistan 145-2 (Babar 51, Hafeez 3). Chasing 370. Excluding the big over off Zampa, he really has been really good. Gives it the Monica Seles grunt each time, ripping the fingers over the ball. Usually overspinners, drawn on again here as he beats Babar. A shout for LBW, but not quite there. Babar, with a drive to cover, gets the single he needs for his half-century. Done a decent job here. But the pressure shifts onto him to do something extraordinary with Sharjeel no longer.

25th over: Pakistan 140-2 (Babar 49, Hafeez 0). Chasing 370. Starc finishes his set with another quick bouncer, Babar getting out the way of it. Watching the replay of the Sharjeel dismissal, it wasn’t great from the Pakistan opener who tried to pull that a long way from his body. Anyway, what’s done is done.

Fantastic captaincy by Smith. Faulkner was doing nothing wrong - indeed, he was doing plenty right - but the Australian captain chanced his hand by going back to talisman Starc, conscious that Sharjeel had to go or he could start making a real dent in this target. And what do you know, the quicker bouncer is good enough to prompt the false stroke, the ball flying high in the air off the sticker of the bat, an easy take for Wade.

24th over: Pakistan 139-1 (Sharjeel 79, Babar 48). Chasing 370. Lovely little comeback over from Zampa, continuing to rip the ball hard into Sharjeel’s stumps even after the two big sixes the previous over. Five singles, down the ground for the most part. Smith will be happy enough with that - provided he can break this partnership up soon. Oh, and with Mitchell Starc taking the ball for the next over, that’s exactly what he’s trying to do.

Kevin Wilson on the email. Morning, Kevin. “If you think Taylor having to plug programmes is bad, have you ever seen David Gower having to plug Sky’s new underwhelming drama or the latest Hollywood blockbuster on Sky Movies? Never have I seen this done with such lack of enthusiasm, it’s deadpannery worthy of Buster Keaton!”

Grim.

23rd over: Pakistan 134-1 (Sharjeel 77, Babar 45). Chasing 370. Faulkner in control here, off-setting the over of 14 from Zampa with one that yields just the three. Babar in particular is finding it hard to get the cagey left-armer away. Will they stick with Zampa? It’s Smith back on the field.

22nd over: Pakistan 131-1 (Sharjeel 76, Babar 43). Chasing 370. Boom! Sharjeel, as we learned in his debut Test Match in January, has really no issue in taking on fielders. And that’s exactly his approach here in just clearing Mitchell Starc at deep midwicket with an old fashioned slog. No real doubt that he thinks they can do this. Mid-over we have another instance of the fingers of the bowler deflecting the ball back onto the non-strikers’ stumps, and once again Babar is safe in his ground. That’s excellent batting, on two occasions now surviving what most batsmen don’t. To end the over Sharjeel hits Zampa for another six! Now we’re cooking, says the big boy, the same region as before but a much better stroke, this time standing tall in the shot as he took it from the pitch again over deep mid wicket. Go you good thing!