SHARJAH, Sept 4: Glenn Maxwell smashed an unbeaten 56 from 38 balls and Mike Hussey hit 65 as Australia beat Pakistan by three wickets in the deciding third match to clinch the One-day International series 2-1 here on Monday night (also partly reported in Tuesday’s edition).

The match at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium consigned Pakistan to a third straight ODI series defeat this year after earlier losses to England and Sri Lanka. It was also Australia’s third successive series win over Pakistan and will help Michael Clarke’s team as they work their way back up the rankings after losing their No 1 spot with a lopsided defeat to England earlier in the year.

“It’s very special after our defeat in England,” Clarke said. “The feeling around the group is a great feeling especially after losing 4-0 to England. The guys should be really proud of this series. It was a tough victory against a very good one-day team.”

After Mitchell Starc claimed 4-51 and Mitchell Johnson took 2-33 to help restrict Pakistan to 244-7, Australia made an encouraging start when opener David Warner (21) and David Hussey combined for 44 runs.

Clarke scored 32 before being stumped by Kamran Akmal off Saeed Ajmal (3-37) and David Hussey was caught by Abdur Rehman off Saeed for 43, leaving Australia at 108-4 nearly halfway through their innings.

Mike Hussey, whose late-innings heroics helped Australia beat Pakistan in the 2010 World Twenty20 semi-final in the West Indies, got the chase back on track as he paired with Matthew Wade (22) and Maxwell for half-century partnerships.

“It is a great challenge playing these guys. They have some great bowlers and know these conditions very well,” Man-of-the-Match Hussey said. “It was pretty tough during the middle ... They had a lot of momentum and I found it very difficult to start.”

Maxwell proved to be the difference after Hussey was bowled by Junaid Khan (2-42), hitting many of his boundaries in the last two overs to clinch the victory for Australia.    Saeed and Rehman (2-41) had no answer to Maxwell and couldn’t make a breakthrough when it counted at the end.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said the series defeat shows his team has plenty of shortcomings, especially their recent history of batting collapses during the power play.

“We have to improve in every department of the game, especially we have to find the right combination of fast bowling and we have to improve our batting and fielding,” Misbah said. “At important stages of the game we collapse in batting and miss chances in fielding. These are the real areas where we have to work hard.”

Australia won the first match in Sharjah by four wickets last Tuesday but Pakistan forced the series to the deciding third match with their win in game two in Abu Dhabi.

Mitchell Starc was adjudged Man-of-the-Series.

The two teams now meet in the three-match Twenty20 International series in Dubai from Wednesday with Hafeez and Bailey leading their respective teams.—Agencies

Scoreboard PAKISTAN: Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Clarke    78 Nasir Jamshed c Wade b Johnson    48 Shahid Afridi c Maxwell b Johnson    7 Asad Shafiq c Bailey b Starc    27 Misbah-ul Haq c Warner b Starc    25 Umar Akmal c D.J. Hussey b Starc    0 Azhar Ali not out    27 Kamran Akmal b Starc    2 Abdur Rehman not out    12 EXTRAS (B-4, LB-1, W-13)    18 Total: (for seven wkts, 50 overs)    244 FALL OF WKTS: 1-129, 2-140, 3-155, 4-185, 5-185, 6-220, 6-223, 7-223. DID NOT BAT: Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan. BOWLING: Pattinson 10-0-50-0 (2w); Starc 10-0-51-4 (4w); Johnson 9-0-33-2 (3w); Maxwell 7-0-33-0 (3w); Christian 10-0-55-0 (1w); D.J. Hussey 2-0-14-0; Clarke 2-0-3-1. AUSTRALIA: D.A. Warner c sub (Malik) b Rehman    21 D.J. Hussey c Rehman b Saeed    43 M.J. Clarke st Kamran b Saeed    32 M.E.K. Hussey b Junaid    65 G.J. Bailey c Kamran b Saeed    1 M.S. Wade b Rehman    22 G.J. Maxwell not out    56 D.T. Christian c sub (Imran) b Junaid    2 M.G. Johnson not out    1 EXTRAS (LB-4, W-3)    7 TOTAL (for seven wkts, 47 overs)    250 FALL OF WKTS: 1-44, 2-88, 3-105, 4-108, 5-159, 6-226, 7-238. DID NOT BAT: J.L. Pattinson, M.A. Starc. BOWLING: Junaid Khan 6-0-42-2; Mohammad Hafeez 10-0-49-0; Abdur Rehman 9-0-41-2; Shahid Afridi 10-0-62-0; Saeed Ajmal 9-1-37-3 (2w); Azhar Ali 3-0-15-0 (1w). RESULT: Australia won by three wickets to win series 2-1. UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza (Pakistan) and B.F. Bowden (New Zealand). TV UMPIRE: N.J. Llong (England). MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka). MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Mike Hussey. MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Mitchell Starc. FIRST MATCH: Sharjah, Australia won by four wickets. SECOND MATCH: Abu Dhabi, Pakistan won by seven wickets.